During the 2015-16 academic year, a group of graduate students and postdoctoral scientists from Global Food Systems research teams have participated in an experimental series of workshops. These focused on communication of science questions, methods, and discoveries to non-specialist audiences. The aim of the workshop has been to help these scientists strengthen skills that will help them convey the significance of their work – to legislators and funders, to their future students, and to the general public.
The visual arts, especially research around a technique called Visual Thinking Strategies, provided a starting point by examining the power of images and the importance of selecting them carefully. Later in the workshop, the group considered discoveries in neuroscience and psychology that can help a presenter maximize communication of information and concepts. The presentation events will showcase the work of this group of researchers and allow them to demonstrate their communication skills.
Jim Richardson
In his photographic projects for National Geographic over the last three decades, Jim Richardson has explored natural landscapes, human cultures, and environmental issues around the world. These worldwide photographic essays were rooted in his Kansas upbringing and the subjects he found close to home. Richardson has returned often to the subject of the prairie and the livelihoods of the people who make their homes in that ecosystem, at once rich and austere, beautiful and punishing. The exhibition of Richardson’s photographs, “Beneath the Prairie Sky” at Beach Museum of Art (March 8 – June 26, 2016), will explore life and meaning on the Great Plains. Filled with both exhilarating wonder and gnawing doubt, the artist says these photographs re flect 50 years of soul-searching.
A collaborative program of:
- O ffice of the Vice President for Research
- Beach Museum of Art
- Prairie Studies Initiative
- Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning
