This week I was lucky enough to be involved with two different public engagement activities!
Last weekend I gave a public seminar at a local coffee shop in town here in Columbus (Three sisters Pie Company) as part of a monthly public seminar program organized by Dr. DiClemente here at MUW called “Dr. D’s Brain Jam”. I think it was a great turn out and there were tons of great questions!
This week I also participated in my first Skype-a-scientist chat of the semester. I Skyped with a 5th grade class in Illinois. Surprisingly, I’ve learned over the years, that younger kids sometimes have the most entertaining and thought-provoking questions. The best part was the email I received from their teacher the next day. Apparently, a lot of the kids went home and either asked their parents for pet lizards or started looking up some of the animals we talked about over Skype! One of the kids even said they want to be a biologist when they grow up! That kind of response is exactly why I think these kinds of activities are important!