The AAAS Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science, formerly the AAAS Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology, was established in 1987 to recognize working and retired scientists and engineers who demonstrate excellence in their contribution to public engagement with science.
The award has an increased and renewed focus on public engagement. Public engagement activities emphasize dialogue with various publics and often result from a public interaction or request or need. Specifically, these activities are defined as the individual’s active participation in efforts to engage with the public on science- and technology-related issues and promote meaningful exchanges between science and society, as highlighted at http://www.aaas.org/resources/communication-toolkit/what-public-engagement.
Successful nominees will have demonstrated excellence in their contributions to public engagement with science activities, with a focus on interactive dialogue between the individual and a non-scientific, public audience(s).
Types of public engagement activities might include but are not limited to: informal science education; public outreach and public dialogue activities, such as science cafés and science festivals; public policy activities; science communication activities, such as
