Floating Away In Space

The Public Science Communication seminar class today turned out to be more than a seminar aimed at honing our skills in science communication. The speaker, Peggy Whitson happens to be an astronaut at NASA, in addition to being a Rice alum. Endowed with sharp wit and a great sense of humor, it was hard not to be awed as she walked us through the plethora of research areas and activities that have been going on in the International Space Station (ISS) While many of us have frequented videos and interviews of famous astronauts, being in the same room with someone who has walked in space was surreal to me

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Space culture is a legacy, involving international collaboration. This brings me to one of the most interesting realizations that while progress in science is made when people who practice it achieve success, leaving behind a culture and a legacy that makes people think and pursue new frontiers is success of a different kind altogether- one that shape civilizations. One of the many objectives of the Public Science Communication Seminar course has been to make students aware of the many mediums through which science can be communicated. What Peggy Whitson communicated today, however was an experience that gave me a new perception towards science. I have heard numerous times that science is an evolving field, something that changes with time, as discoveries are made, as an hypothesis is established (or rejected) after years of hard work. But one cannot deny the challenges of being stuck miles away from the Earth, and confronted with an emergency that can be life threatening. While there are decisions to be made by astronauts in space based on the knowledge base of the ground crew, it indeed is like taking a leap of faith

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It was fascinating to hear about how different life is in space. The aspect of physically being in space is like a timed choreography in itself she recounted and coming from an astronaut who has been a part of four space walks, this resonates stronger than everything that she shared.

As she spoke about the struggles of life in zero gravity, it became evident that the success of a space mission depends not only on the frontiers that are achieved in space, but also the operation of the ground  crew

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What I took away from this seminar was how science communication is as much about being able to communicate successfully the struggles every scientist faces that lie buried under the numerous success stories that become popular. That collaborations and pushing oneself outside comfort zones is needed, if progress is to be made. I believe that talking science is never hard, setting the right stage for it, is. 

Science and Beyond

After attending ComSciConHouston 2018, a two day workshop focused to communicate science to the public, I am finally about to start writing about science. The key to successful science communication it seems lies in being able to talk about science at a level that even a five year old can understand what you are trying to get through. And as easy as it might sound, the struggle in toning down your work or research in easy to understand terms is real. It is hard to present your research in a way that is concise but still accurate. On the first day of the workshop, when I was asked to give a three minute spiel of what my research is about, I had no idea how certain terms I had assumed to be commonly understood by people turned out to be obscure and were labelled jargon. 

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And so the most important lesson I learnt was to level off the ground for people to make them care about what you have to say. We had some amazing panel discussions and insights about the real struggles associated with communicating science where all the panelists had a singular advise: get rid of jargon and turn your research into a narrative, so that the audience (or anyone you are trying to communicate with) can feel the connection; can understand that your science is not about you alone. Someone called it "Explain and not name" and I felt indeed how critical it was, especially in  this  era of digital information overload; where people often might not read or even listen to content that is not compelling enough to them. And the only way to make them care is to hook them to your story. 

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I also learnt some fun facts: 

#1.There is something called Kardashian index which is a measure of the gap between a scientist's digital (social media) presence and the number of citations. Apparently, science needs it own share of tweets and facebook likes. 

#2. Networking is as important as doing research.

#3. Well you still need a Real Job, I was told. Ironically, even though based on facts and driven by science, a lot of people still do not consider science communication as a real job. 

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When I started grad school, I had little idea about what science communication was, let alone practice it. But like everything that we learn slowly and become adept at, communicating science is an art that needs practice. 

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ComSciConHouston 2018 has been a great starting point for me. I met some amazing people. It was indeed wonderful to be in a room full of people, united by the singularity of their passion not only towards science, but also driven to bringing it out for people. At the end of the day, it is all about reaching out and taking chances for the things that you truly care about. #comscicon