David M. Berube is an American scholar specializing in science and technology communication,

risk communication Risk communication is a complex cross-disciplinary academic field that is part of risk management and related to fields like crisis communication. The goal is to make sure that targeted audiences understand how risks affect them or their communities ...

, and public understanding of emerging technologies. He is currently a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of communication at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

and serves as the director of the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCOST) Project. His research focuses on how the public comprehends complex scientific information, particularly regarding

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, and public health issues.

Education

He received an MA from

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

in 1978 and a BA/BS from

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

in 1975.His doctorate is from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and he has studied and taught communication and

cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, whi ...

and created the term SEIN (Social and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology) in his book NanoHype.

Career

Since 2008, he directs a program titled the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCOST). PCOST has focused on consumer and public understanding of highly complicated science and engineering communication activities. He teaches limited graduate coursework (due to his grant responsibilities). Prior to NCSU, he was a professor at the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

and was a lecturer at

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

(UT), Trinity University (TX), and the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

. During the last 30 years through 2007, he served as a national and international intercollegiate debating coach with many national records coaching over 40 formal national and international debating topics. He edited one of the most successful collegiate debate workbook companies in America and he is a coordinating editor with the Journal of Nanoparticle Research where he supervises social science methodologies. He served on the US

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

Risk Communication Advisory Committee and on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Toxicology Program. These experiences and many others have provided him with a broad exposure and understanding of many subjects and has made him the “outside-in” person who is recruited to deal with a host of interdisciplinary research activities. After coaching two national championships at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence in 2004 & 2005 and promoted to full professor, he returned to studying science and technology communication and cognitive psychology. This let him to participate as a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on an extensive series of

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

grants examining how the public unpacks and makes sense of complicated technical information in emerging science, especially the field of nanotechnology. He has authored and co-authored many articles on risk perceptions associated with

nanoparticles A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is a particle of matter 1 to 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 100 nm in only two directions. At ...

both quantitative and critical in nature. In 1997, he wrote the famous "Berube 97" article on dehumanization that has been used by high school and collegiate debaters in almost every single debate thereafter. In 2006, he wrote Nanohype: The Truth Behind the Nanotechnology Buzz. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press, 2005, 500 pp. and received over 30 published reviews,. In 2015 he broadened his interests to include public understanding of

synthetic biology Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary field of science that focuses on living systems and organisms. It applies engineering principles to develop new biological parts, devices, and systems or to redesign existing systems found in nat ...

and became a research fellow with the Genetic Engineering and Society Center on the campus of North Carolina State. In 2021 he edited Pandemic Communication and Resiliency for Springer/NATURE and in 2023 he wrote a sole author work: Pandemic Risk Management: Lessons from the Zika Virus. Berube has worked on a series of projects for the corporate world including Director of Communications for the

International Council on Nanotechnology The International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) is an international, multi-stakeholder group committed to developing and communicating information regarding potential environmental and health risks of nanotechnology, thereby fostering risk redu ...

with partners including

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

Swiss RE Swiss Re Ltd is a Swiss reinsurance company founded in 1863 and headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the world's largest reinsurers, as measured by gross premiums written. Swiss Re operates through around 80 offices in 29 countri ...

, Mitsubishi, L'Oreal,

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

, etc. He has directed social media projects that produced White Paper level publications for the National Science Foundation and the

International Food Information Council Founded in 1985, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) is a nonprofit organization supported by the food, beverage, and agricultural industries.Kraft Foods International on media protocols and has spoken as an invited lecturer to

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

, Pharma, the

Institute for Defense Analysis The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is an American non-profit corporation that administers three federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) – the Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), the Science and Technology Policy Institu ...

, etc. He has worked as a PI, CoPI, or investigator on approximately $20 million in grants and worked on a major NSA-funded grant in the Laboratory for Analytical Science at NCSU where he served on the Mission Enabling Workgroup and the Supply Line Workgroup. He is a CoPI with the

Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to c ...

(RTNN) as the social and ethical director and assessment officer coordinating in a major infrastructure grant under the National Nanotechnology Initiative's (NNI) National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure in a team headed found in North Carolina's

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Anchored by the cities of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh an ...

. The RTNN involves labs on three campuses: North Carolina State, UNC at Chapel Hill, and Duke. by the Analytical Instrumentation Facility at

including labs at UNC and Duke, specifically Chapel Hill Analytical and Fabrication Facility and (CHANL) at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

and the Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF) at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. Berube has consulted as a jobber with the

Gerson Lehrman Group GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc.) is a financial and global information services consulting company headquartered in New York City. The company provides financial information and advises investors and consultants with business clients seeking expe ...

and others. He manages the Center for Emerging Technologies, LLC, a consultancy registered in North Carolina. In 2023, he was elected as a Fellow by the

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

in their Section on General Interest in Science & Engineering.

Research

Berube has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on over $20 million in

(NSF) grants. His research includes studying public understanding of toxicological information related to nanoparticles and developing strategies for effective science communication. He has also edited and authored works on pandemic communication and resilience, including the 2021 book ''Pandemic Communication and Resilience'' and the 2023 book ''Pandemic Risk Management: Lessons from the Zika Virus''. Additionally, Berube has served on advisory committees for the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) and the

National Toxicology Program The National Toxicology Program (NTP) is an inter-agency program run by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate, evaluate, and report on toxicology within public agencies. The National Toxicology Program is head ...

, providing expertise on risk communication and public health issues. Beyond academia, Berube has contributed to public discourse through various media outlets. He has written over 100 articles for major newspapers and has been involved in intercollegiate debate coaching, leading teams to national championships. His expertise in science communication has led to invitations to speak at national and international conferences, as well as consultations with organizations such as the International Council on Nanotechnology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berube, David Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni North Carolina State University faculty University of South Carolina faculty Weber State University faculty University of Vermont faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people)