Rick Borchelt is director of communications and public affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. In addition to DOE, his career in science, communications and public policy includes stints at five other federal science agencies — USDA, NIH, NASA, USIA and the Smithsonian; and tours of duty as a Congressional committee press secretary and as special assistant for public affairs in the Clinton White House. His experience also reflects work for the National Academy of Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, MIT/The Whitehead Institute and the University of Maryland. He was a member of the National Academy of Science’s roundtable on Public Interfaces in the Life Sciences, served on the National Academy of Engineering’s study of engineering communication, and most recently completed a stint on the NASEM study committee on the future of biological collections. He currently serves on the editorial board of the peer-reviewed journal Science Communication. Areas of particular interest include trust in science, communication challenges for basic science, citizen science, and developing community based public engagement in science.
Rick Borchelt
