Category Archives: Community

arts & culture, Community, December 2017

Notes from the North – CMDB first year visit to MMCRI

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We frozen few doing our thesis work in the CMDB and genetics programs are always looking for ways to highlight some of the excellent resources we have at our institutes. Last month I had the pleasure of hosting the CMDB first year students and introducing them to the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough, Maine. They heard from the faculty here about potential rotation projects, but perhaps more importantly about the larger on-going projects that could become collaborative efforts between Maine and Boston. Here are some pictures of their visit and a link to the updated MMCRI website in case you too are interested in finding out about current MMCRI research.

 

Left to right CMDB first years Brittany Ahlstedt, Alexander Hu, Alice Meng, and Jackson Fatherree at Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park.

 

Left to right CMDB students Alice Meng, Brittany Ahlstedt, Jess Davis-Knowlton, Jackson Fatherree, and Alexander Hu at Duckfat in Portland.

Community, December 2017

Lessons from #GradStudentTax

The recent tax reform bill passed in the House caused much uproar in the academic community as it removed the provision in the current tax code that waives the students’ school tuition. This provision, known as qualified-tuition-reduction provision (section 117(d)(5)), allows for the waived tuition to be exempt from taxable income; removal of this provision would therefore add to the tax burden of the students, who are already living marginally with an average income of ~$30,000/year. Sackler students, who currently receive $33,500, would see their taxable income increase by ~$20,000 (annual tuition) which would push them to a higher tax bracket (15% to 25%). It should be noted that this tuition waiver provision does not affects students in their 6th or higher year of study at Sackler as tuition is not charged past the 5th year.

Fortunately, the Senate’s version of the new tax bill retains this provision, for now. It remains to be seen whether the merged version of the bill will keep or remove this provision. In the meantime, graduate students have been organizing nationwide; the Sackler graduate student council organized a call your representatives event last Tuesday. If you haven’t gotten a chance to make your voice heard yet, consider signing onto FASEB’s letter to Congress asking them to protect the waiver provision.

The fight to protect this provision has raised other questions among grad students, particularly, why do universities bill tuition and then waive it? It appears that the waiver is not done in the same manner across all private universities. For example, Cornell University considers its tuition waiver as a qualified scholarship, which is tax exempt and not affected by the removal of the provision in the House bill. But this still allows for the question to be asked as to why universities just don’t charge $0 for tuition or if they can NOT charge it after 5 years, why they can’t do it for the years before. The answer seems to lie with the fact that universities are using the billed tuition as a way to generate revenue, especially in the sciences. This may sound sinister, but the reality is more complex. As scientists & trainees supported mostly by government grants, we are all aware of the overhead & indirect costs that are involved with doing research and that a percentage of every grant awarded to a faculty member at the university is matched by the NIH and given to the university administration. This support is necessary for maintaining a research environment, but it also begs the question of whether taxpayer money should be used to fund administrations of private universities with large endowments, particularly at a time when budgets for scientific endeavors are being slashed. Additionally, given that private universities, which enjoy a non-profit status, are behaving more and more like for-profit institutions, one is left to wonder whose interests are being represented at the administrative level.

The grad student tax debate has also raised the question of the role of graduate students in the workplace. Traditionally, graduate students have been considered as trainees rather than employees and a certain paternalistic relationship exists between faculty/administration & graduate students. However, since the National Labor Relations Board’s decision to recognize graduate students as employees, thus allowing them to unionize, this trainee status is being questioned more and more. Graduate students have faced obstructions from the university administrations when they have tried to unionize, and faculty have been divided on the topic of whether students should unionize (one professor going as far to tell grad students to focus on work rather than wages). Tufts currently has a graduate student union, but the Sackler school doesn’t have one at the moment, reasons for which lie with the content student body and the lack of a teaching requirement as part of the stipend.

It seems that the tax bill requires major revisions, for reasons separate from the grad student tax. This gives us, academics, time to organize around this issue and keep putting pressure on our representatives to protect the tuition waiver for graduate students. This also allows us to have a broader discussion about the roles of graduate students in the workplace, and how universities use funds that they receive from the public through the government funding bodies. Transparency from the administration’s side is likely to win them more supporters among students and faculty alike, rather than a nebulous state of operations.

