Eric Hilton Helps Community 'Engage' With Astronomy

Eric Hilton, our VP of Education and a graduate student in Astronomy at the University of Washington, recently gave a talk for non-specialists entitled "Big Flares on Little Stars." Designed for the science aficionado interested -- but not expert -- in astronomy, Eric's talk was part of a series of informative presentations meant to communicate scientific research to those outside the field.

According to Eric, "Science needs to have a strong voice in the discussions around many very important issues, such as climate change, energy, health, etc. Unfortunately, although scientists are highly trained, they are not trained in how to communicate their science to politicians and the general public. Phil Rosenfield, Cliff Johnson, Rachel Mitchell and I decided to address this by creating Engage: The Science Speakers Series. Graduate students in the sciences prepare and deliver a ~30 minute presentation, followed by 20 minutes of question and answer with the audience." Because astronomers tend to have more experience reaching out to non-specialists (because we all know a little about the stars, even if it's only that they twinkle or that the Big Dipper looks like a measuring cup), this year the lecture series will largely be led by graduate students from the Astronomy department. This will expand next fall into a seminar where up-and-coming scientists will learn how to effectively share the results of their scientific endeavors.

Although Eric was competing with President Obama's State of the Union address, Eric had several families in the audience, including one pretty sharp teenager who asked insightful questions and kept Eric on his toes. The presentation was recorded, and will be put on YouTube in a few weeks once they edit the footage and splice in Eric's slides.

"I worked really hard on what is called 'arouse and fulfill' - raising questions and then answering them so that it is more of a story than a lecture. It seems to have worked pretty well. There were a few times when people gasped a bit when some piece of information was revealed, which was exciting from my end. I had no specific agenda except to let people know what I'm doing, to convey the sense of excitement and wonder I feel when I'm doing novel research, and to show how cool science is."

If you are interested in check out other lectures in the series, visit the Engage website for more information.