Keynote Lecture -- Dr. Raychelle Burks
After a few years working in a crime lab, Dr. Raychelle Burks returned to academia, teaching, and forensic science research. An analytical chemist, Dr. Burks enjoys the challenge developing detection methods for a wide variety of controlled and regulated substances (drugs, explosives, chemical weapons, etc.). Beyond the bench, Dr. Burks writes a monthly true crime column called Trace Analysis for Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In addition to true crime, Dr. Burks delves into fictional crimes by evaluating how some of our favorite (at least favorite… King Joffrey) characters might have met their end.
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Panels
Engaging Audiences
Alicia started her Museum career as a docent at the UM Museum of Natural History and has since come full circle to her alma mater. After receiving her graduate degree in biological anthropology, Alicia worked for The Children's Museum in Indianapolis, the Indiana State Museum, as a lecturer at IUPUI, and as an instructor at First Steps through the Ann Arbor Public Schools. She uses her passion for science and love of teaching to further promote science communication.
Alicia holds a BS from the University of Michigan and an MA from the University of Arizona in biological anthropology.
Careers
Julie Halpert is a freelance journalist with more than three decades of experience writing for numerous national publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Real Simple, CNBC, AARP, Scientific American and The Wall Street Journal. At The Wall Street Journal, she is a regular contributor to the retirement section, writing about those who have switched careers late in life. She is also the co-author of Making Up With Mom: Why Mothers and Daughters Disagree About Kids, Careers, and Casseroles. Julie has reported on the air for many public radio programs, including Michigan Radio's Environment Report. She was part of an Environment Report team that won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for the documentary, "Coal: Dirty Past, Hazy Future." She covers a multitude of topics, including parenting, health, education, science, environment, finance, how boomers are reinventing retirement and the future of self-driving cars. Since 2012, her print work has received five Excellence in Journalism awards from the Detroit Chapter of The Society of Professional Journalists. For over 15 years, she has co-taught an environmental journalism class in the University of Michigan's Program in the Environment.
She is a founding member of The Society of Environmental Journalists, a professional organization devoted to enhancing the quality and quantity of environmental coverage. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan. You can visit her website or find her on Twitter to learn more.
Nick Wigginton is Assistant Vice President for Research Initiatives at U-M. He works with faculty and staff to support the development of new interdisciplinary initiatives that build on the strengths and priorities in research and scholarship of the schools and colleges, as well as of the university as a whole. He holds a B.S. in geology from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in geosciences from Virginia Tech. He was previously a Senior Editor at Science, one of the world's premier science journals, where he selected papers for publication, directed the peer review process, and focused on communicating results to a broad audience.
Kara Gavin, M.S., specializes in writing engaging stories about discoveries and issues in science, medicine and health policy. For more than 25 years, 19 of them at the University of Michigan, she has helped bring the work of researchers to broad public audiences and to the attention of reporters. A science writing graduate of Lehigh University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she serves a Lead Public Relations Representative for Michigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center, and as Research & Policy Media Relations manager for the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.
Science Policy
Dr. Laura R. McCabe is a Professor in the Department of Physiology at Michigan State University (MSU). She received her B.A. and Ph.D. from University of Chicago. Her graduate training examined intestinal physiology, while her post-doctoral research (at U. Mass. Medical Center) examined mechanisms regulating bone formation. Her research at MSU focuses on targeting the intestine to treat osteoporosis. McCabe has published more than 80 manuscripts and has been federally funded for >20 years. She is active in teaching and training undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral students, participates in training programs including McNair/SROP and BEST, and advises the Council of Graduate Students. She serves on University interdisciplinary advisory groups and in the leadership of academic governance. She is involved with journal editorial boards and serves on national (NIH, DOD, NSF) and international grant review panels. She is also active in scientific societies and currently is the Chair of the American Physiology Society (APS) Science Policy Committee and serves on the FASEB Science Policy Committee, APS Council, Federal Demonstration Partnership Committees. Communicating science and being an advocate for students, faculty and science are critical parts of her day.
