#MySciComm: William Chen on games, conferences, and transitioning to a scicomm career

This week, William Chen responds to the #MySciComm questions!

William in Seattle, Washington (Photo courtesy of Tal Noznisky)

William is a science communicator interested in writing, storytelling, and interactives. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management at the University of Washington, he is transitioning into a career of science communication. This starts with an internship at The Nature Conservancy, where he engages diverse audiences with stories about protecting and restoring nature both for its own sake and for people. Connect with him @ChenWillMath and mathecology.wordpress.com.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, William…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

Playing off of my board game hobby.

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#MySciComm: Sarah Chevalier Prather on curating science-exhibit research and development for interactive science museums

This week, Sarah Chevalier Prather responds to the #MySciComm questions!

Photo courtesy of Sarah Chevalier Prather, PhD

Sarah Chevalier Prather is a Museum Consultant who earned her PhD in Neuroscience from Emory University and a BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.  After graduate school, Sarah forged a path into the world of exhibit research, development, and evaluation in interactive science and children’s museums.  She lives in Wyoming with mountains out her window and an active skype account used to stay connected to colleagues and museums across the country. Start a conversation with Sarah about museums, science, or collaborations over email or at her website.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Sarah…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

It started in graduate school, when I realized I wanted to change the direction of my career.

#MySciComm: On the @ESA_org blog, Series Editors discuss what #MySciComm is and why it matters

By way of resuming the #MySciComm series after a brief pause for #ESA2017, we’re delighted to share with you a recent commentary from #MySciComm series editors. ESA published a version of this commentary on its EcoTone blog during #ESA2017. In case you missed it, we’re republishing it here.

As of today, stay tuned, every other week, for a great fall series of MySciComm!

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Recent #MySciComm contributors rocking the #scientistselfie; see end of post for image credit.

ESA SciComm Section puts the human element front-and-center in #MySciComm blog series and #ESA2017 workshops and special events 

Science Communication is an emerging career path with diverse entry points and skillsets. Have you ever read about a science writer, filmmaker, or blogger and wondered, how in the world did they get THAT job? Or more importantly, how in the world can I get that job?

The ESA Science Communication (“SciComm”) Section was founded to address these questions and more. The section helps ecologists apply best practices in science communication and empowers ecologists to better communicate the stories of science (including stories about the people doing the science) in creative, compelling, and innovative ways. In addition to resources and workshops, the SciComm Section publishes a blog series – #MySciComm – that addresses two core section efforts.

We are committed to professionalizing science communication efforts within and beyond ESA and providing mentorship to ecologists interested in trying out, or transitioning to careers in, science communication.

The #MySciComm series works toward these goals by providing a platform where science communicators can be candid about their work and what it takes to do it. #MySciComm contributors range from journalists to filmmakers, from those at private institutions to public universities, from trained formally to self-taught. Each post ends with advice and resources for people looking to build a career in science communication.

#MySciComm: Lucy Frisch on switching gears from book publicist to science storytelling advocate

This week, Lucy Frisch responds to the #MySciComm questions!

We’re collaborating with Lucy to bring a science storytelling show to #ESA2017 next week! Details here. Join us if you’re in Portland!

 

Photo courtesy of VGB Photography

 

Lucy is a Marketing Manager at Springer Nature in the Author & Partner Marketing and Services division. She curates author services through the lens of her publicity experience, designing initiatives to promote author empowerment, self-promotion and public engagement. Her focus is on implementing new ways to connect researchers and their work with the public, including the Springer Nature Storytellers program, a science communication initiative that harnesses the power of storytelling in an effort to truly humanize science. Follow her work with the Springer Nature Storytellers program at www.beforetheabstract.com and @b4theabstract.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Lucy…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

Science and math have never exactly been my calling.

#MySciComm: Virginia Schutte on leaving academia and the U.S. and learning how to create scicomm career opportunities abroad

This week, Virginia Schutte responds to the #MySciComm questions!

Virginia Schutte spent her first summer as an ecology PhD student in the Florida Keys, experimenting with mangrove sponges and sea stars like this one. (Photo by Virginia Schutte)

Virginia Schutte is the Science Media Officer at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (one of her first tasks is to redo that website). She works to make science useful and fun for everyone. She received an Ecology PhD in 2014 from the University of Georgia. Shortly after graduation, she moved to Germany with her family. She didn’t speak the language or have any contacts there, but over the following 2 years at her desk in her German apartment, she transitioned from researcher to communicator. Connect with her @vgwschutte, on her website, or get a behind-the-scenes look at her job on Instagram @myscicommlife.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Virginia…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

I did and do believe in my science and its direct conservation implications.

