EEB announces second year of digital media fellows

Two PhD students  - Bruna Amaral and Ayley Shortridge -- have been chosen as the second year’s EEB Digital Fellows.

The year-long experience will be a combination of training and creating and is a recognition of academia’s growing interest in science communication.

“Our first round of EEB Digital Fellows was a terrific success, and this year we’re well positioned to take it to the next level,” said EEB Director Elise Zipkin. “The digital fellows program gives EEB graduate students a chance to learn exciting new skills, as well as to apply their own talents and styles to elevate the work that’s done within EEB.”

Amaral is in Elise Zipkin’s group and Shortridge is in Fred Janzen’s group, both in integrative biology in the College of Natural Science. Each will receive a $3,000 stipend.

 

The EEB Digital Fellows Program provides an opportunity for two graduate students to gain a deep understanding of the value of digital media for communicating and sharing scientific research for a wide range of audiences during the academic year. With support and training from mentors Daniel Trego and Sue Nichols, the EEB fellows will co-run EEB’s Twitter feed and produce a story project on research within EEB.

Fellows will have the option of participating in the College of Arts and Letters Digital Fellow introductory workshop during the fall semester where they will develop an understanding of what is a digital presence and how to intentionally develop one to meet specific goals. During the spring semester the fellows will create a story designed to communicate an EEB research project using their chosen media (writing, photography, video).

Inaugural fellows Beth Gerstner, a PhD student in fisheries and wildlife studying with Phoebe Zarnetske, and Katrina Culbertson, a master's student in plant biology studying with Carolyn Malmstrom, completed their training by writing news articles exploring topics visited upon by several EEB faculty and labs. 

It's part of a longer goal of articulating EEB's commonality - the different ways change in nature is examined, and what becomes of discoveries.

Read Culbertson’s story  Beyond the gut - scientists explore big impacts of nature's tiniest worlds

Read Gerstner’s story Save the umbrella for a rainy day: an alternative way forward for conservation