Whether scientists like it or not, public consumption of science is tied to the personalities who conducted the work, or more often, to a general sense or stereotype of who scientists are and what they are like. I've had a long-standing interest in how people perceive scientists, partly because of how uninteresting and homogenous I thought scientists were when I was a kid. I made this short video series to follow this interest. See the full series here.
People may become interested in science by connecting to one of the diverse scientific fields or scientific personalities out there -- Chatting with Scientists leverages Learning-through-Diversity by attempting to broaden the types of science and people the public is exposed to. For example, as a kid my idea of a scientist was limited to people in lab coats pipetting colored liquids into flasks. In my head, these scientists were all somewhat reclusive, scrawny, or Bill Nye the Science Guy. I didn't understand Ecology as a science involving field work, sweat and dirt until college. In Chatting with Scientists, I tried to highlight that these scientists could be shy, outgoing, with talents for sports, music, with research interests that spanned from microbes to monkeys. I believe that science communication can engage people without relying on popular stereotypes of scientists. Perhaps in diversifying the image of a scientist in the public eye, we could increase the efficacy of science communication by allowing the audience to see relatable people tackling a variety of scientific questions.
One regret I have is not knowing what the impact of this series was for the people who watched the videos, but as a graduate student, I was not able to focus on doing more than creating and publishing the content. While I have no current plans to expand on the series, I continue to be interested in novel ways to bring the diverse personalities and work of scientists to broader audiences.