This year we were excited to get back to “normal” – and some might say we all did too much. It was just right! A fantastic year for Science for Georgia. As we move forward to an even better 2023 – here is a look back at our accomplishments.
By the Numbers
| 1 | Scavenger Hunt to the Sea |
| 1 | Legislative Roundup |
| 1 | Environmental Health and Climate Protection Conference |
| 1 | Resolution. HR 650. |
| 1 | Press Conference |
| 1 | Science Trivia Night |
| 1 | Sci.Tober Fest with 100 people! |
| 2 | Open Letters from Scientists |
| 2 | Jazz Hands Events |
| 3 | Atlanta Science Festival Events |
| 3 | Science Tales and Trails Events |
| 5 | Remarks before the Georgia General Assembly |
| 9 | Atlanta Science Taverns |
| 68 | People in the Science Catalyzer Network |
| 191 | People trained in SciComm Academy |
| 200 | Postcards collected at #SpeakUpForScience and delivered to the GA General Assembly |
| 302 | Total AST & ST&T Attendees |
Impressive? We think so! We are thankful for all the great people who helped make Science Matter Here.
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Making Science Matter Here in 2023:
Our 2023 Calendar keeps growing – look out for
Jan – Apr – engage with the GA General Assembly
Mar – Ice Cream Science. Jazz Hands. #SpeakUpForScience
May – Aug – Scavenger Hunt to the Sea
Jun – 2nd Annual Environmental Health and Climate Protection Conference
Aug – Legislative Round Up
Oct – 5th annual Sci.Tober Fest
Monthly – Atlanta Science Taverns!
SciComm Academy
SciComm Academy reached 191 people this year! This no application needed, science communication training program guides Science and Technology students and professionals in building bridges across disciplines and out into the great community.
Many thanks to our friends at Brass Drum Media for creating this awesome video about our classes.
2022 Monthly Timeline
January
1/15 – Our former Science Policy intern Yohanna kicked off 2022 with a great talk Introducing the Georgia General Assembly
Jan 18 – Science for Georgia, Senator Harold Jones (D-Augusta), and Kwabena Nkromo met with GA’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Gary Black, to discuss food security.
1/22 – Our AST – Psychedelics on the Brain caused our highest number of “bot generated comments” on both Science for Georgia’s YouTube channel and ScienceLookup.
February
Science for Georgia provided commentary to the Georgia General Assembly on four bills.
March
Mar 2 – AST: Making Positive Climate Impact with the Hazel App and Emory’s Eri Saikawa.
Mar 14 – #speakupforscience where we went over how the GA General Assembly works and how to engage with them effectively.
Mar 18 – HR 650 which would establish a study committee on literacy instruction – passed the Georgia House 130-0. This resolution was the result of what we learned from the Education and Workforce Speaker Series and corresponding Roundtable. Sci4Ga got some seriously marvelous shout-outs in the day 31 floor speeches (starts at 45:25).
March 19 – Daniel Sussman and Michael Czajkowski gave an amazing encore presentation about the Physics of Ice Cream If you watch one video on our YouTube channel this year. Make it this one!!
Mar 23 – Science Jazz Hands at Zoo Atlanta! Sold out show to over 100 people!!
Mar 28 – #SpeakUpForScience Booth at the Atlanta Science Festival Expo. We collected 200 postcards and hand delivered them to the General Assembly on March 30th.
Mar 14th & Mar 30th – Science for Georgia staff, interns, and volunteers participated in Georgia Water Coalition’s Capitol Conservation day.
Mar 23 – Amy Sharma spoke before the House Ag and Consumer Affairs Committee (remarks begin at 1:06) about SB 573. This bill would have established a Food Security Council to look at the problem from all angles and bring all opinions to the table about solutions that would move the needle toward increasing food security. Alas, the bill died in committee.
April
Apr 14 – Together with Environment Georgia and Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action we wrote an open letter detailing the environment and health consequences of Chemical “Plastic Recycling.” This practice is a triple whammy of CO2 Bad News uses more energy, releases toxins, and makes gas to burn.
Apr 19 – Science Trivia Night at Monday Night Garage.
Apr 23 – Science for Georgia had a booth at the Center for Black Women’s Wellness Earth Day Event, where we met with many motivated community members.
May
May 14 – ST&T – Controlled Burns in the Working Forest.
May 26 – the Environmental Health and Climate Change Conference. Together with Dogwood Alliance, we hosted a full day conference in Macon around four topics – climate change, forestry & biomass, soil & farming, and air & water. It was inspiring to see 60+ people in-person, and about 60 more online, from people of diverse fields of study and from diverse backgrounds, come together to discuss issues impacting all Georgians.
May 28 – AST – Effects of Extreme Weather Events on Perinatal and Child Mental Health.
June & July
We regrouped for the last half of 2022. Holding our annual BOD retreat and hosting an AST on July 23 – Cells in Orthopaedic Repair
August
Aug 16 – Legislative Roundup. We went over the 21-22 session and then spend a majority of the time in breakout rooms working to understand the thoughts and opinions of members of the science and friend-of-science community. We produced an associated Guide on what happened in the 2022-23 Georgia General Assembly Session.
Aug 22 – Atlanta Science Tavern – Climate Change, Let’s Talk About it!
September
Sept 21 – Together with Dogwood Alliance we hosted an Environmental Justice Roundtable to follow-on to our great Environmental Health and Climate Protection conference. Huge thank you to the Water Tower for hosting us!
Sept 24 – AST – Terahertz Imaging We had a full house at Manuel’s for this great talk!
October
Oct 4 – Sci4Ga was pleased to be part of a press conference hosted by Environment Georgia to mark the release of their Wasting Our Waterways report that demonstrates the continued need for the Clean Water Act and a strengthening of its protections. Approximately half our lakes and rivers are still too polluted to allow safe swimming and fishing. Watch the FB Live of the Conference Here.
Oct 18 – Sci.Tober Fest at Monday Night Garage (thank you MNB!) – an annual night of science networking. 100 registered! Thank you to our amazing speaker: Maria Thacker Goethe, CEO at Center for Global Health Innovation and President & CEO, Georgia Bio. We had great tables from our amazing partners: Women in Engineering, The Xylom, Citizen Climate Lobby, Women in Bio, IEEE Young Professionals, Amphibian Foundation, Georgia Water Coalition, and Adopt-a-Stream.
November
Nov 4 – Jurassic Jokes! Over 150 people attended a night of science comedy at the Tellus Museum. A big thank you to our comics and to Tellus for making this event Jurassicaly Jovial!
Nov 15 – Our Open Letter regarding mining in the Okefenokee Swamp was utilized in a lawsuit filed by Southern Environmental Law Center to protect the swamp.
Nov 19 – AST: Applying a Social Vulnerability Framework to Understand Climate Change & Respiratory Health