Seeking volunteers for ESA Annual Meeting Special Session Ecology on the Runway: An Eco-Fashion Show and Other Non-Traditional Public Engagement Approaches
Monday, August 8, 2016: 10:15 AM-11:30 AM Organizer: Nalini Nadkarni, University of Utah Co-organizer: Douglas Levey, National Science Foundation We seek volunteers to facilitate a Special Session to highlight the importance of innovative public engagement by ecologists who are involving the public in venues and with tactics that reach people who might not visit museums, watch science documentaries, or attend formal lectures. The message of this session is that "Ecology is Everywhere" and demonstrates how academic ecologists might raise awareness of the importance of their research through the medium of fashion: [https://eco.confex.com/eco/2016/webprogram/Session11769.html]. The organizers will host an "Eco-fashion Show" that features 13 of ESA's most prominent ecologists who will model custom-made clothing created from fabric that has biologically correct images of their own study plants, animals, microbes, and landscapes printed on it. The "eco-models" include present and past Presidents, ESA Fellows, ESA Early Career Fellows, and program officers of the NSF Division of Environmental Biology. The masters of ceremony will describe the research that each ecologist has carried out on the biota portrayed on the fashion clothing. This demonstration, in miniature at this meeting, demonstrates how something as seemingly non-academic as fashion clothing can serve as a future vector for outreach and education about ecology. The fashion designer and tailor who created the garments will describe how they viewed this opportunity to interact with academic scientists. Ecologists in the audience will have the opportunity to communicate their own ideas for non-traditional public engagement through social media. Ecofashion Booklet: Ecology on the Runway<http://nalininadkarni.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/15-1135-Ecology-Fashion-Show-Handout-1.pdf> We need 3-5 people who are attending the meeting to assist as: music dj; taking photographs/video, and cueing eco-models. Please contact: Nalini Nadkarni: [email protected]; (360) 870-6632. --Nalini Nadkarni [email protected]; (360) 870-6632 -- Nalini M. Nadkarni Professor, Department of Biology 404 Aline Skaggs Building University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (360) 870-6632 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://nalininadkarni.com<http://nalininadkarni.com/about/science-in-prisons-2/> http://nalininadkarni.com/about/science-in-prisons-2/ http://internationalcanopynetwork.org/
