Quantcast dnlee « Young Black Professional Guide

Recent Posts from DNLee

More Blogging While Brown About Science

  • By: dnlee
  • April 7, 2009
  • 8 comments

A follow-up to my first Blogging While Brown…About Science is in order.

Blogging While Brown

Thanks to the great comments made here and at Jack & Jill Politics, I realized that you all were absolutely right. I’ve got to push through the discomfort, create my own air for this issue. So here I am sounding off about scientific literacy and the African-American community.

Our community’s relationship with math and science is a rocky one. Many of us, both children and adults, are just averse to science and math. We avoid it. Too many of our students score poorly on state tests in these subjects and too few pursue science careers. Which leads me to wonder, how is science communicated to the African-American community, and what’s the best way to communicate science to this community?

The first thing I know is that the existing science communication vehicles have failed to effectively reach the entire general public. One setback is the declining state of science journalism in this nation. Newspapers, news radio, and television stations have drastically reduced or eliminated science news.

Science Editor Journal
Creative Commons License credit: moria
Are Science Magazines one-dimensional?

Second, popular science magazines tend to attract a readership that is primarily white, male, and middle-aged. Communities like African-Americans, immigrants, or economically disadvantaged groups are not being reached. In fact, these audiences are often described as “underserved”.

Why is that?

With successful media outlets that specifically target black audiences like Ebony Magazine, Black newspapers, Black America Web, BET, and nationally-syndicated radio programs, why hasn’t science news reporting been a regular feature? Why haven’t science communication professionals considered marketing science to specific audiences? Why is science so hard to sell to minority communities?

I think the internet may provide the best answers to these questions. As my science blogging friend Daniel, so eloquently states, science blogging is the future of science communication.

Blogs allow readers to interact directly with scientists and researchers. Blogs offer a rare look into the minds and labs of scientists and engineers at different career levels – student, post-doc, and professor. The immediacy of the internet allows quick dissemination of information about new discoveries and technologies that before were only shared among researchers.

Johnson Publishing, Michigan Ave
Creative Commons License credit: JOE M500
Where are #blck magazines in STEM?

As often as we use blogs to follow celebrities or politics or economic trends, we can also follow engineering breakthroughs, medical discoveries, and environmental issues. Blogging gives us the opportunity to initiate the conversation. Though Blacks comprise a smaller number of the PhDs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) there are more of us than you may think. There is a growing number of science bloggers of color, too. (See the list at the end of the post). Science-related topics can be discussed in different ways – such as discussing the science behind controversial issues, commenting on health statistics, expounding on green technologies or profiling role models.

I believe that science can be communicated effectively to people if it is presented in a relevant manner. It’s time for the conversation to begin.

List of science blogs written by persons of color
Asymptotia *
49 Percent
Reconciliation Biology
Scientist Mother
The Urban Birder *
SES: Science, Education & Society *
Not Exactly Rocket Science
Thesis With Children *
Physics for Girls
Life’s A Lab! Science Chicago *
TechTechBoom
But You’re A Girl.com *
Chick With PhizzleDizzle
Diary of a PhD Student *
Science To Life *
Urban Science Adventures! © *
* persons who might be considered African-American or Black

Also check out the Diversity in Science blog carnival. Inspired by workshops about STEM diversity at the ScienceOnline09 Conference, bloggers of every genre contribute articles about various topics about achieving more diversity in science, engineering and math. It’s been a great outreach tool to communicate science to larger audiences. Check out our two editions so far, 1 and 2.

Posted in: Career, Featured

Blogging While Brown…About Science

  • By: dnlee
  • March 26, 2009
  • 6 comments

Each time I read an announcement for the upcoming Blogging While Brown Conference, June 19-20, 2009, in Chicago I get excited. The format is straight-forward and the conference itself should be a great networking experience.

Blogging While Brown

Track No. 1 – John H. Johnson Track
This track will feature sessions related to blogging about current events, news, politics, activism, and bloggers who are leveraging their online resources to get offline results.

Track No. 2 – Window Synder Track
This conference track will feature sessions related to the nuts and bolts of blogging such as technology, blogging widgets, increasing blog traffic, legal issues, design, layout and improving the reader experience.