 

articles, arts & culture, Community, november 2017

Science Sketches at MMCRI

Very recently I found myself in a revelationary conversation with a non-scientific colleague as we were planning our annual exhibition for the Maine Science Festival. We needed a display that would highlight the molecular biology work we do at MMCRI that would be exciting and comprehensible to a broad audience plus a related hands-on activity that could be completed in just a few minutes. Pulling from the expertise of the folks attending the festival, I proposed that we have a display on our use of 3D silk scaffolds in modeling cancer. One of the hallmarks of the cancer cells compared to healthy cells is reduced lipid content, so the hands-on activity could be a demonstration of dye solubility with the explanation that this is how we measure lipid content in our cell populations.

Well, about halfway into the conversation I found that I had completely failed to convey A. the link between the silk scaffold models and the hands-on activity and B. the importance of dye solubility in highlighting specific structures and substances. Fortunately, my colleague asked me to take several steps back and was able to ask very specific questions such that I was able to reform my explanation for her. In the end, my idea was passed along, but the episode highlighted to me that despite all the opportunities I have to explain my science to both scientific and lay audiences I still need lots more practice.

This past summer at MMCRI we had an excellent opportunity to think in great depth about how to present our work in a concise and comprehensible manner: we produced Science Sketches! A Science Sketch is a two-minute or less video summary of a scientific topic. I have seen examples of more universal basic scientific principles as well as very specific projects.

All sketches start as an idea or concept that the writer wants to convey to their audience. The writer must decide who their audience will be, as this will dictate the vocabulary and the level of explanation that needs to be employed. Science Sketches has a great tutorial to help writers as they get started telling their stories. They recommend a 300-word script with no jargon that has been proofread by several colleagues and assessed using online tools that highlight terms above a given reading level. With a complete script, you can start putting together a storyboard that illustrates every sentence.

The sketches generally utilize pen and ink drawing on copy paper or white board, but they can also employ cut paper shapes, building blocks, or other props to illustrate an idea. They can be made very rapidly and at very little expense as they are often filmed using a cell-phone camera mounted on a ring stand.  The writer films him or herself drawing or moving paper cut outs, records his or her script, then uses video editing software to compress the video and match it to the audio. The writer can take as long as he or she likes drawing the images as they can be sped up to whatever speed is necessary using the editing software.

Video summaries of scientific concepts have been around for a long time, and I am particularly fond of this trippy vintage recording of translation, but organizing an approachable tutorial that anyone can carry out is a novel model. Science Sketches arose at the Max Plank Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden Germany as a collaboration between the institute’s postdoc program manager, Lisa Dennison, PhD, and the Hyman lab. More recently, Science Sketches has focused on improving their public engagement, so Liam Holt, PhD of NYU, became involved and helped them develop their science fundamentals video series.

I found this summer’s workshop challenging but rewarding. I had to take a high altitude view of my project again after months of detailed experiments in order to highlight the key features of my work and keep my audience’s attention for the full two minutes. It also gave me an excuse to binge watch lots of science vignettes, making me feel really well rounded and intelligent for a day, as I decided how I wanted to construct my own video. Hope you enjoy!

articles, Community, november 2017

The Perks of Resting Your White Matter

All images used here are released under Creative Commons CC0. The author would like to thank her good friend E.C. for help in editing this article.

While the stigma of mental health issues has begun to lessen somewhat in recent years, it’s still very present in our society. Let’s take a moment to talk honestly about mental health and work/life balance.

Graduate students have a high risk of having or developing mental health issues
In a paper published in the Journal of Medical Education in 1984, Heins et al. studied perceived stress in medical, law, and graduate students. While the authors acknowledged that stress is related to doing graduate work regardless of program, they caution that overabundance of stress is, paradoxically, likely to be detrimental to the learning process (Heins et al. 1984). Even in the 80s, scientists were studying and acknowledging mental health issues resulting from too much stress, and the importance of its management in post-secondary education. So why has it taken so long to address this, even in everyday society?

Aside from the inertia created by social norms, there doesn’t seem to be a reasonable answer to this. Graduate students face an extraordinarily high amount of pressure, including the their own expectations and those of their peers, funding concerns, publishing, and finding a job once their degree is finally obtained (Hyun et al. 2006). A small study of Ph.D. students in Flanders, Belgium indicated that the risk having or developing a common psychiatric disorder, such as anxiety or depression, was 2.43 times higher in Ph.D. students than in the highly educated general population (Levecque et al. 2017). A similar pattern was published in the Graduate Student Happiness & Well-Being Report from University of California, Berkeley, where 28-64% of graduate students scored as being depressed (depending on the field of study; biological sciences scored 43-46%) (University of California, Berkeley 2014). This study’s top ten predictors of overall graduate student well-being are:

1. Career Prospects
2. Overall Health
3. Living Conditions
4. Academic Engagement
5. Social Support
6. Financial Confidence
7. Academic Progress & Preparation
8. Sleep
9. Feeling Valued and Included
10. Advisor Relationship

So, what does this mean?

Work-life balance is important
You may be protesting, “I am in graduate school. I am extremely busy and I simply don’t have time to do things outside of work.” Good news: studies show that taking breaks can boost your focus (Ariga and Lleras 2011; Finkbeiner et al. 2014; Zacher et al. 2016). There are lots of opportunities hidden within your day-to-day life that you can seize, if you know where to look. Not convinced? Try taking just one extra hour of time for yourself per week for a few months and see if your stress levels decrease. Here are some beneficial things to try during that hour:

Get some exercise
The gym in Sackler is free and readily accessible for students, but there are lots of other things you could do. Running is a great, rhythmic option that can double as a jam session to your favorite tunes. High-impact exercise not your style? Try taking a stroll with a friend to get some bubble tea and fresh air! Or take advantage of the weekly “Walk with the Dean” that Dean Jay recently implemented. The Student Advisory and Health Administration Office has also sponsored beginner’s level yoga and meditation, which will hopefully continue in future semesters.

Catch more zzz’s
Most of the time, caffeine does a passable job at convincing us that sleep isn’t all that important after all, right? As miraculous (and delicious!) as coffee is, the caffeine-induced buzz just isn’t a substitute for getting enough sleep. It’s very difficult to commit to a full 8 hours every night (and some of us may not even need quite that much), but if you are consistently running low on sleep, try committing to just an extra half hour each night. At the very least, you’ll get another 3.5 hours per week, which is a step in the right direction!

Start talking
Open a dialogue with your colleagues about mental health and well-being. You might be surprised by how many people have something to say on the topic, and by starting a conversation, you will play an active role in decreasing the stigma surrounding mental health. This can be a particularly helpful and important step if you are feeling alone, frustrated, helpless, or overwhelmed. If opening up to a friend is too daunting, you can also take advantage of peer-to-peer mentoring. Groups like Tufts Mentoring Circles aim to support students (and Postdocs!) through topics such as applying for jobs, time management, conflict resolution, and, of course, work/life balance.

Know where to go for help
Did you know that Tufts has a Student Wellness Advisor? This resource is available to all students on the Boston Health Science Campus. Our Wellness Advisor, Sharon “Snaggs” Gendron is here to help us manage the everyday stress of being graduate students. She can also refer students struggling with depression, anxiety, or other mental health challenges to clinicians who can help. You can read more about how to get in touch with the Wellness Advisor here.

If any of this sounds familiar and you want to try changing your habits, you’re in luck! There are two Wellness Gatherings coming up, one on November 15th from 3 PM – 4:30 PM and one on December 14th from 2:30 PM – 4 PM, in the Sackler 4th floor Reading Room. Take a few minutes to stop by and meet the Wellness Advisor (and a Canine Companion)!

A final note…
TL;DR? You are important and your health is paramount. Keep in mind that the definition of ‘health’ is not limited to the physical realm; you need to take care of your mind and feelings just as much as the rest of you.

Finally, and this cannot be emphasized enough, if you are struggling with mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, or suicidal thoughts, please seek help. You are not alone. In the event of a crisis, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 at 1 (800) 273-8255.

Literature Cited
Ariga A and Lleras A. (2011) Brief and rare mental ‘‘breaks’’ keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements. Cognition 118:439-443.

Finkbeiner KM, Russell PN, and Helton WS. (2016) Rest improves performance, nature improves happiness: Assessment of break periods on the abbreviated vigilance task. Conscious Cogn 42:277-285.

Heins M, Fahey SN, and Leiden LI. (1984) Perceived stress in medical, law, and graduate students. J Med Educ 59:169-179.

Hyun JK, Quinn BC, Madon T, and Lustig S. (2006) Graduate student mental health: needs assessment and utilization of counseling services. J Coll Stud Dev 47(3):247-266.

Levecque K, Answeel F, De Beuckelaer A et al. (2017) Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Res Policy 46:868-879.

University of California, Berkeley. (2014) The Graduate Assembly: Graduate student happiness & well-being report. http://ga.berkeley.edu/wellbeingreport/. Accessed 31 October 2017.

Zacher H, Brailsford HA, and Parker SL. (2014) Micro-breaks matter: A diary study on the effects of energy management strategies on occupational well-being. J Vocat Behav 85:287-297.

