Member Highlight: Introducing newly elected C&E Section Officers
In our February 2019 newsletter, we introduced our newly elected Communication & Engagement Section officers. They will join the leadership team in August 2019. Below are their responses to the elections nomination form questionnaire.
Robert Newman, 2019-2020 Chair-elect
Describe who you are and your interests in science communication and engagement.
I am a professor in the Biology department and Fish and Wildlife program at the University of North Dakota (Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Pennsylvania; B.S. Zoology, Duke). My research focuses on how populations respond to environmental variation, both in protected areas and working landscapes. After years of interactions with non-scientists – land owners, students, natural resource managers, and other scientists, I am persuaded that we need to up our communications game, but I have little formal training in public communication. That makes me ideally suited to appreciate the challenge that communication novices face, and even to understand why some scientists don’t want to engage! I have done a couple of trainings – one by AIBS, and one by ESA. Even before then I explored the literature on the science-policy interface, and on communication practice. I created and taught a course in scientific writing for grad students, taught a grad seminar on public communication of science, serve as a 3MT trainer, and have thought a lot about how to craft a message that retains scientific integrity but is engaging for non-specialists. I am currently working with faculty in the Communication department to create a Communicating Science course. Lots to learn.
Why do you want the job? What is your vision for the Communication & Engagement Section?
My goal is to promote the importance of effective communication to a broad audience in a way that tells an engaging story while retaining the scientific integrity of the message. This is essential if we want to provide the best possible insight into what we know about the natural world to the public, who pay for our research, to students, who are learning about the world, and to policy makers, who are making decisions about how societies interact with the world. I was very excited when ESA created a Communication Section, because ESA and its members are at the forefront of scientific understanding of the natural world, but not necessarily as involved in public communication as we probably should be. Nor do most scientists receive training in or have sufficient awareness of the best approaches to public communication. My hope for the Section is to build on the great work already underway to increase appreciation by ESA members for the importance of specific training and approaches to effective public communication, and expand opportunities for students and scientists at all career stages to develop their own skills, so we can all contribute to improved appreciation for and use of science.
Skylar Bayer, 2019-2020 Secretary elect
Describe who you are and your interests in science communication and engagement.
I’m a NRC Research Associateship postdoctoral fellow at the NOAA Milford Lab in Connecticut. I just completed my 2018 Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship in the U.S. Senate, and I produce for the science storytelling non-profit, The Story Collider. I apply what I know about storytelling to many science communication forms: seminars, blogging, podcasts and Skype-A-Scientist sessions. For the Communication & Engagement (C&E) Section, I wrote both for the #MySciComm and literature review series. I loved working with the blog editors so much that I sought out a position within the section leadership. At the 2018 ESA meeting, I was appointed the Online Editor for the section. I started and now run the new ESA C&E Twitter account, help edit the #MySciComm blog series and am an editor for C&E’s new book proposal. Additionally, I am the liaison to the ESA Policy Section and am directly involved in collaborative projects between C&E and the Policy Section. For example, I am an author on a proposal posited by members of both Policy and C&E Sections for a new series in ESA’s Frontiers.
Why do you want the job? What is your vision for the Communication & Engagement Section?
I believe that my experience and network in science communication, especially storytelling, can help achieve the current goals of the committee – to broaden the reach of the section and collaborate with existing leaders in science communication and other sections in ESA (i.e. students, policy). I am already the liaison to the Policy Section, and this position has been important in strengthening the connection between Policy and C&E. My vision for C&E is develop this kind of communication with other ESA sections and chapters, particularly those with strong human dimension components. This past year I have learned more about what C&E has in resources and the short term needs of the section. One project I helped develop is a book proposal based on the #MySciComm series. This project leverages the amazing existing content of the C&E’s #MySciComm blog series. Additionally, I was an editor for the 2018 Knauss Fellowship Professional Development Committee newsletter, and understand the importance of regular communication with the section. I know that if I am elected Secretary, I will faithfully contribute to the section’s long-term collaborative vision, communications within the section and networking with the broader ESA community.