Science communication

On this page, you can find a few science communication projects I’ve been working on during these last few years. They all have the main goal to communicate and divulge operations research, mathematics, and computer science to laypeople, especially pupils, to increase their interest and motivation toward these subjects.

Click on the titles below for further details.

Other initiatives:

Science 4 All (November 2024) – link: partecipation to “Informatica senza computer”, activities and games carried out by Prof. Francesco Silvestri to introduce the bases of informatics and algorithm development to two Grade 9 classes.
On Surnames, Symbols and Goals (September 2024) – link: English translation of the Italian column I wrote for MaddMaths! on the EURO Gold Medal 2024 awarded to Maria Grazia Speranza, published on the INFORMS magazine ORMS Today.
If Dantzig had a sister (February 2024) – link: another column written together with Prof. Anand Subramanian (Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil) and published on the INFORMS magazine ORMS Today on why there is still the need of days such as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and on the challenges faced by women in Operations Research and sciences in general.
La matematica del fare meglio (January 2024) – Participation to the three-hour module designed by Prof. Roberto Roberti, included among the PNRRorienta courses by the University of Padova, and addressed to higher secondary school students. Mathematics as the solution to decision-making problems encountered in several practical fields (engineering, business, marketing, etc.). The concept of decision problem through mathematical optimization models and resolution using Microsoft Excel:
- on January 27th, 2024, at the Istituto Superiore “M.O. LUCIANO DAL CERO”, San Bonifacio (Verona, Italy).
Crescere con la scienza (October – November 2023, November 2024) – link1, link2:
- on October 30th, 2023, an online presentation of the catalog raisonné “Crescere con la scienza” (i.e., “Growing with science”) by Editoriale Scienza together with the curator Angela Dal Gobbo and the director and founder of the publishing house Sabina Stavro;
- on November 04th, 2023, and November 09th, 2024 (with Giovanni Macetti), problem-solving games and activities based on the books mentioned in the catalog, addressed to Grades 1-6 students, at the XXI and XXII editions of the Rassegna della Microeditoria in Chiari (Brescia, Italy).
Revealing a less-traveled road (September 2023) – link: a column written together with Prof. Anand Subramanian (Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil) and published on the INFORMS magazine ORMS Today on enhancing the discovery and teaching of Operations Research.
Giorgio Sestili, I migliori libri di scienza scelti dai divulgatori scientifici: 2022 – 2023.
Penne Amiche della Scienza (September 2022 – present) – link, the Italian version of Letters to a Pre-Scientist: exchange of letters by email to promote to young students scientific thinking and possible scientific careers (among which, becoming an engineer and a researcher in operations research), in particular:
- from September 2022 to May 2023, with a Grade-5 class of the primary school Istituto Comprensivo Giovanni Pascoli in Cento, Ferrara, in 2022/2023;
- from September 2023, with a Grade-7 class at a middle school in Abruzzo.
Letters to a Pre-Scientist (September 2022 – April 2023) – link: exchange of handwritten letters sent through snail mail with a Grade-11 student from a high school in California; LPS main purpose is to connect “students to STEM professionals through snail mail to broaden students ’ awareness of what STEM professionals look like and do at work and inspire all students to explore a future in STEM”;
La scienza è per tutti… un sogno. Disegna una scienziata o uno scienziato (February 2021, February 2022) – link: a drawing competition addressed to children of at most 12-year old, to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11).

Alice Raffaele

Science communication