Before she began her graduate studies in biology at Arizona State University (ASU), Risa Schnebly knew she wanted to tell stories.
"I have been interested in science communication before I started my Ph.D.," she said. Beyond her research -- on conservationists' relationship to the notion of extinction -- Schnebly's broader goal is to bridge the gaps between scientific knowledge, the stories behind them, and sharing those stories and discoveries with the public.
Schnebly became a new AAAS Member as part of the five-year AAAS + ASU Collaborative that launched earlier this year. One component of the Collaborative includes ASU inviting its faculty, students and staff in STEMM disciplines to become what AAAS refers to as "Elemental Members." AAAS' mission is to mobilize scientists and engineers across the globe to ignite, enable and celebrate scientific excellence and science-informed decisions and actions. For that reason, Elemental Members from ASU is creating cohorts around areas such as science communication and early-career networking to deepen engagement.
To further her skills in science communication, Schnebly has taken on a leadership role with the ASU Science Communication Cohort. The group works in partnership with AAAS to identify and create science communication resources for early-career AAAS Members to use as a tool to amplify their work. Schnebly is trying to aid those interested in science communication, especially early-career scientists, by reducing the barriers to enter the field.
Schnebly is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in ASU's Biology and Society program, which is run by AAAS Board Member and AAAS Fellow Jane Maienschein. Schnebly's first professional science communication experience was working on a project with Maienschein on the Embryo Project and Encyclopedia, an open-access resource about the history and science of embryology, development and reproduction. This experience helped Schnebly learn methods for communicating successfully about science such as avoiding jargon.
"This project made me keenly aware of how much there is in science that is not communicated effectively to members of the public," Schnebly said. That conviction -- that scientists have a responsibility to communicate with society at large -- is central to Schnebly's work and vision. "Scientists are only ever incentivized to communicate to one another -- to get cited, to be well known in their fields -- and it doesn't matter if the science reaches the public," she said. "I've been really passionate about trying to fill that gap."
Schnebly helps other scientists find their voices, share their experiences, and communicate their work in ways that resonate beyond academia. In addition to promoting and communicating scientists' work by writing for ASU News, she co-produces a podcast called SciChronicles. She and her co-host, graduate student Kayla Burgher, use the podcast to coach scientists through the process of storytelling and give them a platform to share stories about their scientific journey.
Some episodes are lighthearted; others tackle serious topics like mental health or grief. The result is a rare and moving glimpse into the personal side of scientific life. "We're really getting these scientists to think like storytellers and train them on how to do the basics of storytelling, then giving them a platform to get personal, which is not [generally] encouraged in science at all."
This same narrative sensitivity infuses Schnebly's research. Her dissertation, which she's writing in a creative nonfiction style, explores how conservationists experience ecological grief, their definition of extinction, and how the concept guides their work. "These scientists are witnessing species they've spent their careers trying to protect slip away," she said. "And I've found that grief doesn't come about from extinction risk because extinction is so abstract -- it comes from people's individual connections to the plants or animals or places that they're working in." She hopes her dissertation can one day be made into a book that recounts the stories of conservationists' work.
The ASU Science Communication Cohort -- currently comprised of 12 students -- is compiling resources for AAAS Members who want to break into science communication, including guides on how to pitch to media outlets and share research on TikTok.