Panels
Zoom links will be sent to attendees via email.
Panel 1: Community-Engaged Science
Wednesday, August 17, 5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. CDT | Zoom Room A
Wendy Deschene, Professor of Art, Auburn University
Joyonna Gamble-George, Neuro/Health/Behavioral Scientist, New York University
Ted Hibbeler, Tribal Extension Educator, University of Nebraska Extension
Louise Lynch-O’Brien, Assistant Professor, Entomology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jeff Schmuki, Professor of Art, Georgia Southern University
Lee Ann Woolery, Founder and Research Director, Citizen Artist™
There is no one-size-fits-all approach for engaging communities in science. This panel brings together individuals from various communities, affiliations and disciplines to share and discuss the unique ways (as well as the how and the why) in which they have engaged communities in science.
Panel 2: Communicating Complexity
Thursday, August 18, 3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. CDT | Zoom Room A
Bradley Allf, PhD Candidate & NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University
Wendy Bohon, Senior Science Communication Specialist, IRIS
Matt Brown, Professor of Philosophy / Director, Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology, University of Texas at Dallas
Disan Davis, Program Manager for RockEDU Science Outreach, Rockefeller University
Mariah Gladstone, Indigikitchen
Ramesh Laungani, Chair of Science, Poly Prep County Day School
Scott Prinster, Historian of Science and Public Education Consultant
Jess Watkins, Assistant Professor of Science Education, Vanderbilt University
The complexity of scientific problems and processes is a persistent challenge for science communicators —one to which we often respond by trying to overcome or omit complexity as we share scientific ideas across the bounds of disciplinary expertise. Scientists themselves are sometimes taught to deny or devalue certain forms of moral and epistemic complexity under the auspices of “objectivity” and “parsimony.” This panel will bring together scientists, artists, and humanists to discuss how and why we should develop science communication strategies that acknowledge, clarify, and contextualize complexity rather than trying to suppress it.
Panel 3: Ethical Responsibilities in Science Communication
Friday, August 19, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. CDT | In-person at Turbine Flats (Resonator Gallery), 2124 Y Street, Lincoln NE
Matt Cohen, Professor of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Steve Lahey, Professor of Classics & Religious Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Kim Morrow, Environmental Consultant
Larry Scharmann, Professor of Teacher Learning & Teacher Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The recent increase of public interest in the ongoing reality of climate change represents an important change in our culture. Despite the evidence of the need for change that has been obvious to scientists for decades, it has only been in the past several years that the public has been prepared to stop denying the reality we face. Community churches have become one of the important social venues in which people can discuss climate change. In this panel, a group of leaders of religious organizations from Lincoln will gather to discuss how climate change has become an issue requiring change in engagement with society. The added problem of the politicization of this issue requires attention to the ongoing problems defining religious discussion of this problem.