Announcing the SciCommBites 2023 Team!

We are thrilled to announce our SciCommBites 2023 Admin and Author teams, and we will resume posting next week!

In this post, our returning team members look back at how they’ve grown what they’ve achieved because of SciCommBites. We also introduce our new authors cohort.

A Look Back from our Admin Team!

One way I’ve grown because of SciCommBites:

SciCommBites has given me a wonderful opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone and to grow as a science communicator. I’ve had the pleasure of writing on creative and out-of-the-box topics that I normally would not be able to write about at my day-to-day at medical writing job. It’s also taught me how to collaborate and coordinate with amazing colleagues from all different walks of life, without ever having been in the same room!

One thing I’ve achieved because of SciCommBites:

It might not be a lot, but I’m proud of putting out 5 articles with SCB over the last year that have been read by hundreds of people!

One way I’ve grown because of SciCommBites:

SciCommBites has helped me grow not only as a writer (making explanations of science shorter, snappier, and easier to understand), but as an editor! This has been invaluable in evaluating my own writing as I prepare manuscripts for publication on my own research!

One thing I’ve achieved because of SciCommBites:

I’m incredibly proud of the pieces I’ve published with SciCommBites – I’ve been able to attend conferences as a pressmember (which was really fun when I was able to connect with some people I covered at other conferences!), and I’m really proud to announce that one of my Beyond pieces was reprinted in Photonics Focus, the SPIE society magazine!

One way I’ve grown because of SciCommBites:

Attending conferences and covering them for SciCommBites was a great experience- I learned how to synthesize talks into written summaries, and how to be a better scicommer by hearing from amazing scicommers and attending workshops at the conferences! Now, when I make presentations I think about some of the workshops I attended and it’s made my research presentations so much better! Additionally, writing for SciCommBites really let me explore different topics of science communication and help me realize that I’m interested in how science communication can inform people about human health and the environment.

One thing I’ve achieved because of SciCommBites:

I landed an internship with the Science Communicators of North Carolina this year, and I don’t think it would have been possible without SciCommBites! They mentioned that my writing and editing experience (thanks to SciCommBites) helped my application!

One way I’ve grown because of SciCommBites:

Through SciCommBites I’ve learned how to work with a team to turn a vision into reality: building one bridge between scicomm research and practice. It took years of after-work meetings, growing to-do lists, and increasing community investment. I’m grateful for the financial support of SCTN; for the generous time and expertise of my admin colleagues Stephanie Deppe and Niveen AbiGhannam; for the commitment and creativity of our authors; and for the interest and support of our readers.

One thing I’ve achieved because of SciCommBites:

I’ve connected SciCommBites with SciComm Conferences (SCTN, SciTalk, No Coast SciComm) to cover their proceedings. Our authors have benefited from opportunities to learn and network, and the conferences have benefited from detailed summaries of their proceedings made available to the public on SciCommBites. I hope to keep building these connections as SciCommBites continues to grow.

One way I’ve grown because of SciCommBites:

Being an author and editor for SciCommBites has been an extremely gratifying experience. I am grateful for the opportunity to share the science of scicomm with the broader community of science communicators. I learned so much about new research and enjoyed the connections and friendships developed along the way. I am especially thankful for the leadership and commitment to excellence from our cofounders, admins, and authors.

One thing I’ve achieved because of SciCommBites:

Because of SciCommBites, I explored a whole new territory for me of creating video posts featuring scicomm book authors. I really enjoyed this experience that pushed me to step outside of my comfort zone (writing!).

One way I’ve grown because of SciCommBites:

It’s been so rewarding to create a vision for an initiative and learn how to connect with individuals and organizations to improve upon and adapt that vision and turn it into something real. I’m so thrilled with and proud of the impact SCB is already making in connecting research with practice.

One thing I’ve achieved because of SciCommBites:

Because of SciCommBites, I’ve been able to network and become established within the larger SciComm Trainers Network. Thanks to SciCommBites I earned a spot as a Board member for SCTN!

Welcoming Our New Authors Team!

I’m a Civic Science Fellow with Ciencia Puerto Rico. I come from a public health background but have been slowly transitioning to the Science Communication world, so I’m very excited to be involved with SciCommBites! I’m very interested in science communication focused on Latine and conservative audiences, and I’m hoping to explore those interests with you all.

Coming soon on SciCommBites: Are we really being inclusive by using latinx?

I am in my final year of my PhD at Vanderbilt University in Cell and Developmental Biology. I study how the small intestine structure is built at the cellular and protein level using a lot of different forms of microscopy. I’m pursuing sci comm as a future career, and am excited to join y’all! I’m most excited about examining art as a form of sci comm, given that it can act as a universal language. Can’t wait to get started

Coming soon on SciCommBites: The Adventures of Science Communication: Using comics to engage young audiences

I’m a graduate student in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. My research focuses on engineering ribosomes, but I’ll spare the details on that and talk about Sci Comm!

Until now, my writing has been focused on science news articles and faculty profiles in our local, graduate student run magazine. However, I care deeply about communications of science for historically marginalized groups, and I believe research is crucial in order to connect and build trust with these communities. Much of this lies in my upbringing as a queer Boricua, and I hope to bring that fully into my work for SciCommBites.

Coming soon on SciCommBites: Hitting the breaks on the hype train: audience perception of uncertainty in science media

I’m a final year masters thesis student at IISER Mohali India, majoring in biology and minoring in science communication and education. I’ve been drawn to scicom since the second year of my undergrad and been actively involved in understanding scicom in India and abroad. I’m planning on pursuing sci com as my upcoming career and I’m so thrilled being on board with such a talented and vibrant community. I look forward to a year of learning and growing!

Coming soon on SciCommBites: We(men) in science-Understanding the Matilda effect in science communication

I’m a Research Lab Technician at McMaster University, where I work in the field of diet microbe interactions. I became involved with science communication during my masters after hearing about it during a workshop. I wanted to expand on my scicomm skills and communicate more about innovate scicomm research/methods.

Coming soon on SciCommBites: <Yes! Science Communication for Pre-School Children>

I’m a TV Assistant Producer based in London, primarily pitching and researching ideas for new documentary series. I did a Science Communication MSc at UWE Bristol and since then have continued to be fascinated by scicomm, both the academic and the practical, everything from social media to museums. Looking forward to writing more in the science communication space and meeting all of you (at least online!)

Coming soon on SciCommBites: Putting the Community back into SciComm

I’m a Physics graduate, I worked for the Science Museum Group, and am now a postgraduate student studying Science Communication at UCL. I am currently quite interested in the role SciComm plays in community partnership/ wider social justice projects and how different narratives of science can be/are utilized within these projects. I am very excited to get involved in SciCommbites.

Coming soon on SciCommBites: Social Media is teaching CPR using slim white male mannikins and it’s a problem

One way I’ve grown because of SciCommBites:

I learned more about different forms of editing and how to work with colleagues to improve drafts both as a writer and as an editor. It was fun to write “Scientists Behaving Badly” and “Will the Real coronavirus Please Stand Up? Those were definitely out of my usual wheelhouse.

One thing I’ve achieved because of SciCommBites:

I’ve gotten a chance to talk about more kinds of science communications research than I was accustomed to encountering when I studied science communication in grad school.