Massive Science Consortium members on why they dig our community

Don't just take our word for it

Kira Goldenberg

Editorial Director

April 20, 2018

Last week, excited about what Massive can add in the push to build a more science-driven society (yes, that's the kind of thing that makes us gleeful), co-founder Nadja Oertelt asked members of our consortium how working with us on their public impact skills has effected their careers.

for those of you #STEM folks who have worked with us, what has the impact been on your work and sense of connection with the public? I'd love to collect some of your thoughts about @massivesci cc @_devangm @analog_ashley @kelseynlucas @d_samorodnitsky @CassieFreund
— nadja oertelt (@nadjao) April 13, 2018

You won't believe what happened next.

Our community came out in (tweeted) force, overwhelming us with touching feedback about how our focus on increasing the public impact of their work has helped make them better scientists.

Rather than going on ad infinitum, again, about how thrilling it is to see your work actually do what you want it to, I'll let our fab members use their burgeoning public communication skills to tell you themselves:

.@massivesci is a great platform to reach out to an audience bigger than you, your lab, and your thesis advisors. Plus, if you're like me and you're considering non-academic careers, this is a great opportunity to work with people outside academia and get clips! (2/2)
— Irene Park (@irenepark89) April 13, 2018

See Irene's Massive work here.

My last academic paper was a publishing nightmare, bridging two fields. @massivesci gave me the tools I needed to tell research story simultaneously to these two very different audiences, & led to the paper's acceptance.
— Kelsey Lucas (@kelseynlucas) April 13, 2018

See Kelsey's stories here.

Not only has @massivesci improved my ability to translate science in a meaningful way, but they have opened interdisciplinary dialogues on important issues, and expanded my scientific knowledge in disciplines that I know less about
— Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens (@EllenStuHae) April 13, 2018

More from Ellen here.

@massivesci has been an incredible platform for honing my scicomm skills in and out of the lab. Article picked up by @PacificStand. It also gave me the confidence to have our own climate change blog- @windsoroc with @senoritatah :)
— Prabarna Ganguly (@prabarna) April 14, 2018

Prabarna's Massive stories are here.

Frankly, the training and feedback has matured and sharpened my written communication overall. I've learned to approach writing as this dynamic process intertwining inspiration and razor sharp succinctness, and this has proven SO valuable beyond scicomm.
— Anna Robuck (@annaruthski) April 14, 2018

Read Anna's sharp and succinct stories here.

So many things, so here's a thread...
1. The responses (+ve &-ve) by senior scientists to my pieces (mainly the Nobels and #GMO stories) have expanded my network greatly (& shown me who to avoid!), which as any ECR knows, is hugely important for publishing, grants etc. https://t.co/zgPeNBAxtQ
— Devang Mehta (@_devangm) April 14, 2018

4. More concretely, I've been struggling to publish a 'controversial' #crispr paper; we recently rewrote it, and I found that @massivesci's training has definitely helped improve my academic writing. I now focus much more on the core message, which helps get stuff past editors...
— Devang Mehta (@_devangm) April 14, 2018

See Devang's GMO article (and all the other ones, too) here.

Working with @massivesci has been amazing. I've recently decided that after finishing my PhD I'd like to pursue a career in writing and editing rather than academics, and the great experience I've had with Massive has definitely given me encouragement to pursue that.
— Jerald Pinson (@jerald_pinson) April 14, 2018

Jerald's work is here.

I feel very lucky to have written for @massivesci. Going through their editorial process is a great learning experience for scientists. The community is also fantastic, curating news articles and interesting studies, and lending perspective.
— Kevin Pels (@kcpels) April 14, 2018

See Kevin's Massive work here.

And my personal favorite bit of feedback:

I do it because @kiragoldenberg 's comments and questions make me go "huh! so that's really what I meant to say" or "huh! I don't understand this either" :)
— Alireza Edraki (@Alirezaedraki) April 13, 2018

Therein lies the secret: getting better at explaining what you do to a lay public demands that you understand it too, without the aid of esoteric jargon. Most researchers don't seem to realize how much they rely on those vocabularies until pushed to forego them. But only then can scientists impart just how cool all their knowledge is to a broader spectrum of people, eager and curious but without jargon at their disposal.

It's thrilling to watch the communication and connection unfurl from both ends. Stay tuned for even more space for discussion between scientists and the curious public when our first report comes early next month – early subscribers already have access to an exclusive discussion forum to ask our scientist members questions and offer feedback.

Are you a scientist interested in joining the Consortium? You can do so here.