transition to scicomm career

This week, Sarah Schneider (of ESA’s Editorial Office/publications) responds to the #MySciComm questions! We’re delighted to share her story with you, as it is a window into a type of SciComm career that is pivotal to how we do science. Sarah Schneider has worked for the Publications Office of the Ecological Society of America since 2013. These days, she works primarily…

A thought-provoking piece in Facets. What do you think?

The University of Michigan’s Career Center and Head-Heart-Hands provide resources on how to plan a career change in three stages (HHH) and how to talk about transferable skills developed during a PhD (UMCC).

This week, Johanna “Pika Jo” Varner responds to the #MySciComm questions! We’re thrilled to share her story with you, not least because she was the originator and on-going inspiration for our annual #SketchYourScience activity at the C&E Section booth at annual meetings.   Johanna Varner is an ecologist who studies how climate change affects pikas, small mammals closely related to rabbits….

The Intergroup Dialogue Project website indicates that IDP was founded as a series of undergraduate-focused courses and resources at Cornell University (2012). By 2016, IDP had developed “the first and only graduate and postdoc dialogue program in the country.” Beyond the programs and courses IDP offers at Cornell, they provide an overview of their core tool, the LARA Method: Listen,…

In this article in Nature Biotechnology, Maximiliaan Schillebeeckx, Brett Maricque, and Cory Lewis detail: The limited availability of academic positions vs number of PhDs granted per year; What a group of PhD students and postdocs at Washington University-St. Louis are doing to expand their training and career options in light of the academic job market. Broadly, the authors call for grassroots…

This week, Marty Downs responds to the #MySciComm questions!  Marty is the Deputy Director of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Communications Office, based at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara.  She manages internal and external communications for a network of over 2000 environmental scientists and 28 diverse research sites. Marty began her career…

Planning on teaching a course about scientific writing next semester? But, you haven’t finalized your syllabus yet? Ecologist Stephen Heard (@scientistseessquirrel) invites you to use his scientific writing course syllabus! He also wrote a book – The Scientist’s Guide to Writing – that is a useful companion to the syllabus.

This week, Diogo Veríssimo updates his responses to the #MySciComm questions!  Diogo is a biologist turned scientist turned marketer! He decided that he could have the cake and eat it, and so focused his research on the fledgling field of conservation marketing, the use of marketing theory and techniques to help promoted biodiversity-friendly behaviors. He is currently an Oxford Martin…

This week, Tatiana Eaves responds to the #MySciComm questions!  Tatiana is a biologist, photographer, and freelance science writer living in the Washington D.C. metro area. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology, with a concentration on ecology and evolution, from Appalachian State University and minored in Geographic Information Systems. She currently writes for Ricochet Science and the Ecological Society of…

In the wake of #ImmodestWomen and other discussions about non-academic careers* pursued by those trained in the sciences comes a new graphic from the American Geosciences Institute. It is a timely and useful illustration of the many ways that science training can be, and is, a powerful component of careers in many sectors. Where do you fit on this inter-locking wheel?…

  Science communication and engagement, whether they are a full-time job or part of a job with additional responsibilities, take a lot of time to do well. So, Dr. Katie Grogan’s tweet thread about work-life balance and productivity which declines after working 50+ hours per week caught our attention. Throughout the thread, Dr. Grogan cites and links to articles from Nature,…

“If you have become frustrated, as I have, with the lack of action and public support of climate change research and proactive policy, this book will be an eye opener.” ~S. Burke   What is the reviewer’s motive and perspective?  I am a fourth year PhD student at the University of New Hampshire studying the effects of climate change on…

This week, Dr. David Shiffman responds to the #MySciComm questions!  *Editor’s note: David is available Wednesday, August 29, 2018 (the date of publication) to answer questions you may have about what it’s like to be a science communicator, how he got into it, and sharks, of course! Connect with him in the comments, or on Twitter and Facebook (use #MySciComm so…

This week, Becky Barak responds to the #MySciComm questions! Becky is a co-founder of Plant Love Stories, which we will be featuring at the Communication and Engagement Section’s booth* during ESA 2018! Please visit us to share your Plant Love Story!

Retrospective by Jennifer Purrenhage, series co-editor and Communication and Engagement Section secretary Bethann Garramon Merkle’s recent #MySciComm 2017 Year in Review highlighted takeaways from our 2017 contributors on building human connections through scicomm. As I looked back on the 2017 #MySciComm contributions, an additional set of theme emerged from our contributors. They offered advice and encouragement for those of us…

Excerpt from the SciFund classes web page detailing the free and not-free options they offer: “Interested in getting ahead in your scientific career? Interested in engaging the wider world with your research? Better communication is the key for both and SciFund Challenge has the classes that can help you to achieve your goals. SciFund Challenge is the communications department that…