We are thrilled to announce that Dra.* Evelyn Valdez-Ward (she/ella), joined the Metcalf Institute team in February as a postdoctoral fellow! Evelyn will be working on our new “SciComm Identities Project,” an ambitious five-year research project and fellowship program designed to support the next generation of science communicators from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The project is supported by a $2.8 million collaborative National Science Foundation (NFS) grant and led by co- principal investigators Dr. Sunshine Menezes (Metcalf Institute) and Dr. Bruno Takahashi (Michigan State University).
As the first postdoctoral fellow for the SciComm Identities Project, Evelyn will be building her social science research skills by working closely with the Michigan State team to conduct and analyze interview data that will inform the fellowship’s science communication training curriculum and helping to develop an overall evaluation strategy for the project. Evelyn’s background and training will provide invaluable insight as we work to change the status quo in science communication.
“I am beyond excited to join the research team! As a marginalized scientist myself, I can’t wait to see a world where more marginalized scientists can feel welcomed, and be able to bring their full selves into science communication spaces.”
– Dra. Evelyn Valdez-Ward
Evelyn is a formerly undocumented Mexican immigrant, who earned her doctorate degree at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) earlier this year. As a Ford Foundation Predoctoral and Switzer Foundation Fellow, she studied the effects of drought on plants and soil microbes. She expanded her research interests during her doctoral studies to focus on marginalized scientists’ use of science communication and policy for social justice. She was named one of 2020’s Grist 50 Fixers and a 2018 UCS Science Defender, voted best of Story Collider 2018 in Los Angeles, awarded UCI’s Dynamic Womxn’s Award for Outstanding Social Justice Activist, and the Svetlana Bershadsky Graduate Community Award for her advocacy for undocumented scientists. She co-founded and co-directs ReclaimingSTEM: the first workshop to address the need for science communication and policy training spaces for marginalized groups, which has grown into the ReclaimingSTEM Institute. Evelyn was also a 2020 AAAS Mass Media Fellow and won the Ecological Society of America Science Communication in Practice Award.
Evelyn also has the distinction of being Metcalf Institute’s first postdoctoral fellow. We are thrilled to add this accomplished scientist, science communicator, and advocate to the University of Rhode Island and the Metcalf team. Welcome, Dra. Valdez-Ward!
*“Dra.” is the Spanish (female) abbreviation for “Doctor” in Spanish.