Track No. 3 – Madame C.J. Walker Track
This conference track will feature sessions related to the business of side blogging, monetizing blogs, better marketing of blog sites, and getting your work noticed and published by mainstream media outlets.

My first blogging conference – ScienceOnline09 – covered these same topics, too, even more. I learned about new online tools (which I now use) and met some amazing people. It was a great experience.

It was also free. There was no registration fee.

I am sure the Blogging While Brown Conference will be great; I would love to meet people in real life that I interact with online – like Villager or other YBPGuide contributors, but I’m conflicted. On one hand, it’s not worth paying a registration fee to sit through workshops I’ve already attended – for free. Secondly, and more importantly, what role does science occupy in the melanin pigmented blog-o-verse?

As a Science Blogger, I often feel like my genre of blogging is marginal to other more popular topics discussed in the Black Blogging Community – politics, crime, racial disparity, social commentary, pop-culture, fashion, music, etc. Science and Education never seem to make it on the radar except when a social justice issue is being debated. These subjects rarely get their due –for their own sake. So, it is in this light that I find myself thinking about the upcoming Blogging While Brown Conference and I get, well, a little deflated.

Part of me says that I should attend and represent these and other important and oft-under-represented blogging topics. That’s the responsible, pro-active way of doing things. After all, I am trying to proffer myself through my blog as an online science communication leader in the Black community. But I shy away from that call because I feel like I am speaking into a vacuum. There was a call for workshop proposals which would have been a perfect opportunity for me to present these issues front-and-center. However, I perceived the tracks were too rigid to allow for non-political topics to be presented. So, I punked out.

I think now that I should have submitted anyway and risked being rejected. At least I would have received some feedback and not just chatter in my head. If I had submitted a proposal I would have included some of the ideas I learned at the Science Blogging Conference – such as participating in Carnivals and Memes, live meet-ups, pros and cons of virtual communities, cyber-safety for young people, and some science-specific stuff to introduce non-science audiences to science blogging culture and community.

I wonder if there are other bloggers of color who feel marginalized because of their subject matter.

Posted in: News

Largest General Science Conference Meets in Chicago

  • By: dnlee
  • February 13, 2009
  • 0 comments

This weekend (February 12 -16, 2009), I will be in Chicago attending the annual meeting of The American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AAAS publishes the magazine Science and is the world’s largest general science conference. Thousands of scientists, including students, educators (K-12 and college), policy-makers, and researchers, will be in attendance in a city that is one of America’s Scientific Hubs.

AAAS Conference, Feb. 12th -16th

The theme for this year’s meeting, Our Planet and Its Life: Origins and Futures, recognizes that 2009 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. The theme also addresses many of the upcoming challenges our planet faces – climate change and environmental impact. There will be a broad range of activities for registered attendees and the general public.

I am especially looking forward to the Communicating Science to Broader Audiences Workshop, on Thursday, February 12th. It is an all-day clinic for scientists and engineers who are interested in public outreach. I hope to pick up some tips to help me make this blog and my other outreach efforts more effective.

IMG_2756
Creative Commons License credit: benkamorvan
Al Gore

Former Vice President and Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore is the special invited guest speaker for Friday, February 13th. I’m taking my copy of An Inconvenient Truth with me in hopes that I can get him to sign it. Also that evening is the “This is Science” Dance Program. I actually submitted a video (embedded below) for this competition, but did not make the cut. The four winners will have their science research performed by professional dancers. I am really looking forward to the dance interpretations.

There are also a host of symposia and talks about the environment, education, evolution, and science careers that I am looking forward to. However, I am disappointed that NPR Science Friday, with Ira Flatow, will not be in attendance. I had my mind set on meeting him.

All day Saturday (February 14) and Sunday (February 15) are Family Science Days. This program is free to the general public. My mother and niece are actually coming down to spend the day with me. I’m very lucky to have a completely nerdy family that loves this stuff as much as I do. There will be exhibits and demonstrations from the local Universities and Science Centers. I’m looking forward to meeting some fellow Outreach Scientists and possibly networking. If you live in the Chicago area, I invite you and your family to come down for the day. It is a fun time and a chance to nurture those young minds. Plus, I would love to meet you.

