Bio

I received my B.A. in English from Yale University and my Ph.D. from Stanford's Program in Modern Thought and Literature. My dissertation looked at how a single text, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was re-mobilized by various social and political actors after the Civil War to construct a variety of contradictory positions on slavery, civil war, and political activism. In that spirit, I approach writing as a performative act not just for authors but for audiences. My work on science communication is similarly concerned with the way shifts in audience and context create challenges for science writers both popular and professional. Apart from teaching in PWR, I am the Artistic Director and Non-Fiction Editor for Aunt Lute Books, an independent press located in San Francisco. I am the co-editor of the two -volume Aunt Lute Anthology of U.S. Women Writers.

Academic Appointments

  • PWR Advanced Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric Studies

Professional Education

  • PhD, Stanford University, Modern Thought and Literature (2000)

Contact

  • Academic
    brawn@stanford.edu
    University - Academic staff Department: Program in Writing and Rhetoric Position: PWR Advanced Lecturer

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

SPECIALIZATION: Rhetoric of Science and Technology, Science Communication, Publishing as Process and Institution

2024-25 Courses

All Publications

  • Biosciences Proposal Bootcamp: Structured peer and faculty feedback improves trainees' proposals and grantsmanship self-efficacy. PloS one Botham, C. M., Brawn, S. n., Steele, L. n., Barrón, C. B., Kleppner, S. R., Herschlag, D. n. 2020; 15 (12): e0243973

    Abstract

    Grant writing is an essential skill to develop for academic and other career success but providing individual feedback to large numbers of trainees is challenging. In 2014, we launched the Stanford Biosciences Grant Writing Academy to support graduate students and postdocs in writing research proposals. Its core program is a multi-week Proposal Bootcamp designed to increase the feedback writers receive as they develop and refine their proposals. The Proposal Bootcamp consisted of two-hour weekly meetings that included mini lectures and peer review. Bootcamp participants also attended faculty review workshops to obtain faculty feedback. Postdoctoral trainees were trained and hired as course teaching assistants and facilitated weekly meetings and review workshops. Over the last six years, the annual Bootcamp has provided 525 doctoral students and postdocs with multi-level feedback (peer and faculty). Proposals from Bootcamp participants were almost twice as likely to be funded than proposals from non-Bootcamp trainees. Overall, this structured program provided opportunities for feedback from multiple peer and faculty reviewers, increased the participants' confidence in developing and submitting research proposals, while accommodating a large number of participants.

    View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0243973

    View details for PubMedID 33370337