"Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may,as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone."

-Albert Einstein

The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) believes that successful communication is the heart of the Futures Initiative.  As such, the annual Communication Awards is an important component of NAKFI.  These awards are designed to recognize, promote, and encourage effective communication of science, engineering, medicine, and interdisciplinary work within and beyond the scientific community.

View a video about the Communication Awards.

 "I will prepare and some day my chance will come."

-Abraham Lincoln

NAKFI cultivates science writers of the future by inviting graduate students from six science writing programs across the country to attend the conference and develop discussion summaries and a conference overview for publication following the conference.  Students are elected by the department director or designee, and prepare for the conference by reviewing the podcast tutorials and suggested reading, and selecting an Interdisciplinary Research Team in which they'd like to participate.