How should I share our research with others?

Hello again from Indiana, Pennsylvania!

This week I have been thinking a lot about science communication skills. We started working more intensively on our PowerPoint presentations for the end-of-summer symposium between the Lawrence University chemistry and physics research students, and it has been a fun challenge to parse out what story I want to tell about our research. Doing so has called into question what my goal is in sharing our research. For example, I feel like it is a problem that so much research about oil and natural gas is seen as trying to promote extraction or prevent it from happening. Part of why this seems like a problem to me is that it causes people to polarize into opposing groups, which can prevent us from exchanging ideas that could improve our ways of acquiring energy in America. So, I would like to be clear in recognizing that there are both costs and benefits to natural gas and oil extraction and that only by learning more about the impacts of extraction activities can we make the most informed and fair decisions. I hope that by doing so, more people will be willing to listen and consider the ideas and results presented in the research.

In thinking about science communication, it has also been cool to see how scientists describe their research to interested community members. Professor Donohoue and I were out near Beaver Run reservoir monitoring the ozone levels, and a few times we had motorcyclists stop by to ask us what we were doing. Additionally, while we were installing devices to monitor water in flood-prone areas, Professor Farnsworth from IUP had a conversation with a man who stopped by to warn us about a snake in the area. In both cases the interactions seemed really positive, and it was nice to listen and learn about how scientists can make the research accessible and interesting to people who may not be familiar with the research field.