Opening academia to families, civilians new trend in science

By Nalini Nadkarni | The Olympian's Board of Contributors • Published August 27, 2008

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Last month, I flew to Milwaukee for the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America. As with professional meetings in other fields, it presented an intensive immersion into the esoteric aspects of our tribe. Historically, it has comprised reports of science on remarkably narrow topics discussed in nearly pure scientific jargon.

But this year, the ESA meetings seemed different. I noticed two patterns. First, instead of the usual homogenous sea of 30- to 50-year-olds, I saw many small babies and toddlers in the arms of participants, which made the interface of professional and parental life appear thinner than in the past. Second, rather than the nearly exclusively "pure" research talks of previous years, there were many papers on education and public outreach.

The paper that set the framework, "Civic scientific literacy: a requirement for responsible citizenship in the 21st century?" highlighted the imperative that scientists must help raise scientific awareness to foster a society that is cognizant of the way our world works, is broadly democratic in its thinking, and can carry out wise decision-making.

One symposium concerned citizen science projects, in which members of the lay public gather data with and for scientists. A researcher from Cornell University reported the success of "project pigeon watch." Urban youths recorded data on the behavior of pigeons in city parks, which ornithologists used to discern how increased urbanization has affected nesting habits.

Another program, "project budburst" has guided homeowners nationwide to report when backyard trees come into leaf, providing valuable insights on effects of global climate change, an effort impossible for academics to carry out alone.

In another symposium, a scientist described her work with faith-based communities to "save creation and the natural world." She assured listening ecologists that many religious communities are open to participating in hands-on conservation efforts such as tree-planting, even though they might differ on the topic of evolution.