What can you tell me about the questions used by the Humans of Tyson team this summer?

The questions are so important. They really frame each summer’s representation of Tyson. This year, for the first time, our team decided to go with a theme, which was “Hope.” This pandemic year has hit so many of us hard; it really hit home personally (I lost family members to COVID). So, exploring hope in community members’ lives and work really resonated with me. As the summer went on there were days when one of us would say, “Wow, I'm getting a little tired of talking about hope.” But every person we talked to had a lot to say about it! I've come out of the summer understanding that hope is work. And that hope is a choice that you bring to your work. It’s not easy to keep it consistent. It's not always there, but the fact that you know it's always available and it's probably the best way to go is what most people carry with them.

Is there anything you’d like to add that I didn’t ask you about?

My experience with scientists has been that they are people who reach out beyond their own specialized field. So, when people say things like, “Oh, they're just in their labs doing their thing,” I push back a bit. I can remember saying to somebody, “I don't know about that, almost all of the scientists I know are gone for, you know, two months out of the year, because they're talking to people and scientists in other communities, in other countries or in other cities, trying to set up field research that will improve lives or our understanding of the world.” I don't do science, but I’ve been so fortunate that the scientists I know have been generous and willing to talk to me. So as a science communicator, I want to convey the intentionality with which scientists do their work, really considering the common good (for people and planet). I know that's a loaded term, but I think that's the way I'm going to put it.