Is the question of global warming really a controversial issue or is it just framed as such by politicians, and the like, even though the majority of scientists agree on the facts?

UW Communication Associate Professor and Associate Chair Leah Ceccarelli discusses the dynamics of this quandary in her article titled “Manufactured Scientific Controversy: Science, Rhetoric, and Public Debate.” This past November, The American Forensic Association recognized Ceccarelli with the Daniel Rohrer Memorial Outstanding Research Award. The honor, named after the Director of Forensics at Boston College from 1970 to 1982, is given annually to the exceptional monograph in the research concerns of the Association.

Ceccarelli’s article was published in the journal of Rhetoric & Public Affairs in 2011 and teaches scientists how to respond to special interest groups that manufacture controversy over a subject that the scientific community actually has a consensus about. Examples include whether or not HIV causes AIDS, the existence of global warming, and the topic of intelligent design.

“There’s only a small amount of scientists with credentials that disagree, so to make it a controversy is misrepresenting the consensus,” Ceccarelli said. “We need to teach scientists, who aren’t really very good at communicating with public audiences, how to respond to these charges that there is a scientific controversy when there isn’t because it’s very easy to not respond in an effective way.”

In order to move on to the next stage of these debates – which is how do we solve these prominent issues – we need to get past whether these are controversial issues or not and teach scientists how to respond to rhetorical tactics, she said.

While taking this quarter to do research and promote her book that will make its debut sometime this year, Ceccarelli will be back in the classroom teaching Historic American Public Address this spring.

Congrats Professor Ceccarelli on your recent achievements!

-By Erica Thompson