CREATIVE EXTERNALITIES
News and Things for January 2020
Curated by Ben Young Landis
- Conversational scicomm workshop returns January 29th
- Energizing the dialogue on data science, electric power, and the environment
- Scenes from January #SciPolComm with ACS Sacramento
- Reviving Native American food traditions online and in stores
- Visualizing the food supply flows of the United States
- California State Library and Google bring shikishi collection to life
- Recent and upcoming events
Our Good Work
Registration Open for “Connecting with Your Audience” Conversational SciComm Workshop in January
Getting ready to attend the AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle? Rehearsing for an upcoming grad slam contest or science café? Needing a boost for grants and interviews season? The #CWYAscicomm workshop is back on January 29th serving technical professionals, student researchers, and startup entrepreneurs in California’s Capital Region. Register for our workshop to get the extra coaching and practice you need to explain your expertise or advance your social impact mission. Student, nonprofit, and government rates available. (Registration link for the January 29th workshop with Ben Young Landis | Share the announcement on Twitter | Praise for the workshop)
How to Facilitate Fun: Data Science Dialogue Launched to Solve Environmental Challenges in Electric Power Industry
As leaders on the landscape, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) have been seeking to bring experts in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence into common dialogue with professionals in environmental management and electric utilities. This pressing need led EPRI and EPIC to organize a first-of-its-kind workshop in Washington DC in November 2019. At their invitation, Ben Young Landis advised on the workshop design and served as facilitator and event emcee. The resulting production convened 35 representatives from across industry, consultancies, university, and government — uniting them in serious interdisciplinary conversation over a fun and personalized atmosphere. (Read the design story behind this EPRI-EPIC workshop | Share the #Data4Env story on Twitter)
American Chemical Society Local Section Members Bond Over Science Policy Workshop
Early this month, Ben Young Landis and guest instructor Gabby Nepomuceno PhD taught the “Helping Science Inform Policy: Tools for Engaging State-Level Leaders” workshop at the invitation of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Sacramento Local Section. Hosted on the campus of UC Davis, this half-day course introduced graduate students and science professionals to the world of California legislative policymaking. Through discussions and team activities, participants learned about the state legislative calendar, how legislators consume information and hear bill ideas, and the nuances of playing advisor versus advocate roles. (Share photos from the January 11th #SciPolComm workshop | Learn about ACS Sacramento | Future training offerings)
The Good Work of Others
Reviving Native American Food Traditions Through Podcasts, Social Media, and Entrepreneurship Training
Two recent stories in Civil Eats highlight how a new generation of American Indian creatives are reclaiming suppressed and near-forgotten food traditions. Anna Kusmer writes about Toasted Sister and Indigikitchen — a podcast and YouTube channel respectively creating and highlighting traditional Native American foods and educating Tribal members on healthy cooking amid food deserts. And Stephen Nett writes about a group of Pomo and Miwok youth in Northern California who have developed Acorn Bites, a healthy energy snack with successful pilot sales in area farmers markets. (Read the “Young Women” story | Read the “Acorn Bites” story | Visit the Acorn Bites homepage)
Visualizing the Flows and Hubs of Food Transport Across Counties in the United States
A team led by Megan Konar, professor of civil and environmental engineering at University of Illinois, has produced the first high-resolution map of the U.S. food supply chain — dazzling blue streaks crisscrossing the continent linking agricultural centers with global shipping ports. Writing in The Conversation, Konar said the team searched for “the core counties — the places that are most central to the overall structure of the food supply network. A disruption to any of these counties may have ripple effects for the food supply chain of the entire country.” California counties dominated this list. (Read the article on The Conversation | Tweet the map created by Konar’s team | Download the Environmental Research Letters article)
State Library Teams with Google to Host Virtual Art Exhibits
The California State Library has released its first two exhibits hosted via Google Arts & Culture — a simple-to-use, free-to-access digital interface offering a museum gallery experience for online readers. “Shikishi Haiku” is an exhibit of Japanese haiku written on traditional shikishi cards and tanzaku strips. “Daguerreotypes: The First Photographs” shares examples of the early imaging technology, featuring portraits from California’s Gold Rush era. (Tour the shikishi haiku exhibit | Tour the daguerreotypes exhibit | Share the @CAStateLibrary tweet)
Events and Appearances Calendar
February 3rd Reception: 2020 CCST Science & Technology Week Reception and Leadership Awards Ceremony. Ben Young Landis in attendance. (Sacramento, California)
February 5th Reception: 2020 CCST Science Translators Showcase. Ben Young Landis in attendance. (Sacramento, California)
February 13th-16th Conference: 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science. Ben Young Landis in attendance. (Seattle, Washington)
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“Have fun. Do no harm. Leave the world a better place.”
— Ben Young Landis
