Science Communication

My goal is to bring science beyond the research community and share it with the wider public. The projects below represent a variety of work for different organizations, but they all center around the idea of communicating science to non-academic audiences.

Headwaters Podcast

My most recent endeavor has been using audio to tell longform stories about science, history, and public lands. Some of the most science-focused episodes I’ve produced include Season 2, about whitebark pine, Season 4’s episode “Chasing Waterfalls: The Search for Glacier’s Hidden Wildlife,” about black swifts, and an upcoming episode of Season 6 called “Living with Fire (and each other),” about the history of wildfire management in Glacier (coming March 2025).

Learn more about my work on the Headwaters page, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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Story Map: Avalanches on the Going-to-the-Sun Road

This story map uses narrative storytelling, original video content, and interactive maps to communicate the complex story of avalanches on the high, alpine Going-to-the-Sun Road through Glacier National Park. I incorporate current research by USGS scientists, the dangerous work by the plow crew every spring, and historic material on past avalanche accidents in the park. An accompanying article focuses in more detail on USGS research about avalanches in northwest Montana.

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Story Map: Destruction and Discovery

This narrative piece examines fire’s impact on historic and cultural landscapes in Glacier National Park through the lens of a single incident: the 2015 Reynolds Creek Fire and the loss of the historic Baring Creek Cabin. While we reckon with the destruction that fire can bring, the park’s archeologists also highlight the new discoveries a fire can reveal.

Story Map: The Berry Fire

The Berry Fire, in 2016, was the largest fire in Grand Teton National Park history. This story map incorporates an episode of “Dispatches from the Field” and further explores the complexity, drama, and nuance of fire management through the lens of this historic fire. (contact me for link)

Dispatches from the Field

Dispatches is a series of short videos on science in Grand Teton National Park that I shot, edited, and produced. There are currently three episodes: Middle Teton Glacier Survey, The Berry Fire, and Dark Skies. To learn more, please see the "Dispatches" page.

This series connects viewers with the most current scientific stories of the park, showing how the Park Service uses science to steward our natural resources.

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Wildfire Funding and Policy

While working at the American Geosciences Institute in DC, I wrote this factsheet for the Congressional Hazards Caucus Alliance. The intended audience is policymakers (and their staffers) who may be voting on wildfire-related issues, but who are not subject matter experts.

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Harlequin Ducks in Glacier National Park

This resource brief covers the status of harlequin ducks in Glacier and the park's monitoring efforts. I wrote it while working at the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center, one of 19 such centers that facilitate the communication of science in national parks.

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Glaciers in Yosemite

I mapped the retreat of the Lyell and Maclure glaciers and created an animation to show my findings. The intent is to share this work with a variety of audiences, including other scientists, science enthusiasts, and the wider public. It appears on Yosemite's "Glaciers" webpage, which I wrote to add context on the history of glacier research in the park.

Controversy and Compromise: Public Lands Management in the Western U.S.

This article appears in the February 2015 issue of AAPG's Explorer magazine. It presents recent debates over federal versus state management of public lands.

National Park Service Web Content

I've written and edited many webpages covering hydrology, geology, wildlife, and fire management for Grand Teton, Yosemite, and Glacier National Parks. The most recent of these is Glacier’s Wildland Fire pages.