Upcoming Workshops #

No public workshops currently running.

Current Projects #

Scicomm Identities Project #

The SciComm Identities Project (SCIP) aims to shift the paradigm of science communication training and create a more representative suite of academic science communicators through a new fellowship designed to test a training curriculum based on intercultural communication theories. Ultimately, we hope SCIP will elevate science communication activities as a valued aspect of academics’ institutional contributions. We also are undertaking this project to increase representation of underrepresented minority scientists and engineers as science communicators and as public intellectuals in environmental news coverage to foster culturally relevant conservations about environmental issues.

(Dissertation) Drawing Science Communication: Examining Power and Ideology in STEM Graduate Students' Conceptualizations #

My dissertation attempts to make visible the assumptions about power and ideology early-career scientists hold about their communication activities. This dissertation asks: (1) how STEM graduate students experience the process of drawing the concept of science communication, (2) what purposes and meanings of science communication they describe and portray, and (3) what wider ideologies and power structures these reinforce and/or resist.

Science Communication “Pockets of Belonging”: Inviting in a Plurality of Science Identities #

Science communication spaces may provide an antidote to the hostility of graduate academic spaces. Using the lens of science identity, we interviewed STEM graduate students about their sense of belonging in these spaces. Our results suggest that many science communication spaces welcome a plurality of alternative science identities, while academic spaces require assimilation into a single research science identity. These results suggest ways that science communication organizations might more intentionally cultivate spaces of belonging.
Publications from this work:
STEM Graduate Students’ Perspectives on Science Communication and their Sense of Belonging in these Space

Landscape Study of Art-Science Collaborations #

Disciplinary-spanning collaborations between the arts and sciences may contain the potential to enrich multiple disciplines, produce knowledge, and address societal problems. However, not much is currently known about the landscape of these arts-science collaborations. This proposed study seeks to (1) compile a database of current programs at the interface between the arts and sciences and (2) obtain qualitative insights from key stakeholders in these spaces. This exploratory research aims to provide qualitative insights into the current opportunities and challenges these programs face as well as the outcomes that are connected to this work, especially with respect to cultivating inclusive and equitable spaces. Funded by The Rita Allen Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Performing Environmental Counter Narratives #

Environmental change represents a crucial issue for many University of Texas students, as this topic intertwines with culture, well-being, and aspirations. However, mainstream environmental narratives often ignore young people’s voices and rely on buzzwords (e.g. recycling), blame the individual (e.g. plastic straws), or propose solutions that exclude vulnerable communities (e.g. technofixes). And while scholars and practitioners increasingly recognize the importance of processing environmental change intellectually and emotionally, the body and the arts are often overlooked. This Green Fund-sponsored project at the University of Texas at Austin invites undergraduate students to perform their research around environmental and social change. These research-performances will serve as a platform for the UT community to collectively process environmental change and imagine a more equitable and environmentally sustainable UT. Funded by the Green Fund. Previously supported by Planet Texas 2050.

Reclaiming STEM: A Healing-Centered Model For Inclusive Science Communication And Policy Training #

This collaboration with Evelyn Valdez-Ward, founder of Reclaiming STEM, seeks to analyze data she has collected from applications and feedback surveys from the Reclaiming STEM workshops to share about a healing-centered model for inclusive science communication.
Publications from this work:
ReclaimingSTEM: A healing-centered counterspace model for inclusive science communication and policy training

Past Projects #

Landscape Study of U.S.-based Science Communication Fellowship Programs #

Professional science communication training organizations and programs appear to have grown in number and reach in recent years. Of these efforts, fellowship programs provide arguably the most intensive and impactful science communication training experiences available. Fellowship programs are becoming increasingly key to science communication practice, helping scientists across disciplines enhance their public engagement acumen and opportunities to engage. To date, however, little attention—empirical or otherwise—has focused on understanding the landscape of science communication fellowship programs. This research provided an overview (i.e., landscape) of current North American-based science communication fellowship programs. Funded by The Rita Allen Foundation.
    Publications from this work:
    Science Communication Fellowship Programs As Gatekeepers
    Landscape of Science Communication Fellowship Programs in North America

Offerings