EAGER: Transforming public engagement by ecosystem scientists from burden to benefit: The Research Ambassador Program

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Solving environmental issues such as global climate change requires new ways to understand the biosphere, and for much greater engagement between ecosystem scientists and the public. However, the current academic system does not reward, and sometimes penalizes, such activities. Academic scientists only rarely connect to those who have little access to science (e.g., people in assisted living centers, urban youth, or incarcerated people).A pilot study suggested that scientists who engage with scientifically unaware audiences can generate new ideas, implement research, communicate results, and inspire ecological understanding in ways they could not if they were restricted to academic interactions or worked only with traditional public audiences. This proposed project explores a high-risk/potential high- return approach to create a rigorous, creative, sustainable, and transformative program to change public outreach from burden to benefit. Working with a team of professional evaluators, the PI will gather well-established and early career ecosystem ecologists as "Research Ambassadors" (RAs) to engage scientifically unaware audiences via lectures, research projects, and websites. They will: a) brainstorm with appropriate public audiences whose interests overlap with the RAs'; b) provide guidance on outreach activities; and c) evaluate effects on the scientists and their science, as well as the public audiences.This is a first systematic effort to provide a sustainable outreach program for senior and junior ecosystem scientists and to understand the impacts of public engagement on them. The results for ecosystem science can extend to other fields of science in the future.Research Ambassadors will create materials and projects for underserved public audiences that are often disproportionately weighted toward minorities. This work will set the stage for large numbers of scientists to understand that contact with these audiences can bring academic and societal rewards.