If a tree falls in the forest … well, you know the rest.
Fall/Winter 2022
If research is conducted in the forest (or lab or ocean or on a computer screen), does it make a metaphorical sound? We think it needs to thunder, reaching as many audiences as possible. Outreach serves as an amp, helping science get beyond the scientific community and into the ears of those who will use it and learn from it.
But good science outreach consists of two-way communication, so that scientists are learning about community concerns, too. Other best practices have emerged from recent research on effective science outreach. This issue’s cover story delves into what makes for high-quality science outreach, and explores some of the ways the faculty and students in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences use those best practices to get their science heard, but to listen to communities, as well.
In this issue, we also explore some recent CEOAS science worth crowing about. Learn why Dawn Wright’s nickname has gone from Deep-sea Dawn to Deepest-sea Dawn, and how various CEOAS scientists are using cutting-edge genetic techniques to study organisms invisible to the naked eye. We also follow graduate student Rachel Kaplan on an expedition to find whale food, and ask Samantha Chisholm Hatfield about her new role helping scientists connect with Traditional Ecological Knowledge in their research projects.
Enjoy, and please let us know what you think! We do love two-way communication.
Nancy Steinberg, Co-editor
Abby Metzger, Co-editor
