Talking About Live Public Science Events

Physics as a Street Art with Tatiana Erukhimova from the Texas A&M Science and Engineering Festival.  

Science events professionals are a wild bunch of individuals. Which, considering what we all do for a living, makes sense. With such a wide variation in our practice, it's hard enough to describe what we do and how we do it with people inside our field, but for "outsiders" it can feel like a near impossibility. How do you encompass the scope of not just your own work, but the context provided by the field itself? How do we get people invested in the important work we do and not just dismissing it all as an excuse for a party?  Tatiana is leading work at Texas A&M on a Just Add Science mini-grant that is producing a number of tailgating events at her college, taking science to where people are and engaging them in a place that's part of their community traditions. (For those not aware, Texas A&M is an SEC school where traditions reign supreme.)  But beyond that she's been working on the Texas A&M Science and Engineering festival for years, been a consistent presence and presenter at IPSEC, and more. When she contextualizes the work she does, it's not just one program or one event, it's the whole of the field.  This TedX talk is a great example of what it's like to speak to your work, to engage people in unexpected ways, and to be excited about what you produce and where it fits in the larger scene of live public events.  We hope you'll take a moment to watch and enjoy.    [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgP-ZD77TAk[/embed]