USU students share personal science stories

Bryn Watkins paced in front of a crowd of students, professors and other attendees at USU’s first annual Science Story Slam on Oct. 25, gesturing as she told her story. Years ago, visiting a series of Hawaiian volcanoes and looking at stars, planets and rocks, she had no idea what she would make of her life.    

Now, a first year master’s student of environment and society, Watkins spoke about the imposter syndrome and sexism associated with science — and how, despite everything, her research has empowered her to continue studying. 

Watkins was one of eight other participants of all majors and years — undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. candidate — that gave personal stories about how science had changed their lives. The Merrill-Cazier Library organized the event, with the College of Science and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion acting as sponsors. 

“This event is all about highlighting what science actually looks like, because, I mean, it’s people  — it’s the people doing the work, and not only that, it’s just students,” said Erica Finch, a USU scholarly communications librarian. “You will be able to see yourself in the stories that you hear.” 

The stories included discussions about research, discovery and mental health in the scientific community, covering everything from seeing climate change in real time in the Alaskan icefields to the struggles with finding microplastics in mud.  

For Finch, the event has especially proved exciting and groundbreaking to raise awareness about local scientific research.  

The timing of the story slam was special as well, Finch said, not just because this past January, the White House declared 2023 would be the Year of Open Science, but that the week of Oct. 23 was Open Access Week for international research.  

One particular goal of Open Access Week, Finch added, was to bring together libraries, researchers and publishers from around the world to solve access issues. Many scientific papers and research require payment for access or have copyright restrictions.  

“We’re a land-grant institution,” Finch said. “We’re supposed to be doing things for the benefit of our community. We’re supposed to be improving Utah, and how do we do that when the research that our scholars are publishing is locked behind a paywall?” 

Temis Taylor, a co-founder of a nonprofit scientific storytelling workshop called Exact Communication, is program director for USU AmeriCorps. She said the slam could provide greater insight into political issues in the scientific field.  

“There are a lot of things that are controversial in our society now about science. We argue about things like vaccines, we argue about things like climate change, we argue about the ways that we should use science,” Taylor said. “The importance of storytelling and science communication is a way to get past people’s barriers, their resistance … When you’re telling stories, people’s resistance, their counter argument in their head goes down.” 

Regan Tracy, an undergraduate student majoring in mechanical and aerospace engineering, helped break those barriers during the event by sharing the abuse she said she underwent when talking with her doctor about a severe medical issue — and being dismissed.    

Women’s medical experiences can often be misdiagnosed or dismissed, sometimes as a result of doctors assuming women’s problems coming from periods or alleged hormonal imbalances, Tracy said.  

After sharing her experiences of being sidelined, and ultimately, medically suffering from it, Tracy said she had had several women come up to her and express empathy for the situation.  

“Just talking about it can create an environment where we can think collectively together, say, ‘OK, how are we going to problem-solve this, and how are we going to move forward?’” Tracy said. “Even current doctors, maybe they can say, ‘Oh, I never thought about it that way.’ Just offering a new perspective that somebody might not have seen before.”  

Watkins agreed that sharing her research, especially with the USU community and other women scientists, has helped her understand new perspectives to science, especially that scientists can make mistakes. 

“It’s also become increasingly apparent to me how we’re socially conditioned to believe that like perfection is the standard,” Watkins said. “There’s some exclusivity to science and to being a high performing thinker in any field and with that, I think it’s taken me — I’m still trying to learn about how that’s a construction.”  

Finch said she hoped the slam could continue on in upcoming years.  

“What I really hope is that everybody who leaves tonight, you know, I want them to connect with the stories that they’ve heard, and I want them to feel compelled to share sort of what they’ve heard tonight because it really — it felt real to them,” Finch said. “I want people to leave feeling confident that science is for everyone, including themselves.”