Community, Events for Students, October 2017

ICYMI: Short course on Introduction to Drug Development

The fall semester is in full swing here at Tufts, and Dean Dan Jay’s mission to “train to career excellence” is already palpable. You may have noticed that you received an e-mail alerting you to new course offerings at Tufts this fall: a career coaching workshop that also includes one-on-one sessions with career strategist Sarah Cardozo Duncan (this took place on October 16, 2017) as well as a short, five-week course on drug development, led by Tufts alumnus and Agios Pharmaceuticals’ director of enzymology Stefan Gross, PhD.

As a “senior grad student” (don’t call me that to my face), the impending decisions of career paths are pressing on me. Since I had met Stefan at other Sackler events–he gave a DMCB seminar as well as judged our flash talk competition last spring–I knew he was a fantastic scientist and speaker. I jumped at the opportunity to learn from him first hand about the work he is involved in, and registered for his course on drug development. In this edition of “In Case You Missed It,” I’ll be sharing with you my experience at our first class. Perhaps it will inspire you to also take other career training courses that we anticipate will be offered in the coming semesters!

In this first class, Stefan talked about developing drugs for strategically selected diseases- for example, rare genetic diseases that are relatively uncommon but are actually prevalent enough for a substantial patient population (and ultimately drug consumer population) to exist. We reviewed a specific example that covered the series of experimental techniques performed toward developing treatments for an example of a category of rare genetic diseases, Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG). As the name CDG suggests, these conditions are due to defective glycosylation, the ubiquitously important process in which a carbohydrate is attached to a molecule to enable its structural or functional role. Glycosylation defects can occur at many different points of sugar production, and for every affected step in the pathway, there can be an associated disease. We learned about how to design an experiment to screen thousands of compounds that might rescue enzymatic activity of phosphomannomutase 2 (PMM2), a defective enzyme in a type of CDG. Moving forward, we also learned how to follow up on and validate hits from a screen and then progress those compounds through a drug development program.

Just from this first meeting, I can tell this course is unlike any other I have taken at Tufts (and as a one-time Immunology, now-CMDB student, trust me, I have taken many). The mix of graduate students and postdocs, as well as the presence of our Deans Dan and Dan, creates a new kind of diversity and range of experience that results in many thought provoking questions, comments, and discussions. I look forward to completing the class goals outlined by Stefan, which are to familiarize ourselves with the small molecule drug discovery process and current state-of-the-art concepts in drug discovery, and to conduct a company diligence exercise. Towards the first two goals, we will be learning about procedures carried out at industrial companies that often require resources graduate students like ourselves could only dream of, like simultaneously testing thousands of 96-well plates with tens of thousands of compounds in a screen. By thinking about science through a lens in which we are enabled with benefits like these, experiments can be designed in a completely different way. Furthermore, the third goal of the course, to conduct a company diligence exercise, is meant to prepare us for an interview at a biotech company, something that your microbial genetics course may not.

Keep an eye out for announcements for career-oriented course offerings in the future. These are great opportunities for those of us who may be interested in transitioning to a career in industry after grad school, and even for those who have other paths in mind but are still curious about the inner workings of industrial procedures!

articles, Community, Events for Students, October 2017

Michael Irwin, MD, to deliver 42nd Charlton Lecture, Oct 25

The 42nd annual Charlton lecture will be held on Wednesday, October 25, 4-5.30 pm, in the Sackler DeBlois Auditorium. The lectureship, established in 1975 in honor of Mr. Earle P. Charlton, has since evolved to include a poster competition that serves as a platform to recognize outstanding research work performed by graduate and professional students on the medical school campus. This year, the poster competition will be held on Tuesday, October 24 and Wednesday, October 25 in Sackler 114. 

The keynote lecture will be delivered by Dr. Michael Irwin, the Norman Cousins Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science  at UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, Director of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the UCLA Semel Institute, Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at the UCLA Semel Institute, and Director of the Center’s Inflammatory Biology Core. 

