So this Monday started like most Mondays, with a backlog of emails from the weekend. Applicants unable to sign into their accounts. Grantees asking when we’ll be featuring their work on the cover of our magazine. NGS media folks asking my opinion about the newest and hottest archaeological discoveries. Crazy people calling to tell my voicemail that they’ve discovered an Egyptian pyramid under their basement. That sort of thing.
All-in-all, it’s not a bad life. I act as NatGeo’s resident “expert” in six disciplines (anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, geography, geology, and paleontology), and serve these six disciplines by helping scholars to get research grants and media attention from NatGeo. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and I wake up every morning feeling good about my role in it.
I spent most of the afternoon reading grantee reports from the field, looking for any that might have media interest, and reading over a few pre-applications to see if they’re “ready for primetime.” Applying to the National Geographic Society for a research grant is tough, because your short application will be peer-reviewed by your colleagues, but then decided upon by a panel of scientists in all different fields (from anthropology to zoology). To help, we have a “pre-application” (1-page abstract) step that is sent only to the Program Officer, and s/he decides whether the applicant is striking the correct “tone” and has checked the right boxes. Do they have a research question? Check. Is their methodology clear and lacking jargon? Check. Do they successfully explain why anyone should care? Check. Once we give the OK, the applicant receives an email back from us with a link to a full application, which s/he then submits when ready. It’s a good process – weeds out the weak applications so as not to demand too much from peer reviewers. It also forces the Program Officer to become proficient in a number of different fields – can you believe that I have to read pre-applications in astronomy and paleontology?!
Ana Valenzuela Toro, Nicholas Pyenson, and Carolina Gutstein at the unveiling of the Cerro Balena fossil whale 3D print at the National Museum of Natural History.
This evening I’m headed over to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where I’ve been invited to a private event celebrating the opening of the new fossil whale exhibit, which NGS helped to fund. Dr. Nick Pyenson of the Smithsonian, who worked on this discovery along with his Chilean colleagues, is an inspiration to any scientist who is interested in public outreach. The guy tweets daily, runs a dynamic lab involving cutting-edge research (into the evolution of marine mammals) and engages in some serious education/outreach.
I was always amazed how little we learned in grad school about public outreach and media. I hope to one-day become knowledgeable enough about science media and communication that I can consult academics and universities about better outreach skills and programs. Surely that’ll make me millions…
I’m really enjoying your posts. It sounds like one of your roles is to be an expert on experts. And I agree on the importance of public outreach. At the minimum, it can be very helpful for young academics: I heard a story about an asst prof who employed a publicist part time (read, someone with some media savvy). Whenever an issue that he could speak on emerged in the news, this publicist would contact new outlets (this was back in the jurassic era, proto-internet) and offer the asst prof as a resource. Soon, he was gaining notoriety, as the go-to person on this issue. Students heard about him as a result, and would want to work with this apparently up-and-coming faculty member, and would volunteer their time to him. He’d be able to do more research, crank out more papers, get more grants, employ more students… and on and on.
More generally, science “in the public interest” is more needed than ever in this day of anti-science.
Thanks Tsesung! Glad you enjoyed the posts. I spend alot of time being an “expert on experts”, as you say, which is really fun. I just had lunch today with the head of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology to speak about upcoming fossil-related programming and ideas for new “talent” (scientifically speaking, of course). I’m surprised more academics don’t use publicists… public media is one of the best ways to attract funding!