{"id":9272,"date":"2013-08-15T10:21:36","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T14:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=9272"},"modified":"2013-08-15T10:21:36","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T14:21:36","slug":"whats-the-future-of-ecologist-communicators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/2013\/08\/15\/whats-the-future-of-ecologist-communicators\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Future of Ecologist-Communicators?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This guest post is by Holly Menninger, Director of Public Science for Your Wild Life<\/a> at NC State University.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Holly<\/a>

Holly Menninger on stage wtih science comedian Brian Malow. Credit: Lea Shell<\/p><\/div>\n

Engage. Communicate. Reach out. Engage. Communicate. Reach out.<\/i><\/p>\n

These words echoed throughout the hallways of the Minneapolis Convention Center last week like a mantra. From organized symposia to high-energy Ignite sessions, ecologists both urged for and heard a rallying call to cross boundaries during this year\u2019s Annual Meeting<\/a> \u2013 to leave the ivory tower, to connect to policy makers, to connect to educators, to connect to resource managers, to connect to communities.<\/p>\n

The battle cry reached a crescendo in the standing-room-only Ignite session on Thursday afternoon: A Conversation on the Future of Ecology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Past and future leadership of the Ecological Society of America called on us to \u2013 in the words of our past president Steward Pickett \u2013 be fearless<\/i>, to connect our science to society.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been attending the ESA Annual Meeting since I was an incoming graduate student in 2000. More so than any time in the last 13 years, this year\u2019s meeting in Minneapolis featured a sustained waving of rally caps in support of ecologists participating in public engagement, communication and policy, greater than I\u2019ve ever witnessed before.<\/p>\n

In fact, I wildly swung my own rally cap during an earlier Ignite session about bridging the gap between basic and applied science<\/a> \u2013 I spoke passionately about the lessons we\u2019ve gleaned from building a successful science outreach and communication program about biodiversity<\/a>. I suggested approaches that could enhance other scientists\u2019 efforts to connect their science to the public, as required for addressing our planet\u2019s grand environmental challenges.<\/p>\n

Continuing the drumbeat at the Future of Ecology session<\/a>, there was a call for ecologists to learn how to communicate and to recognize that communication is not a one-way transfer of information. Agreed, I thought. But then, as I surveyed the room full of nodding heads, I felt something powerful well up in me. It wasn\u2019t anger. It wasn\u2019t heartburn (although I did have Mexican food for lunch). It was more like that red-faced indignant feeling one gets when one is either deliberately or inadvertently ignored<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I felt ignored because I sensed that many in the room (and those avidly live-tweeting the session<\/a>) didn\u2019t realize or recognize the awesome pool of communications and outreach talent already within ESA\u2019s membership. The rallying calls for increased and improved science communication seemed aimed squarely at the Society\u2019s mid-to-late career academic scientist crowd, a crowd that has long needed arm-twisting and cajoling to engage the public, not a group that had already embraced public engagement as a core value.<\/p>\n

I am a scientist-communicator. It\u2019s my job<\/i> to connect science to society in clear and compelling ways \u2013 whether it is fourth graders at the local elementary school or a national television audience. I work hard to engage the public in the whole process of science. And I\u2019m part of a growing mass of professionals who have graduate degrees in ecology, but are not pursuing an academic or professional scientist career per the traditional pathway of science.<\/p>\n

Whether by choice (as was my case) or circumstance (surely, you\u2019ve seen the statistics about the availability of academic jobs<\/a>), there are MANY of us who\u2019ve carved out meaningful careers where we engage, communicate and reach out<\/i> to diverse public audiences EVERYDAY. Some, like me, work largely in informal and formal science education \u2013 in museums and science centers, in classrooms, on the printed page or<\/p>\n

\"Holly<\/a>

Holly doing science outreach at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Credit: Matt Bertone<\/p><\/div>\n

airwaves, and online. Others have applied their talents to addressing science policy issues at the federal, state, and local levels. Still others are based at non-governmental organizations or in Cooperative Extension, moving the outcomes of ecological research directly into the hands of stakeholders and resource managers.<\/p>\n

We all engage, communicate and reach out <\/i>to public audiences in a professional capacity as scientist-communicators. And we\u2019re good at it. We have important skills and expertise that we are willing and excited to share with the members of our professional society \u2013 we would be the first to respond to a call to action if we felt that there was a seat at the table for us.<\/p>\n

So rather than selecting a few of us to stand up front and give talks or receive awards as rare but exemplary models of crossing the boundaries between science and society, I\u2019d like to see the Ecological Society of America more formally recognize the contributions and potential of all<\/i> the scientist-communicators. By all means, continue the drumbeat amongst the whole membership to engage, communicate and reach out<\/i>, but embrace the vital role we scientist-communicators can play in improving communication and engagement across the board. Ask us to help mentor and train those in our ranks who lack the experience or skill-set to effectively engage the public. Partner with us to develop innovative ways to demonstrate the broader impacts of your work. Support the pathways of young ecologists drawn towards communication, outreach and policy. Create a space for us at the Annual Meeting to present and discuss the outcome of our work in more scholarly ways that examine the science of science communication. Recognize our place as important and valued members of this community. We think we have a big role to play in the Society\u2019s next 100 years, where engaging the public and communicating our science will be absolutely essential for addressing the planet\u2019s grand challenges.<\/p>\n

Dr. Holly Menninger <\/i>is the Director of Public Science for <\/i>Your Wild Life<\/i><\/a> at NC State University. There she coordinates citizen science and online science communication activities related to the biodiversity in our daily lives. An entomologist and ecologist by training, she\u2019s a science communicator by passion and practice. Follow her on Twitter <\/i>@DrHolly<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This guest post is by Holly Menninger, Director of Public Science for Your Wild Life at NC State University. Engage. Communicate. Reach out. Engage. Communicate. Reach out. These words echoed throughout the hallways of the Minneapolis Convention Center last week like a mantra. From organized symposia to high-energy Ignite sessions, ecologists both urged for and heard a rallying call to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":9273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1565,48],"tags":[1602,301,1566,240,1603,1409,1555,133],"class_list":["post-9272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-posts","category-esa-2013-annual-meeting","category-ecology-and-society","tag-ecologist-communicators","tag-esa-annual-meeting","tag-esa2013","tag-outreach","tag-public-engagement","tag-science-communication","tag-science-outreach","tag-science-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vzbmt5sl65q.c.updraftclone.com\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}