On November 16th, I attended the TEDxCUNY event, meaning it was independently organized TED event at the Macaulay Honors College building. I actually helped run the show behind the scenes and met all the speakers! As stage manager, I was present at every single talk and even though the theme of the entire TED event was “Access”, there were multiple talks about making science more accessible to the general population. I think the idea of having an entire Macaulay class on learning science concepts shows how important it is to educate everyone about science.
My favorite talk was given by Sara Camnasio called “Rebranding Science.” Her entire talk was about how we can revamp science to make it more interesting and accessible to the public and especially to women. She is receiving her bachelor’s in physics and dance from Hunter College and works as a junior researcher on Brown Dwarf stars at the Museum of Natural History. Camnasio is the prime person to give this talk, she isn’t just incredibly intelligent, she is also a dancer, well dressed, and a generally “un-awkward person” to be around and talk to. I say this because her main point was that not all scientists are nerdy and awkward, not all scientists have no style or creativity, and her biggest point, not all scientists have to male. In her 15 minute talk, Sara talked about three main topics; how to make science accessible to everyone, how to make it even more inviting to people already interested in science, and how to get more women involved in the science fields since there is a clear gender gap.
Sara discussed some pop-science figures like Bill Nye, Michio Kaku, and Neil Degrasse Tyson (who’s office is on the floor she researches on at the museum) and talked about why they are so incredibly popular now. To summarize, they are cool. The ability for them to break the mold that science is complicated and boring, and become science educators to the public is what makes them great. They aren’t afraid to say they love science and that others should too! From different TV shows and numerous podcasts and books written, these science superstars know how to make science so exciting that even your average person can understand as a result. Camnasio pointed out that a public interest in science is fundamental to a growing society.
Another main point Camnasio made was in regards to science informational websites. Whether it be summer research opportunities for students or general informational webpages, she said the design that is severely lacking in these websites (as superficial as it may be) is seriously hurting the science image. A high school student with an interest in science that wants to go into a research program might second guess this great opportunity, because to them, it looks boring form the website. This poor design can end up discouraging budding scientists from even trying to participate. They may look at these websites and think it’s all above their head.
Lastly, Camnasio talked about the wide-open gender gap in the STEM fields. She started off talking about how science used to look:
That picture is from the 1927 Solvay Conference, which pictures some of the smartest minds in our history. She points to the lone female, Marie Curie, who is one of the few very famous female scientists. Even today there are still few famous female scientists. Her dream is too see more girls participate in science and to not feel intimidated by the “boy’s club.” She did research into this issue, and one of her findings really astonished her. She compiled the color palettes of neutral (by that, meaning not trying to reach out to any gender) science research and outreach websites and the color palettes of those kinds of websites reaching out to women specifically and found that there was 52% more pink on average in the female outreach websites than there was in the neutral websites. She was appalled, saying that this is 2014 and do they really think that the color pink is the way to get women involved in science? These websites were essentially enforcing gender roles while trying to break them.
Camnasio gave an amazing TED talk, she really hit the nail on the head: we must rebrand science if we want a more educated public and a better, more equipped army of scientists for the future. After all, the “future” doesn’t exist without the advancement of science, and it’s up to us to push society into the future.
