In the wake of the 2016 Presidential election, Science Soapbox sat down with Dr. Lucky Tran — scientist and science communicator — for a conversation about the future of science activism at the dawn of a new administration. Already, thousands of scientists have signed on to petitions and open letters calling for the President-elect and his emerging administration to respect the integrity of science and the rights of those conducting research. Last week, scientists and advocates gathered at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting to #StandForScience. In this episode, we chat with Lucky about his experiences as an organizer, strategies to defend the scientific enterprise, and the need for scientists to stand up for and see each other.
Here are some of the links and references mentioned during the show:
- We opened up our conversation with the recent article in Nature: Is Donald Trump pushing more scientists towards political activism?
- Lucky is a seasoned organizer himself, as you have probably now heard. Read about Lucky and collaborator’s efforts to organize scientists at the People’s Climate March on Scientific American
- Avital referenced some of our favorite organizations that have a history of advocating for science: Union of Concerned Scientists, the AAAS, and 314 PAC
- Maryam talked about the need to stand up not only for science, but for scientists. As she was editing this interview, she wished she had made a special shout out to 500 Women Scientists.
- We talked about some of the ways that scientists have come under federal scrutiny, including the House Science Committee Chairman’s subpoenas for climate scientist emails and death threats to scientists like climatologist Michael Mann, who just wrote this op-ed about his experiences
- You can find a nice synopsis and links to petitions and open letters in this piece for The Washington Post
- And of course, you can follow Lucky on his esteemed Twitter account @luckytran
This episode was recorded on December 15, 2016 in the Rockefeller University Outreach Lab. Special thanks to Visager for music and Thelma Young for photo rights.