Mr. Earle P. Charlton was a renowned entrepreneur and a social benefactor, as exemplified by his legacy, the Charlton Trust. Mr. Charlton established a chain of stores throughout Massachusetts back in 1890, before merging with the Woolworth company and expanding to the west and Canada. The Woolworth company would later go on to acquire several brands throughout the twentieth century. However, due to increased competition in the retail sector, the company chose to focus on a select brands and is today represented by the Foot Locker stores. Mr. Charlton passed away in 1930, and is commemorated by the Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, MA, a town which benefitted greatly from his entrepreneurship and generosity. (Source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._P._Charlton_%26_Company)

About the Speaker

Dr. Michael Irwin, the Norman Cousins Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science  at UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, Director of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the UCLA Semel Institute, Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at the UCLA Semel Institute, and Director of the Center’s Inflammatory Biology Core. His ongoing work is focused on the “reciprocal interactions between the immune- and central nervous systems, and the role of sleep disturbance on the molecular and cellular inflammatory signaling pathways that influence depression- and physical health risk with a focus on cancer survivors and older adults” (source). 

Dr. Irwin is best known for his pioneering studies that showed the relation between stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and the immune system through receptor activation mediated mechanisms. He also showed that b-adrenergic receptors played a major role in inflammation and anti-viral immunity in a variety of disease conditions ranging from physiological to psychosomatic ones. His broad range of work integrates data at various levels of biological investigation – from the mechanistic details of signaling pathways to epidemiological data and clinical case studies. He is also the recipient of a large number of awards for his ground-breaking work. More details on his work can be found here. 

articles, Community, September 2017

Greentown Labs is at the Forefront Boston’s Cleantech Industry

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In the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, I feel compelled to understand what cleantech strategies are currently available to tackle climate change. California’s cleantech industry was an obvious thought that came to mind. Over the past decade, California’s institutions and companies have been leaders in the U.S. market for producing clean energy and biodegradable materials. This past summer, the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in the Bay Area received federal funding for innovation in biofuels and bioproducts. Since its inception, JBEI has yielded several startups that are committed to engineering microbes and crops to convert sugars into high-value renewable fuels. But where does Massachusetts stand in the cleantech industry? Fortunately, we’re not too far behind.

The nation’s largest cleantech startup incubator actually exists right here in Massachusetts. The Somerville incubator Greentown Labs hosts more than 100 startup companies and has raised over $200 million in investor funding since its founding. There is an emphasis on solar, wind, and wastewater technology in this incubator that is very unique. For example, the startup WrightGrid has developed a single solar-panel-based charger for robust cell phone charging in rural areas. Furthermore, SolChroma has developed full-color reflective digital billboards that reduce light pollution and energy costs in big cities. The company Sistine Solar can come to your home and design personalized solar panels in all aesthetic shapes and colors, enticing homeowners to switch to solar energy. One company that piqued my interest was Spyce, a startup intersecting food and technology. The company has developed a robotic kitchen that can serve meals with fresh ingredients in less than five minutes. The robotic kitchen is compact and reduces the amount of space and manpower that is typically needed at restaurants to prepare meals.

For the global market, Greentown Labs hosts Promethean Power Systems, a company that manufacturers rural refrigeration systems in off-grid and partially electrified areas of developing countries. In the same vein, Ivys Energy Solutions provides renewable hydrogen fuel cells to the international market. For the agrigulture sector, Raptor Maps fuses drone-based imaging technology to detect pest and weed infestation so to reduce water usage and nutrient management. Multisensor Scientific has also developed imaging capabilities to visualize and quantify in real-time methane leaks from natural gas infrastructures, thus reducing harmful methane emissions that are driving climate change. In the materials sector, Alkemy Environmental recycles industrial waste into lightweight concrete. For water management, Aquafresco is reinventing how we do laundry through a wastewater recycling invention that reduces the amount of water we use by 95%

Just a week ago, Tufts University collaborated with Greentown Labs to support cleantech solutions. The agreement between the parties will allow them to share their expertise, resources, and networks. The collaboration is also exciting because it allows for startups run by Tufts affiliates to directly become members of Greentown Labs. Currently Greentown Labs is tight on space but they are opening up a new building in Somerville next month to host more startups. The expansion of Greentown Labs is very promising for the future of cleantech in the Boston area. Just like Kendall is synonymous with biotech, in the next few years Somerville will be synonymous with yuppies, hipsters, and, perhaps, cleantech.

References:

http://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2017/06/19/synthetic-genomics-breakthrough-algae-produces-twice-as-much-oil/#

 

https://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/tufts-university-collaborates-somervilles-greentown-labs-support-inventive-clean

 

https://www.wheretraveler.com/boston/eat/boston-food-tech-future-just-got-delicious

 

https://www.greentownlabs.com/about/

 

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2017/07/17/doe-renews-jbei-funding/

Community, Events for Students, Mentoring & Outreach

New England Graduate Women in Science & Engineering Retreat, August 19th

NE GWiSE Inaugural Retreat!

