By Jay Robb (he/him), communications manager
Sam Lee’s lifelong love for science went unrequited until her second year at McMaster.
“I loved science but struggled with it all through elementary and secondary school,” says Lee. “Science classes kept trying to redirect my curiosity.” She’d repeatedly been advised to give up the love affair for an easier field of study. Lee didn’t listen and enrolled in Mac’s Life Sciences gateway program.
Her first year was more of the same but then came a game-changing second-year science communication course taught by associate professor and science journalist Katie Moisse. Persistence paid off and Lee found her calling.
“That course changed everything about my university experience,” says Lee. “Dr. Moisse was the first person to tell me I was a scientist and a writer. That broadened my horizons with new possibilities of what science had to offer.”
She couldn’t have asked for a better role model and mentor – after graduating with a PhD in pathology from Western University, Moisse earned her master’s from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and worked as a reporter, producer and news editor before joining McMaster in 2018.
Lee took every science communication elective on offer, even returning for an extra year to take courses she hadn’t been able to fit into her four-year degree.
Learning how to connect and communicate with audiences through stories proved to be a transferable skill. Lee worked as a news editor, digital producer, radio host and community outreach coordinator at the campus newspaper and radio station. “I’d never considered journalism growing up – it wasn’t in my DNA until I came to Mac.”
Lee’s now at CBC News – she’s one of 14 emerging journalists from across Canada who received a 2026 summer scholarship. She’s working as a general assignment reporter with CBC’s digital news desk in downtown Toronto and will join CBC Yellowknife for a two-month stint starting in July.
“It still doesn’t fee real. This is such an amazing opportunity.”
McMaster’s School of Interdisciplinary Science has just launched a graduate academic certificate for students, researchers and professionals who share Lee’s passion for science communication.
The certificate was created by Moisse, assistant professor Alexander Hall and professor Sarah Symons, who helped develop the award-winning Integrated Science program in the Faculty of Science.
Students will complete a required course taught by Symons and Moisse and one elective, choosing from a creative project, research project or a narratives of science course taught by Hall.
Students can complete the two-course certificate concurrently with a graduate degree or as a standalone credential and can start in September, January or May.
The certificate was created in response to student demand, says Symons. “Science communication courses are among the Faculty of Science’s most popular electives thanks to the quality of the courses and the calibre of our instructors.”
Along with meeting demand from students, there’s an urgent need to keep science and society connected, say Moisse and Hall.
“It’s a connection that can’t be taken for granted,” says Hall, a science communication expert whose research explores the history of science in popular media. “There have been many times when science and scientists has been suppressed, silenced, marginalized or ignored completely.”
To help keep history from repeating itself, Moisse says scientists need the skills and confidence to effectively engage, communicate and advise diverse audiences, from the general public, media and influencers to funders, donors and decision-makers. “Now more than ever, we need to be really thoughtful in how we’re presenting our work, findings and evidence.”
How science is presented also opens up opportunities for entrepreneurial students, adds Hall. “Science communication is such a great space to build a career out of creating things that don’t exist yet, whether that’s an event, newsletter, podcast, YouTube channel or TikTok account.”
Complete details on McMaster’s new graduate academic certificate in science communication are available here.
(Photo by Jenna Olsen)
Faculty, Office of Undergraduate Research and Innovation, Research excellence, Undergraduate students
Awards, Faculty, Teaching excellence
Faculty, Leadership, Psychology