News
April 9th, 2013
Congratulations to the 6 PhD students who have been selected for BIA Fellowships for 2013! Learn more about the 2013 BIA Fellows here.
December 17th, 2012
In order to share their science stories with the community, BIA fellows were interviewed for a radio program, The Saturday Light Brigade (http://slbradio.org/). The Saturday Light Brigade is a Pittsburgh family radio station. “SLB Radio Productions, Inc. (SLB) uses radio and audio to encourage, amplify, share and archive the ideas, stories, and feelings of children, youth and families.” BIA fellow shared stories about a plant that they have had a personal connection with through their work as scientists, creating a series of Herbs In Action stories. You can hear their stories by listening online: http://www.mjbergerfoundation.org/herbs-in-action.
November 16th, 2012.
The 2013 BIA Fellowship Call for Proposals is released. Application deadline is Jan 18, 2013. Learn more here.
September 27-30th, 2012.
Botany In Action (BIA) Fellows from universities across the US traveled to Pittsburgh for the Phipps Botany In Action Science Engagement. During the Science Engagement, the fellows attended workshops aimed at preparing them to translate their research to public audiences. They developed skills in public speaking, radio, field photography, photo editing, multimedia, and popular and creative writing for a public audience. In addition to building the skills for working with the public, they shared their experience as researchers with public audiences through several outreach activities. See a slideshow of all their activities at the main page.
The 2012 BIA fellows in the conservatory with Phipps Director of Science Education and Research, Molly Steinwald
The fellows were interviewed by 113 area high school students as part of the Phipps High School Eco-Challenge. To complete the Eco-Challenge high school students came to Phipps to participate in three fun an educational activities related to the environment. During the Interview Challenge, students were given the task of interviewing a scientist and creating a poster to represent the scientists and their work (in just 40 minutes!).
BIA fellow Sushma Shrestha is interviewed by high school students at the Eco-Challenge
The winning posters were then used as part of the BIA fellows’ table displays at Phipps Conservatory.
BIA fellows Samantha Davis and Kelly Ksiazek display their field work supplies in the conservatory
While they displayed their field supplies at these table displays, the fellows held casual conversation with conservatory visitors, answering visitors’ questions about their research.
BIA fellow George Meindl answers visitors’ questions at the conservatory
The fellows were also interviewed for a family radio program, Saturday Light Brigade, which runs out of Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. In addition to interviews, the fellows shared their research with the public by giving lighting talks at Phipps Conservatory. These six minute talks highlighted their experience as a scientist and the importance of their work.
BIA fellow Aurelie Jacquet gives a lightning talk in the conservatory
To extend their outreach beyond the Science Engagement, the fellows began working on the “follow the fellows” portion of this site. By choosing a fellow from the “follow the fellows” button, you can read an introduction written by the BIA fellows themselves and a update on their work as a scientist written at the end of each month.
Mar 17-19, 2012.
2011 & 2012 BIA Fellows Olyssa Starry, Samantha Davis, and Alison Hale spent three days at Phipps working with Phipps’ Science Education staff on more fully incorporating their research into onsite and online programming at Phipps.
L-R: BIA Fellow Alison Hale; Phipps’ Director of Science Education, Molly Steinwald; BIA Fellows Olyssa Starry and Samantha Davis; Phipps’ Science Education staff Kate Borger, Melissa Harding and Christie Lawry.
Olyssa, Samantha, and Alison also spent time interacting with guests at the newly created Field Research Station during the Tropical Forest India Premiere Party,
and participated in a half-day science photography workshop at Phipps, geared at helping them produce more visually engaging images of their research.
Mar 17, 2012.
Phipps celebrates plants, people and the planet at its Tropical Forest India Premiere Party, a colorful gala that showcases the new Tropical Forest Conservatory exhibit and helps benefit the Botany in Action Fellowship program.
Mar 10, 2012.
Congratulations to the 10 PhD students who have been selected for BIA Fellowships for 2012!
Jan 20, 2012.
Phipps’ Science Education and exhibit staff are busy creating the new Field Research Station as part of the Tropical Forest India exhibit to open in March. The Tropical Forest exhibit changes every three years to feature a different region of the world.
Jan 20, 2012.
2012 application acceptance is now closed. Stay tuned: the call for proposals for 2013 BIA fellowships will be released in late fall 2012.
Nov 15, 2011.
2012 Call for Proposals released.
Sept 29 – Oct 2, 2011.
The 2011 BIA Fellows visited Phipps, engaging in a myriad of outreach opportunities and learning about informal education opportunities at the Conservatory. Below are examples of some of their activities.
L-R: Vandana Krishnamurthy, Alison Hale, Samantha Davis, Arika Virapongse, Vivian Zeidemann, Lisa Offringa, Sushma Shrestha and Olyssa Starry (sans Anita Varghese).
BIA Fellows gave sprint talks about their research and its importance during the Botanic Buzz: Members Only Evening with Phipps Eco Explorers event in Phipps’ Special Events Hall.
Sept 30, 2011. BIA Fellows conducted radio interviews with the Saturday Light Brigade family radio station (which has a weekly listenership of 60,000 families), talking about herbs they either study or they encounter in their fieldwork. The newly created BIA weekly radio series, entitled “Herbs in Action,” plays each Saturday morning at 8:00 am EST on 88.3 WRCT (Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon University) and other stations, and is also available online at slbradio.org/listen and mjbergerfoundation.org/herbs-in-action. The radio series is made possible with generous support from the Mary Jane Berger Foundation.
Sept 30, 2011. BIA Fellows were interviewed by 125 high school students from 20 Pittsburgh area schools, coming to Phipps to engage in its annual one-day long Eco-Challenge event. High school students were challenged to interview the BIA Fellows to a) learn what they researched, b) understand why they chose to become a scientist, and c) create posters profiling each BIA fellows.
BIA fellow Sushma Shrestha talking with Pittsburgh area high school students
