The Multiple Facets of Being a Scientist

This week I want to talk about the lesser known aspects of life as a scientist that go unnoticed, either because the occurrences are not photogenic in nature or because they seem exceptionally commonplace. However, science is an enormous field of study and with it, only a limited amount of information is shown to the general public about the work of a scientist. Even though we have scientific media coverage in newspapers, television media, and more increasingly, scientific news publications, the stories we read and pictures we see are often misinterpreted through the media chain. Therefore, I want to highlight two tasks that scientists take on that are either not well represented in the media, or perhaps misrepresented in the media, to show you what it's like to be a scientist.

The first facet is one that is not photogenic (though here's a photo of what it might look like): data analysis. While much of my time as a scientist is spent writing proposals for research projects and funding and then going into the field or into the lab to run the experiments, there's an overwhelming amount of time that I spend running data analyses and drafting a narrative that explains the patterns shown by the data. The process is me sitting at a computer, typing away, and it is not interesting for any onlookers. Thankfully, Dr. Ingels showed me a wonderful data analysis software that I am using for my research that doesn't require me to code the information manually. Instead, the software resembles Excel, and is really user-friendly.

The second, more visible aspect of being a scientist is community outreach events and science outreach in general. Historically, scientists have done an awful job of translating their research to the public. Lack of clear communication between scientists and policymakers, community groups, and other members of the public, is potentially a reason for the lack of trust in the scientific community we see quite often. This lack of clear communication by scientists is mirrored by a similar distortion of scientific results by the media, and sometimes by other scientists. It is quite easy to take scientific findings out of context to support a narrative, and when scientists are interviewed by magazines or newspapers, often the writer will choose the most exciting information and omit some of the nuance involved in the research. Therefore, science outreach is an effective way for scientists to meet with the public to provide clear narratives about what occurs in local systems, the results of novel research, or even to encourage new scientific minds through hands-on workshops. Tomorrow (Friday), I will be attending a science outreach event held by one of the undergraduates in our lab, who will be leading a presentation on how we use nematodes and copepods (other small marine animals) to assess environmental health. I will be presenting a short segment on microplastics pollution in the hopes of clarifying some of the information presented by the general media, and to potentially introduce individuals to some of the more invisible aspects of the microplastics problem. I can't wait to have this opportunity, as I love talking about science, and if you happen to be in the Wakulla County area, please consider RSVPing and stopping by to the wonderful event (4pm at the Wakulla County Public Library www.surveymonkey.com/r/WakullaPerry).

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