OUTREACH and Service
I’m A Scientist USA
I was awarded first place in the national I’m A Scientist USA science communication competition. After creating a profile describing my scientific research and life as a scientist, I talked with elementary and middle school students about science through online chatrooms. This experience reinforced my interest in using new communication technologies and approaches to reach wider audiences with high-quality scientific outreach, and I used the majority of the prize money to fund hosting for my blog Thought and Awe.
THOUGHT AND AWE
In collaboration with my good friend Dr. Kevin Boehnke and others, I founded the (now mostly quiet) science blog “Thought and Awe.” We recruited a team of volunteer contributors interested in telling scientific stories to a non-scientist audience, and helped them develop these stories by workshopping ideas and editing drafts. Our mission was “to present the awesome majesty of nature, and show you the ways that science has allowed us to ask meaningful questions about where that majesty came from and how it works.”
Portal to the Public
I developed an interactive and engaging learning activity based on my dissertation research, as part of the the NSF-funded “Portal to the Public” Science Communication Fellowship. I presented it at monthly “Meet a Scientist” Days at the Detroit Zoo for over two years. I then teamed up with several other fellows to design a Science Outreach tent that we held at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival for two years.
GREEBS
As a graduate student, I served on various departmental committees in the student organization “Graduate Researchers in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.” Over the years, I served on the Admissions Committee, Diversity Committee, and as President. On the Admissions Committee, I reviewed dozens of graduate student applications and met with faculty to determine admissions decisions, then coordinated the interview weekend. On the Diversity Committee, I helped design the “You Are Welcome Here” LGBTQ-inclusivity campaign. As President, I organized a series of talks for graduate students about non-academic career paths.
Michigan science writers
Content Editor for Michigan Science Writers, a graduate student organization at the University of Michigan that helps students studying science communicate their research to a wider audience. Iteratively edited blog posts written by experienced and inexperienced graduate student bloggers on a variety of scientific topics, by email and in-person. Worked with rotating teams of editors to address clarity, jargon, structure, flow of argument, and narrative aspects of blog posts written by grad students translating their research for a wider audience.
NEUROKIDS
I was president of the “Neurokids” student group at the University of Michigan, which designed and presented interactive lessons on neuroscience topics to 4th and 5th grade students. I oversaw the transition of Neurokids from student group to for-credit University of Michigan class as part of Project Outreach (Psych 211). This included developing the curriculum for the class, and teaching and grading the class as a Teaching Assistant (TA).