Sara Pack is an activist, mother, artist, science enthusiast, differently abled person, writer and organizer. Sara brought the very successful 2017 March For Science to Michigan. She served as the lead organizer of the Lansing March For Science, and, as the lead promoter of the 9+ Michigan marches. She loves to make the important information accessible to all, allowing people to become easily engaged and involved in the important issues. Sara specializes in large scale organizing, spreading information, mobilizing resources, and communicating via social media.
Jon Miller has measured the public understanding of science and technology in the United States for the last three decades, and has examined the factors associated with the development of attitudes toward science. He directed biennial national surveys for the National Science Board for 20 years, the results of which were reported in Science and Engineering Indicators. He has pioneered the definition and measurement of scientific literacy and his approach to the public understanding of science has been replicated in more than 40 countries. He continues to conduct important studies on civic scientific literacy and lifelong science learning with support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Jon is the founder and director of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), which has been renamed the Longitudinal Study of American Life. The LSAY began tracking approximately 5,000 public school students in grades 7 and 10 in 1987 and continues to collect data once each year. He is also the Director of the International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. He has published four books and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters. Jon is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has served two six-year terms on the AAAS Committee on the Public Understanding of Science and Technology. His expertise in the measurement and analysis of the public understanding of science and technology is recognized internationally.
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Workshops
Communication Fundamentals (hosted by UofM's RELATE organization)
Using Improvisation to Boost Communication Skills
Finding Your Voice (hosted by UofM's Sweetland Writing Center)
Dr. Jimmy Brancho is a non-tenure track faculty member at the University of Michigan's Sweetland Center for Writing. He teaches classes to undergraduate and graduate students across fields of study, specializing in scientific writing and communication. Through classes and workshops such as this one for ComSciCon, he invites students to see writing as a series of choices made in order to connect with another person and less as injecting knowledge into a (more or less) willing brain. An independent writer, his freelance publications have appeared in Lateral Magazine. Jimmy completed a Ph. D. in inorganic chemistry at the University of Michigan in 2017.
Creating Educational Modules (hosted by UofM's DNA Day)
Michigan DNA Day is an outreach organization that connects scientists and classrooms across the state of Michigan, to facilitate conversations about genetics, research, and STEM careers. MI DNA Day is an extension of National DNA Day, which is celebrated annual on April 25th and commemorates the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and the discovery of DNA’s double helix in 1953. Our mission is to build a bridge between Michigan's leading research institutions and high school science classrooms to promote and enhance science education in our state. We match scientists with high school science teachers, creating an opportunities for scientists to meet students face-to-face and share their experiences and passion for all things science with that teacher’s classroom. High school students learn about important scientific issues and cutting-edge facets of genetics and genomics that are relevant to their lives and to society. Importantly, by connecting students and scientists, we are demystifying what it means to be a scientist, and introducing career paths that many students may not have encountered or thought possible for them. This experience also helps the scientists' communication skills, by connecting with the public and sharing their research and discoveries with their local communities. Our vision is to reach as many schools across Michigan as possible with an emphasis on serving those that have limited exposure to career scientists. It is our pledge to focus our efforts toward cultivating the minds of the next generation of scientific leaders for the benefit of the local and global community. MI DNA Day was founded in 2017, and over the last two DNA Days we have sent over 100 scientists to 13 cities across Michigan, reaching more than 3,100 students
Science Illustration and Graphics
Dr. Rachel Pricer is a recent graduate of the Program in Chemical Biology at the University of Michigan. While completing her doctoral training, focused on the study of regulatory protein-protein interactions between transcription factors, she became interested in visual science communication. She is a self-taught graphics designer and started doing freelance work during her graduate degree at the University of Michigan. Her work has been featured on 3 journal covers and in 10 scientific publications. She now owns a small business specializing in producing scientific graphics for presentations, posters, grants, and journal articles.
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Expert Editors
Ian Demsky has been a science writer and editor at U-M since 2010. His current role is Director of Communications for the U-M Life Sciences Institute, where he oversees external and internal communications including media relations, LSI Magazine, e-newsletters, social media and the institute's web presence. He spent the first decade of his career as a newspaper reporter.