Posted in: News

The Rightful Place of Science in Society and the African-American Community

  • By: dnlee
  • February 2, 2009
  • 4 comments

In President Barack Obama’s Inauguration Speech, he vowed “to restore science to its rightful place” in society. Wow, that fills me with an excitement and eagerness to do and share science more than before. However, what is science’s rightful place in society? What place should science have in the African-American community?

The Rightful Place Project

There has been a long and understandably uneasy relationship between the Black Community and Science. Being regarded as less-than-human by other groups has put many of our fore-parents in harm’s way. I could drone on about unethical medical research and heartless medical providers, but “this is a new day”, as Obama declared. It is time to restore Science – the offspring Education and Intellectualism – to its rightful place in our community.

In order to restore science to its rightful place, we must first acknowledge what science is. Science is a pursuit of knowledge. It drives us to question, to critique, to hypothesize, to measure, to evaluate, to interpret, and to propose solutions to our community’s most pressing needs. It is an exercise of intellect, discipline and curiosity that compels us to want to understand our world and to make it better. Restoring science to its rightful place requires a dedication for us all to become scientifically literate – to understand science and use it to enhance our lives.

Science is simply information about our world, our environment, and our health.People’s lives are impacted by information, and failing to comprehend information can be very detrimental. I have personally witnessed the heartbreaking consequences of scientific illiteracy in our community, such as individuals deciding to forgo life-saving medical procedures, not following a doctor’s health advice, moving into environmentally hazardous buildings, and sharing false information about health or medical issues with others. Many of us have confused superstition as fact, and have paid the price. Moreover, many of our social circles do not include scientists or doctors so we have no one to call when questions arise. Image how much better our lives would be if science were a part of the decisions we made about our health, our children, and our environment?

The rightful place of science is in our day-to-day dialogue with friends and family. The rightful place of science is at our dinner table, happy hour gatherings, within the banter of men in barber shops and among the chatter of ladies in hair salons. Science rightfully belongs to us, the people. It is not some mysterious activity done by ‘others’. No, many of the greatest scientists of all time came from our community:

Neil deGrasse Tyson
Creative Commons License credit: Marjorie Lipan
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Science is the handiest of tools in our arsenal against discrimination, poverty, hunger, socio-economic disparity and environmental injustice. The rightful place of science in our society and the African-American community is within us.

*Both were teachers at Sumner High School of St. Louis, Missouri in the early 1900s.

Posted in: Lifestyle

Summer Ecology Research Opportunity for Undergrads

  • By: dnlee
  • January 28, 2009
  • 1 comments

Remember when I was saying that undergraduate research is a good thing? Well, fresh off of the Ecological Society of America ECOLOG presses, here is a FABULOUS opportunity.

Summer Research Program in the Arkansas Ozarks Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services

uofa seal
Creative Commons License credit: avern
Univ. of Arkansas

The University of Arkansas is conducting a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) this coming summer of (2009). The program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and will host up to 15 undergraduates students who have completed at least 3 semesters of coursework. The focus of this REU is on field-based research on ecological services, and each student will work with a faculty mentor on issues ranging from water quality to ecology of birds and black bears in the Ozarks. Doesn’t this sound like a blast?

The program works primarily with federally recognized Native American tribes and Native American students. However, all other interested students are encouraged to apply.

This means you.

It is a 10-week program, which includes a one-week emersion course on field methods, 8 weeks of intensive Research Experience and a one week Data Analysis and Symposia. Expect to spend alot of time outside working hard, thinking hard and learning new things. You’ll also prepare a presentation to present to others at the end. If it’s really great, you should consider presenting it at a professional science conference the following year.

Room and board are included at the University of Arkansas, as well as a $400 weekly stipend and a travel allowance.

Program Dates: 1 June to 7 August 2009

Stipend $4000, onsite room and board, round-trip travel costs

Detailed Program Information is available at http://www.ecoreu.uark.edu/

Application deadline is approaching – February 15, 2009

Start now and secure recommendation letters and transcripts.

For applications and more information, contact:

Heather Sandefur

207 Engineering

University of Arkansas

Fayetteville, AR 72701

ofc #: 479.575.7585

email: hsandef[at]uark.edu

Questions about this program can also be directed to

Dr. Marty Matlock – mmatlock[at]uark.edu, or Dr. Kimberly Smith – kgsmith[at]uark.edu.

Good luck!

Posted in: Career

© Copyright Black Web Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.