By Jennifer Micale
February 18, 2021
Adriane Lam Thanks to her first academic conference, she laid the foundation for her future academic career when she was still a student.
Not only was she able to present her own research results, but she also made important contacts with established scientists who became consultants years later during their Masters and PhD programs. Conferences are an important part of the academic ecosystem, providing an opportunity for academics, industry professionals, and science communicators to come together and share data, teaching strategies, new initiatives, and more.
It’s also expensive to attend – which can make it out of reach for students who are already struggling to pay their bills.
Well a Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral fellow at Binghamton University Geological sciences Lam strives to make conferences accessible to students and amateur scholars alike Tilly Edinger travel grant for students and academics, set up through the educational work website Time catcher. The first eight scholarship recipients will be announced this month.
Pioneering paleontologist Tilly Edinger Photo credits: provided.
About Tilly Edinger
Dr. Johanna Gabrielle Ottilie “Tilly” Edinger was born into a Jewish family in Germany at the end of the 19th century, said Adriane Lam, postdoc to the President for Diversity. Edinger began studying biology, but later switched to paleontology.
Her endeavors met resistance: her father believed that women were unsuitable for a career, and her mother viewed Edinger’s scientific activities as a hobby. However, Edinger was extremely successful, publishing studies on brain cases from extinct animals such as old horses. Today she is credited with founding the field of paleoneurology, the study of fossil brains, Lam said.
Around 1933 the NSDAP came to power in Germany and Edinger could no longer work safely as a researcher. Under the protection of her museum director, she continued to work in secret until she was discovered in 1938 and forced to leave Germany for her own safety.
In 1948 Edinger was employed at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) in Massachusetts and published her second largest work on fossil brainprints. Edinger, who lost her hearing as a teenager, was profoundly deaf in her Harvard days. She died after being hit by a car while visiting her family in Germany.
“Tilly has faced a number of obstacles throughout her career: sexism, anti-Semitism, workplace issues, and navigational areas that weren’t inclusive for hard of hearing and deaf scientists,” said Lam. “Regardless of the obstacles that have been placed in its path, it has achieved many goals and exerted a great influence in the field of paleontology. For these reasons, we decided to honor their legacy and offer our travel grant to Dr. Edinger to name. “
“It turned out we had the resources to support all eight of our applicants in this cycle, which was really exciting!” Said Lam. “All of our awardees are students who have one or more underrepresented identities and are located around the world.”
Time catcher
Lam co-founded Time Scavengers as a PhD student with the goal of making science accessible to a wide audience, including those without formal academic training.
At the time, she was taking a fascinating course at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on Climate Change that clearly broken down the subject. However, as she watched the coverage of the 2016 presidential election that year, she was shocked by the misinformation and disinformation surrounding the issue.
“Over the course of a few weeks, I began to wonder how useful it would be if people had information available to help them understand climate change in a digestible format, just like I was taught in the class I was taking.” She said.
She texted her friend and colleague Jennifer Bauer, currently the director of the research museum collection at the University of Michigan’s Museum of Paleontology. She immediately wrote with an enthusiastic “Yes!”
Today, Time Scavengers offers more than 40 pages of information in five main categories that provide readers with insight into key geological concepts, access to resources for educators of all levels, and additional resources to delve deeper into interesting topics. The Climate change and evolution Pages are the “meat and potatoes” of the website, with six pages on each main topic, Lam said. She plans to expand with more content for Time Scavengers’ growing online community.
The site also features six blogs designed to take a behind-the-scenes look at science, covering topics such as field research, community engagement, and the way scientists collect and interpret data. A blog, Meet the scientist, is specifically designed to demonstrate the diversity of the scientific community and the different paths people are taking to enter the field.
“Twice a month we feature scientists – professionals and professionals / amateurs – at all career levels and from different backgrounds,” said Lam.
In addition to Lam and Bauer, 15 site staff help write the blogs, create page content, and join committees. This includes professional and amateur paleontologists, museum curators, students, postdocs, and professors from all backgrounds.
Time Scavengers has also dedicated itself to other endeavors, for example a summer internship in science communication, which is run by the employee Dr. Sarah Sheffield was created for students at the University of South Florida. Your latest initiative is Tilly Edinger Travel grantto improve accessibility in the fields of paleontology, paleoclimatology / paleoceanography and climate research.
“We know there is a diversity problem in STEM, especially in the geosciences,” Lam admitted.
Unlike similar scholarships, the Tilly Edinger Travel Grant pays conference costs in advance rather than reimbursement. All conference participants are eligible – not just those presenting data. It is also one of the few scholarships for professional and amateur scholars who play an important role in the earth sciences. Often times, they’re the ones in the field finding new fossil sites, Lam said.
The logo for the Time Scavengers website Image Credit: provided.
Interested in science communication?
The Time Scavengers team is looking for guest bloggers and others interested in science communication. You are particularly interested in introducing scientists from all areas of MINT on the Meet the Scientist blog. Connect with them through social media or email TimeScavengers@gmail.com.
Applications are also ranked to prioritize support for applicants with identities that are historically excluded or underrepresented in the earth sciences. Time Scavengers is hoping for two or three rounds of funding per year to support travel and attend as many conferences as possible.
Due to the pandemic, most of the conferences have shifted to the digital realm. As a result, this year’s Tilly Edinger Scholarship covers abstract fees, conference registration costs, and the cost of students and professionals to join the society or foundation that sponsors the event online or in person.
Lam is a first generation, low income academic. She worked part-time in a retail job to save up for college, but the rent quickly returned to her paycheck, forcing her to borrow for her education. Fortunately, their university covered 100 percent of the conference travel expenses for students.
“The money I would have spent on conferences was used to pay for other living expenses like groceries and gasoline. Without the support of the conference, I would not have had this experience at all during a critical phase of my training, ”she said. “Many people I know and who share my backgrounds have had similar difficulties affording conferences that are critical to professional development.”
