Alda Center Origins
Before the Alda Center was founded in 2009, Alan Alda — actor, author, citizen scientist, and philanthropist — wrestled with a simple yet deceptively nuanced question: Why do brilliant scientists become unclear precisely when they need to be most understood?
Over Scientific American Frontiers' eleven-year run, Alda worked to answer that question as host of the show. After years
of helping innovative thinkers tell their stories, he discovered a pattern emerging
across hundreds of interviews. The most compelling scientific moments didn’t happen
during formal presentations or even when the cameras rolled, but in spontaneous conversations
behind the scenes — when scientists spoke with curiosity, conviction, and joy rather
than speaking from clinical-like detachment.
In completely unscripted discussions, he saw technical minds explain complex ideas with clarity and remarkable empathy, ensuring the urgency of their research and findings were not lost upon anyone in the room.
This is when Alan Alda recognized that clarity and empathy in scientific communication was not only necessary for public understanding but imperative to buy-in for scientific solutions. And he also discovered something equally powerful: clarity and empathy aren’t innate gifts — they are teachable skills. The two are pillars of communication that must be built up and strengthened, working in tandem to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and public action.
That insight led him to Stony Brook University. In a legacy-defining moment, Stony Brook had the institutional courage and foresight to complement its STEMM programs with a flagship science communication platform. The result was the founding of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, now one of the most powerful science communication hubs in the nation.
Our History at a Glance