CDLS Science Communication Workshop Series: Community Science

As part of our ongoing commitment to fostering inclusive and impactful science communication, the Center for Diverse Leadership in Science (CDLS) at UCLA is thrilled to invite you to a series of workshops aimed to empower you with effective communication skills to convey your work to diverse audiences. Our next workshop of this series will take place on March 14, 2024 at 3pm-6pm PT and will focus on ‘Community Science’ with guest speakers, Amy Jaecker-Jones and Valerie Ahumada from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

To confirm your attendance, please RSVP by March 11, 2024. This is an in-person workshop and space is limited, so reserve your spot as soon as possible. Light refreshments will be served. Masking is optional although strongly recommended indoors.

Workshop Highlights

Are you interested in community science and don’t know where to start? Perhaps you’ve already had experience planning or participating in a community science project but want to broaden your audience and begin working with local communities. How do we make science inclusive for everyone?

Topics that we will discuss:

• Identifying local scientific questions or issues that participants are interested in exploring.

• Different approaches to community science.

• How transparency, accessibility, power dynamics, and other barriers inform developing a plan for collaborative research with diverse communities.

• Ways to communicate science across language barriers.

More about our facilitators:

Amy Jaecker-Jones joined the Community Science Program in 2018. Her primary responsibility is coordinating the City Nature Challenge at the local and global levels. Other projects she has worked on include the Backyard Bat Survey, co-creating a bilingual pollinator guide with a local elementary school, and field-testing community science kits at several Los Angeles County parks. Amy is a California Naturalist, a Certified Interpretive Guide, and a graduate of Occidental College.

Valerie Ahumada is a Community Science Coordinator who joined the museum in 2022. Her love for botany started at a young age when her parents opted to take her to a botanical garden one year for her birthday. Valerie uses her experience in advocacy and botany to help connect people with the natural world.