#MySciComm: Stacy Krueger-Hadfield on Seaweeds, Science, and SciComm

This week, Stacy Krueger-Hadfield responds to the #MySciComm questions!

Stacy talking about seaweeds, and the importance of herbaria for studying evolutionary ecology, for Sandya Viswanathan’s film The Other 97% (Photo courtesy of Stacy Krueger-Hadfield)

Stacy Krueger-Hadfield is an evolutionary ecologist and science communicator based at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She holds a PhD in Diversité du Vivante (Biodiversity) from Université de Pierre et Marie Curie Sorbonne Universités and a PhD in Ecología (Ecology) from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at UAB and a regular contributor to the blog The Molecular Ecologist. She is developing #SciComm courses at UAB and building connections with other SciComm’rs around the world. Connect with Stacy online @quooddy and on her lab’s website.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Stacy…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

As long as I can remember, I wanted to be a writer.

#MySciComm: Priya Shukla on sharing the stories of marginalized scientists

This week, Priya Shukla responds to the #MySciComm questions!

Priya Shukla at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory in Bodega Bay, California (Photo by Gabriel Ng)

Priya Shukla is an ocean and climate scientist based at UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory. She received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Management at UC Davis and earned her Master’s in Ecology from San Diego State University. Priya is currently a technician with UC Davis’ Bodega Ocean Acidification Research (BOAR) group, where she works on several projects to better understand and prepare for the effects of climate change on our . Priya uses science communication to bridge issues concerning social justice, rapid environmental change, and the scientific community. Connect with Priya @priyology and on her blog The Prosaic Mosaic.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Priya…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

The lens through which I communicate science has been heavily shaped by my father.

#MySciComm: Ariana Sutton-Grier’s Confessions of a Not- Quite-Broadway Scientist

This week, Ariana Sutton-Grier responds to the #MySciComm questions!

Ariana Sutton-Grier leading a field trip to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s “Global Change Research Wetland” site (Photo by Karen Richardson)

Ariana is an Associate Research Professor at University Maryland. She holds a PhD in Ecology from Duke University where she studied how soil modifications and plant biodiversity impact nitrogen removal from restored wetlands. Until recently she was the Ecosystem Science Adviser for the National Ocean Service at NOAA where she worked to connect science to policy in order to solve environmental problems and promote ecosystem conservation. Her research interests include the relationships between nature/biodiversity and human health, coastal blue carbon, and natural and nature-based coastal resilience strategies. She is transitioning to a new position as Director of Science for the MD/DC chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Connect with her at @arianasg1 and suttongrier.org.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Ariana…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

I know that middle school is supposed to be an awkward and terrible time in everyone’s life. But that was not the case for me.

#MySciComm: Josh Silberg on embracing scicomm skill development

This week, Josh Silberg responds to the #MySciComm questions!

Josh Silberg holds a moon snail shell at Miracle Beach (Vancouver Island). Josh grew up in Calgary, Alberta – 10 hours inland from the coast. Yet, Miracle Beach was where he fell in love with the ocean, after doing a beach seine with his grandma. (Photo by Jessica Silberg)

Josh Silberg is a science communicator with the British Columbia-based Hakai Institute. In his previous life as a marine ecologist, he studied creatures ranging from dolphins to whale sharks to rockfish, but he likes to think that he has no species bias. He holds a Master’s of Resource and Environmental Management from Simon Fraser University. He loves photography and any outdoor activity under the sun, or in the rain, or on the snow. Occasionally, he writes rhyming poems about biology. Connect with him @joshsilberg and on his website.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Josh…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

Searching for the right graduate program brought on a mini-existential crisis.

#MySciComm: Kristina Young on SciComm and founding the Science Moab radio show

This week, Kristina Young responds to the #MySciComm questions!

Kristina Young at the mic recording Science Moab at KZMU. (photo courtesy of Kristina Young)

Kristina is a desert dweller, graduate student, and communicator of place-based science.  She produces science shows for a regional audience on Moab, Utah’s, community radio station KZMU.  As a graduate student, she researches dryland ecology and hopes to inspire a love of science and place in her local community.  Connect with her @arid_ecology and her website.

The #MySciComm series features a host of SciComm professionals. We’re looking for more contributors, so please get in touch if you’d like to write a post!

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Okay, Kristina…

1) How did you get into the kind of SciComm that you do?

I get unabashedly enthusiastic talking about science. I also get unabashedly enthusiastic talking about my home in the red-rock country of southern Utah.