Will Slatin
Undergraduate Fellow
How has your scientific work changed, due to the cultural landscape changes of summer?
“A lot of people at Tyson are thinking more about the issue of race as it pertains to their work. A familiar viewpoint is that science is separate from such cultural issues because it is a ‘technical process.’ A common sentiment I’ve heard this summer is that scientists need to be more aware of their own biases while they're doing science. They are not perfectly rational and technical. They can be swayed by external factors.
Within the institution of science there has been a lot of thought about these issues. Research shows how the more diverse your scientific team is the more likely it is to get published in different and higher-ranked journals. More people are thinking a lot more about how they can diversify their teams and just bring in different world views when they're trying to answer questions.”
What is your personal project?
“It is research about how scientists communicate risk and probability and how the general public underestimates that risk and probability, more times than not. It also speaks to how scientists can get over this hurdle and communicate better. Jumping that hurdle mostly includes skipping technicalities and relating to the people they're talking to, to make sure that both parties are on the same page, specifically regarding risk.”
Why would you tell someone your work at Tyson is important?
“People underestimate the value of their decisions in terms of what words they choose to use. Both the Humans of Tyson and my individual project look very specifically at how people speak and use words. The Humans of Tyson is a nice outlet for scientists to communicate, not their scientific papers, but their daily life realities. My independent project emphasizes the need to focus more on the kind of language one uses. Lots of the time we think people are understanding what we're saying better than they actually are. My ultimate goal is that later in my professional career, when an intern interviews me for a project, I want them to think, ‘Wow, this is the easiest transcript I've ever done. This guy knows how to communicate and knows how to get his point across.’ I have made it a lifelong goal to be good at communicating.”