I distinctly remember the moment I began my science communication journey. I was on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico reading Deep by James Nestor. Reading about the depths of the ocean and how no matter how deep we go we can find traces of human disturbance I became incredibly frustrated. Here I was on spring break of my freshman year of college, taking a break from learning about all of the different forms of environmental science, and there was nothing I could do as an individual to stop plastic from making its way to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. So I started posting on Instagram and sharing what I was learning in my classes. 

This is what good communication does. It frustrates you and inspires you all at the same time. Good communication acts as a bridge between you and the world you are learning about. Good science communication connects you with the world around you. As a science communicator, I am that bridge. I strive to frustrate and inspire my readers so that science can lead to change and that change can improve the world we live in, such as removing plastic from the bottom of the Marianas Trench.

This is why science communication is so important. In order to solve environmental problems, we need to be able to collaborate with other fields. Farmers, ranchers, scientists, industrial producers, and consumers all need to be able to understand each other and work together. This is what drew me to the Notation in Science Communication (NSC). Science communication can help people see their impact and industries see how they can make cost-effective and meaningful changes to improve their sustainability.

I grew up on a ranch in rural Oregon surrounded by cattle ranchers who deeply cared about the world around them, but weren’t always informed on environmental science. Coming to Stanford, the environmental science courses I was taking would mention large-scale agricultural practices and their impact on the environment, but often wouldn’t mention the more regenerative or grass-fed options that I grew up around. throughout my first two years at Stanford, I was still figuring out how to reconcile my upbringing in rural Oregon, knowing that my county wouldn’t survive without the cattle industry, and my desire to help build a more sustainable world. Science communication became the place where I could bring these two seemingly different views together.

Through the NSC, I learned valuable skills to help me inform my community about practices that would make their ranches more sustainable, and maybe, even more cost-effective. I also learned how to inform the science community in general about the necessity of agriculture. Throughout my time at Stanford, I mostly focused on marine science, but the same struggles and goals are present there as with agriculture. To this end, a lot of my focus in the NSC has been around bridging the gap between scientists and non-scientists. This focus on being a bridge also means that on multiple occasions I have written pieces for different audiences on the same topic. Throughout this portfolio, there are links between related artifacts. I wanted to make movement between these artifacts up to the reader. This allows people to focus on what they are interested in and find the pieces that are most relevant to their life.

Through the Notation in Science Communication, as demonstrated by the works in this portfolio, I have learned how to communicate scientific topics to a range of audiences using a variety of methods. I have grown from a student interested in marine biology to a marine scientist who can communicate her findings with everyone from fellow marine scientists to elementary students. By finding the story that the data or information is trying to tell I am able to craft compelling and effective communication. By including images and figures that build off of the text I help the reader to absorb the information from different sources. These are just a few of the strategies that I have gained from the NSC that help me to share my research with other scientists, get non-scientists excited about science, and communicate science that can inform people’s daily lives.

As you travel through my portfolio you will cross the bridge I am working to build between science and the general public. You will move from technical science through work meant to engage non-scientists, getting them excited about science, and on to works that use science to inform the decisions we make in daily life. Then you can go back. This is a constant cycle of science being made, communicated, and used that can move in both directions. Applications can make people curious about what other scientific findings might be out there and the science conducted by researchers often is meant to inform some component of our lives as humans, particularly with environmental science.