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1. The Field Scientist: Exploring the Intersection of Science and Identity Through Comics

   Wu, Amy; Allen, Laurel (October 2023, Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science - 2023 NDiSTEM)

   Science comics have become an increasingly popular medium for science communication. Reputable institutions and publications such as the WHO, NASA, Nature Journal and MacMillan Publishers have published science comics to explain complex scientific and medical phenomena to the public. However, science comics that center the stories of underrepresented scientists and the ways in which their intersectional identities are transforming science have yet to be created. Concerningly, people of color, women, and LGBTQIA+ identifying continue to be underrepresented in STEMM. Studies have shown students who report feeling positive STEMM identity and ability in high school declared undergraduate STEMM majors at greater proportions. Therefore, identifying ways to foster a sense of belonging and personal interest in STEMM among secondary school students is crucial. Utilizing art and narrative storytelling, The Field Scientist challenges perceptions of what science looks like and who does science to make science more accessible, exciting and inclusive for underrepresented secondary school students.. The series follows the real biographical narratives of a diverse cohort of scientists as they recount their most memorable field experiences. The Field Scientist will be available digitally via the platform issuu.com and disseminated to secondary school students. Online surveys will be utilized to elicit audience response, assess feelings of belonging and determine the effectiveness of science comics in challenging perceptions of exclusionary scientific culture and community. Ultimately, The Field Scientist aspires to encourage adolescent audiences to view themselves as scientists and contemplate how their identities can further transform the shifting landscape of science. 

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2. Strategies for Scientists to Communicate Volcanic Hazard to the Public when Threat of Eruption is Low

   Hufstetler, Rebeckah; Smith, Hollie M; Hooft, Emilie EE; Walton, Dean (December 2023, 2023 Fall Meeting, American Geophysical Union)

   Many studies focus on the best way to communicate volcanic information during a crisis event. Because of the urgency during crisis, many of crisis communication studies find that the issues that arise during volcanic crises can often be mitigated during the ‘quiet times’ between eruptions. This project addresses how to engage the population near a volcano that is in this period of quiescence. The goal is to synthesize peer-reviewed research that investigates volcano hazard communication when the threat of eruption is low. By doing this, we will provide scientists and others working with the public recommendations for communication materials. This synthesis will offer suggestions from the academic literature for effectively engaging the public in communication about volcanos, what content messages could include, and what mediums are available to reach different audiences. These recommendations are intended to provide a baseline for scientists to think about the multiple ways to engage with the variety of audiences that live around their volcano of study; they are not intended to be a rigid formula that applies to every population. We have systematically gathered peer reviewed articles from Web of Science, Georef, and Google Scholar, using specific search terms generated through consultation with a University of Oregon librarian. Through the use of specific exclusion criteria, we have narrowed down the 330 resulting papers to a final list of 34 studies that provide suggestions on volcano communications during periods of quiescence. This project will use the advice found in these studies to create a reference for scientists as they create communication materials to disseminate to the public regarding a volcano. The results found include different mediums, such as virtual reality, hazard maps, films, social media, and various online tools that a scientist can utilize to convey their findings. There are also recommendations for different audiences, such as tourists, children, rural communities, and indigenous populations. By synthesizing the findings of these studies into a single document for a scientist to reference, we can help scientists to best engage the public in learning about a volcano during quiescence. 

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3. The Plant Science Blogging Project: A curriculum to develop student science communication skills

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10287  

   Iriart, Veronica; Forrester, Nicole J.; Ashman, Tia‐Lynn; Kuebbing, Sara E. (July 2022, PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET)

   Societal Impact StatementThe practice of writing science blogs benefits both the scientist and society alike by providing professional development opportunities and delivering information in a format that is accessible to large and diverse audiences. By designing a project that introduced upper‐level undergraduate students to science blog writing with a focus on plant biology, we piqued students' interest in science writing and the content of a popular plant science blog website. If adopted more widely, this work could broaden the scope of science education and promote the development of effective science communication skills for the next generation of scientists. SummarySuccessful scientists must communicate their research to broad audiences, including distilling key scientific concepts for the general public. Students pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields benefit from developing public communication skills early in their careers, but opportunities are limited in traditional biology curricula.We created the “Plant Science Blogging Project” for a Plant Biology undergraduate course at the University of Pittsburgh in Fall 2018 and 2019. Students wrote blog posts merging personal connections with plants with plant biology concepts for the popular science blogsPlant Love StoriesandEvoBites. By weaving biology into their narratives, students learned how to share botanical knowledge with the general public.The project had positive impacts on student learning and public engagement. In post‐assignment surveys, the majority of students reported that they enjoyed the assignment, felt it improved their understanding of plant biology, and piqued their interest in reading and writing science blogs in the future. Approximately one‐third of the student‐authored blogs were published, including two that rose to the top 10 most‐read posts on Plant Love Stories. Some dominant themes in student blogs, including medicine and culture, differed from common story themes published on the web, indicating the potential for students to diversify science blog content.Overall, the Plant Science Blogging Project allows undergraduate students to engage with plant biology topics in a new way, sharpen their scientific communication skills in accordance with today's world of mass information sharing, and contribute to the spread of scientific knowledge for public benefit. 

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4. Natural history museums are missing an opportunity to present research and collections on YouTube

   https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.16.676522  

   Ruzi, Selina A; Smith, Adrian A; Lee, Nicole M; Galvez, Nicolás J; Dinh, Timothy A (September 2025, bioRxiv)

   Abstract There have been repeated calls in the US for scientists to communicate the importance of biological collections to both a general public audience and to policy makers. Natural history museums that house both collections and research staff while maintaining online media presences, are well positioned to communicate that value. Our study aims to understand how these museums present themselves and their research and collections via YouTube. We created a standardized and repeatable 15-question codebook to categorize content and production choices in museum account YouTube posts. In total, we analyzed 437 videos posted by 28 natural history museums in the US in 2019 and 2023, showing that messages featuring museum science are uncommon. Instead, YouTube users are likely to encounter live event recordings or promotional content related to museum or exhibit information. Research and collections themed content represents an opportunity gap for museums to engage YouTube audiences in science. If natural history museums that maintain both collections and research staff want to answer the repeated calls of communicating the importance of collections in research, then we recommend either (1) incorporating research and collections into their other video types, and/or (2) looking to other YouTube channels, some of which are subsidiary to museum institutional accounts, as a model for research and collections content strategies. 

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5. A web-based tool for participatory science learning in the context of human psychology research

   Dikker, S.; Yetman-Michaelson, L.; Shevchenko, Y.; Burgas, K.; Chaloner, K.; Sole, M.; Davidesco, I.; Martin, R.; Matuk, C. (April 2022, International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning)

   We describe an online citizen science platform (www.mindhive.science) for human brain and behavior research that uses a participatory science learning approach to engage learners in the full spectrum of scientific inquiry. Building on an open science philosophy, it features a collaborative study design environment comprising an experiment builder, a database of validated tasks and surveys, and a public-facing study page; a peer review center where students are able to engage with and reflect on studies designed by peers from their own schools and schools around the globe; and GDPR-compliant data collection, data management, and data visualization and interpretation functionality. We describe student-initiated research generated during the COVID-19 pandemic to illustrate how the platform supports student-teacher-scientist community partnerships for participatory learning in authentic inquiry. 

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