We’ve all heard the term STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. What about STEAM? The “A” stands for Art, because art is a beautiful and fun way to connect complex topics, attract interest to cool research, and explore science in new ways.
Science Talk and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society, are partnering together on a new project to connect scientists and artists/creators to create new creative products. #SciCommMake will form teams of scientists and artists while providing them with expert advice and the chance to win funding to create projects that share evidence-based scientific research findings with non-traditional scientific audiences. The project starts with a virtual match-making session and informational event on April 20th (time TBD). By the end of that session, scientists and artists will find partners and develop a project concept. Each team will then be paired with a scicomm coach to help them develop their project idea. Then, on April 30th, each team will pitch their idea to a panel of judges (and members of the scicomm public!). Two teams will be selected to receive $1,000 each to complete their projects, thanks to support from Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The two teams will have five months to create and test their products, which will be featured at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference from November 5–8, 2020, in Alexandria, Virginia, particularly during a public science day. In addition to the prize money, registration and travel expenses to the Sigma Xi conference will be provided for up to two members from each team. Products will also be featured at the Science Talk ’21 conference in Portland, Oregon. Are you a scientist who wants to share your work in a new and creative way? An artist excited to use your talents to make science fun and accessible? We’re looking for visual artists, musicians, graphic novelists, poets, videographers, and more! Sign up here to participate in this exciting new program. Priority will be given to attendees of the Science Talk ’20 virtual conference on March 26-27, where Sigma Xi CEO Jamie Vernon presented a talk about the project.
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By Alli Coffin, Science Talk President
 Get ready - Science Talk '20 is coming to a screen near you! Image: Meagan Gombart
We live in a crazy time. I’m writing this post from home, having just opened my emergency COVID-19 bottle of wine after the Governor of Washington State announced that all bars and restaurants are closed for at least the rest of March. Glad I stocked up on wine! While current events seem like something from a bad scifi movie, they aren’t...and we need real science to provide the best information. In our rapidly changing world, science communication is more important than ever before. Therefore, the Science Talk Executive Board decided to proceed with Science Talk ‘20 as a virtual, live-streamed event. I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first. Some of my favorite parts of Science Talk conferences are the informal networking - meeting people in line for coffee (it’s Portland - gotta have coffee!), greeting old friends and making new ones, and of course, the post-conference dance party. But I also love the excitement around scicomm, the exchange of ideas, the collaborations, and the community. Science Talk is the scicomm community and we are committed to bringing the community together on March 26-27. Dr. Kiki convinced me that a virtual conference is the wave of the future and I’m excited to experience Science Talk ‘20 using new technology. Once you register for the virtual conference, you will receive a secret link to enter the conference “facility” (like a secret door, but with more scicomm). From there, you can watch the keynote, panel discussion, and other sessions while simultaneously participating in the text chat during each session. We’ll have moderators for each session to keep the conversation moving. Watch for the secret link in your inbox on March 25th (and check your spam folder if you don’t see it - somehow spam filters don’t like us).
The breakout sessions will be moderated chat rooms around specific topics, such as online media, landing your first scicomm job, and evaluating the success of your scicomm project. No need to register for these sessions in advance - just select your breakout each day and join the conversation. We will also have moderated chatrooms for coffee (or other beverage) breaks - just bring your own beverage.
The virtual conference is an experiment for us and we ask your patience as we develop each component and bring them together. Our goal is a seamless virtual experience with the excitement, networking, and community building of our regular face-to-face event. Only thing missing is the dance party... See you online on March 26th! |
Pitch & ContributeWe are currently accepting pitches! A Science Blog
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