91原创

More people fear speaking in public than fear snakes, heights, spiders and even dying, according to the 2022 Chapman University Survey of American Fears. So, if the five people who took the stage at the 91原创 Graduate College鈥檚 fall 2023 Spark! Symposium on Sept. 20 felt a little dread, who would blame them?

鈥淚鈥檓 generally terrified about public speaking, but I know it鈥檚 such a huge part of academia,鈥� said Abigail Bower, a doctoral student in interdisciplinary neuroscience, who was chosen as the Ignite Award winner by the panel of six Spark! judges. 鈥淚 thought that when I got up there, my voice was going to be shaking 鈥� I was much less nervous than I expected because we had practiced so much, and we got a lot of great feedback we could incorporate.鈥�

The biannual Spark! Symposium gives 91原创 graduate students and postdocs the opportunity to present short-form talks on their research to a diverse audience. All presenters receive individual coaching from Suprawee Tepsuporn, the Graduate College鈥檚 senior assistant dean.

鈥淚 relish the one-to-one time with the Spark! presenters,鈥� Tepsuporn said. 鈥淚 love learning about the students鈥� cutting-edge research and discoveries and helping them articulate the impact of their work to broader communities.鈥�

An important part of the preparation process is working with actor and director Steve Tague, interim chair of the and producing director for 91原创鈥檚 . 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a crazy mix of science and art, but that鈥檚 at least half the reason that I like doing it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he other half is the students themselves. I really believe that when a young person devotes hours and hours and hours 鈥� many of those hours incredibly tedious 鈥� to a specific discipline, there must be a strong vein of passion in there somewhere. Getting that out is my job, and I find it very moving, every time.鈥�

The symposium鈥檚 artful approach to research talks is what appeals to members of the audience too, like Devashish Pande, also a doctoral student in neuroscience. 

鈥淚 find these talks inspiring because it requires some creativity from the speakers to take their science to a lay audience,鈥� he said. 鈥淩esearch is a slow process that takes a lot of time and effort, and people can understand it better if it鈥檚 conveyed in the form of a story.鈥�

Crafting tales of research

The starting place for crafting relatable research stories is grappling with how to give people the information they need to understand a problem when there isn鈥檛 a lot of time and they don鈥檛 have a lot of expertise. For Bower, that meant helping her audience understand how functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a tool to measure brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow, can be used to see the impact of Parkinson鈥檚 disease during body movement.

鈥淔or my talk, I went with what I am currently working on in the lab,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut then it gets hard to pare it down from everything that would go into a paper into what can I give in a 10-minute talk for people, where I have to start with the basics, like what is Parkinson鈥檚 disease, what is an fMRI? That鈥檚 the part I struggled with 鈥� being able to pare it down from everything I wanted to talk about, because there鈥檚 so much backstory that you have to put into it to give it to a general audience.鈥�

Thabu Mugala, the Spark! audience choice for the winner of the Glow Award, framed the story of her doctoral research problem in entomology and wildlife ecology with a fictional Maryland farmer she called 鈥淕odfrey.鈥� Godfrey was Mugala鈥檚 generalization from the many farmers she talks with in her work to control slugs that cause crop damage with parasitic nematodes, microscopic worms that destroy these pests.

鈥淚 could have given a lot of statistics about cover crops, but people wouldn鈥檛 have remembered them,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 wanted to help people understand how farmers see the role of covering crops in their problems with slugs and I wanted them to understand 鈥榳here I鈥檓 coming from,鈥� how I thought of the problem.

鈥淎nd then, I was surprised by how the audience engaged with the problem and the challenging questions they asked about things like business and economic impact when my main point was really 鈥榯here is an eco-friendly solution to the slug problem in corn and soybeans,鈥欌�� she added, laughing. 

When an area of research is far outside our common experience, an analogy may be what you need. 

Rene Hoover, a microbiology doctoral candidate, is working on identifying biomarkers to detect the role Gallionellaceae iron-oxidizing bacteria play in the transition of iron from Fe (II) to Fe (III) in freshwater ecosystems. She had to find a simple way to explain her search for 鈥渢he culprits鈥� in complex systems where hundreds of distinct bacteria species drive biogeochemical cycles.

鈥淏y comparing the ecosystem to a garden, a biome that people understand at a macro level, and iron to a cabbage crop, I wanted people to connect with the detective work I do as a microbiologist to solve the mystery of who is 鈥榬aiding the garden鈥� and eating the 鈥榗abbage,鈥� the iron,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 hope that helping people understand science as an engaging detective story will make the public more aware of what good science is and inspire more people to pursue STEM.鈥�

Brigette Romero Carpio, a doctoral candidate in medical sciences, also needed an analogy to explain how the complex molecular interactions between DNA and circular RNAs (circRNAs) matter in her search for a way to identify children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP), the most common physical disability arising in childhood according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The condition can鈥檛 be cured yet, but the symptoms, like joint and muscle stiffness, with their accompanying pain, can be relieved with earlier diagnosis and appropriate intervention.

鈥淚f we compare the role of circular RNAs to dancers who are part of a concert, it鈥檚 easier to understand why they are good choices for biomarkers to use in developing a noninvasive blood test to diagnose CP in infants,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he biggest challenge in a Spark! presentation is that our training as scientists teaches us to deal with the nitty-gritty of facts and data, not emotions, but the audience needs that appeal to understand why the research matters.鈥�

Cara Kelly wanted to touch the heart as well. 

鈥淭he pandemic highlighted the challenges of finding reliable, high-quality child care,鈥� she said. 鈥淭eachers are key to implementing high-quality child care, and my study takes a first step in identifying how teachers define quality in child care settings to promote optimal early learning environments for young children.

鈥淢y job in talking about my research is helping people connect emotionally to why teachers鈥� opinions matter. We need quality assessments that work for all center-based child care settings and the kind of child care that makes us a healthy society.鈥�

Research at 91原创 is a 'never-ending story'

91原创 has a wealth of stories to tell as one of 146 institutions in the U.S. awarded R1 status by the Carnegie Foundation for conducting a high level of groundbreaking research. 

Ready to tell your research story? Want to hear a good one? The next Spark! Symposium will take place on April 18. The speaker application process will open in November. Check the Spark! Symposium page for updates.