It’s harder to be what you can’t see

As an earth scientist, I feel that I have a duty to be an ambassador for my subject, as our planet becomes increasingly inhospitable and humans are exposed to more natural hazards and climate change. So I got into outreach. This has allowed me to share my research with others, build professional relationships and promote earth science to the next generation.

Last summer I gave my favourite outreach talk online to a group of school students in Texas through the organisation GeoFORCE Texas, which aims to increase the number and diversity of future earth scientists. The students, 82% of whom were from underrepresented minority groups, were full of curiosity, asking some challenging scientific questions that I mused over for a while afterwards.

Following my talk, the teachers reached out to share their and their students’ thanks, outlining the impact that me, as a Black woman, being a vocal, visible earth scientist had on them. This reinforced the importance of representation in science outreach to me. But my experiences haven’t always been so positive.