New England Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (“N-E-G-wise”) is a new alliance between groups of graduate women in STEM from universities in Boston and across New England. We’re joining forces to address the issues facing graduate women in STEM. Join us for our first event, the NE GWiSE Inaugural Retreat, this summer! Details can be found below or at our website, https://negwise.wordpress.com .

Description: Come join us at NE GWiSE’s Inaugural Retreat- a day of connecting graduate women from different universities and collaborating to help make NE GWiSE an organization that can effectively address the issues we face and create change within our community.

We will start off the day being inspired by our opening keynote speaker (TBD). Next, we will have introductions by partner GWISE groups and breakout sessions to discuss how NE GWiSE will function. Finally, we’ll end the day with a scavenger hunt and BBQ social! This is a great opportunity to meet graduate women from different departments and universities, share best practices and recurring issues, and foster collaborations and friendships across the region. We hope to see you there!

Registration closes August 16th at 5pm so sign up now!

Date: Saturday, August 19th, 2017

Time: Registration is 12-1 pm, Opening Keynote starts at 1 pm, Event goes until ~7 pm

Location: BU College of Graduate Arts and Sciences and BU Beach

Coffee and snacks will be served throughout the event. Dress is casual.

 

 

articles, Community, Events for Students, May 2017, Mentoring & Outreach

Now what? Science Activism Beyond the March

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The effects of the March and the outpouring of support for scientific research and evidence-based policymaking are already showing, as exemplified by the increase in NIH funding approved by the Congress instead of the Trump administration’s proposed cuts. However, this should not make us complacent in our demands. The EPA’s scientific advisory board is being replaced by representatives of agencies it is meant to regulate, climate change action is still being hindered and the environment is increasingly threatened, and the anti-vaxxers just succeeded in invoking an outbreak of measles in Minnesota. As Dr. Harris Berman, along with the deans of other medical schools in Boston, recently wrote “We must harness this energy and ensure that the March for Science on Saturday marks the beginning of closing the rift that got us here in the first place”, we should also ensure that this march becomes the global movement it is meant to be. The enthusiasm & sense of urgency that brought out the scientists out on the streets on April 22 should be harnessed to battle the anti-science hysteria currently spreading across the nation. The only way to do it would be to not isolate, but engage the public, to whom we have a responsibility for putting their faith in us, in meaningful ways to improve science literacy through relevant communication. Here we present some additional resources for you to get engaged in science activism after the March:

  • Communicate Your Science – Increasing visibility of scientists and science among the general public would help to shore popular support for scientific research. The #ActualLivingScientist campaign on social media helped dispel the alienation between the scientific community and the people who support their work. Share the importance of your work by writing or speaking about it online or offline. For example, check out The People’s Science’s new initiative, The Field Project, where researchers are encouraged to write a brief summary of their work for the “broadest possible audience”. Talk about your work and how you got into scientific research through our “Humans of Sackler”. Or even better, write for us if you want to practice your writing and communicating skills. Visibility Matters!
  • Volunteer in Science Outreach – The greater Boston area provides ample opportunities for science outreach programs, especially with large-scale events like Cambridge Science Festival. On a smaller scale, you can volunteer for the BIOBUGS, the Brain Bee, the annual mentoring opportunity at Josiah Quincy Upper School and more. Keep an eye out for emails re: these events & more from the Sackler Graduate Student Council.
  • Engage in Policy Action – Since the election, scientists have started to take on political action themselves. One such group is 314 action, who seeks to elect “more leaders to the U.S. Senate, House, State Executive & Legislative offices who come from STEM backgrounds”. The Union of Concerned Scientists, who have been fighting for evidence-based policy to solve social & environmental problems since 1969, hosts an advocacy resource where you can learn how to take action with or without getting involved with the organization. If you would like to write about policy, this writing program by Rescuing Biomedical Research can be your first foray into that world. You can also get involved with the new student organization at Sackler, Scientists Promoting INclusive Excellence #@ Sackler (SPINES), which seeks to increase visibility of minority scientists among other goals.
  • Educate Yourself – If you are not sure on how best to participate in science activism, you can start by learning. Follow the official March for Science blog to learn how the movement is advancing. Check out this online class being offered by faculty from University of Michigan on how to “more effectively discuss knowledge”. Get involved with the Emerson Science Communication Collaborative between Emerson media students and Sackler students. For an even extensive gamut of resources, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has an online toolkit for you to start getting involved!

If you know of any other organizations or groups involved in science literacy, education, outreach & communication, please leave us a comment below!