Stanford at the Tech is a great program and I highly recommend it to everyone 

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who is interested in teaching or communicating science to the public. It's a lot of fun working at a science museum and you get to learn a tremendous amount. I enjoyed taking a step back from my research and seeing where we as scientists fit into the bigger picture.

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I absolutely loved my time at The Tech Museum.

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Not only did I gain experience explaining science to a diverse audience, but it's a great break from daily life in the lab. I think that being surrounded by other scientists all day, it is easy to forget the excitement of learning about the world around you for the first time. When I would see the look of understanding in a kid's face when they get a concept for the first time, it took me back to my early visits to science museums. I'm glad that I got to pass along that experience to the next generation. Finally, my experience at The Tech opened my eyes to the level of scientific understanding of non-scientists. It showed me that programs like this one are not just good, but that in fact they are essential! We, as scientists, cannot expect the public to support our work if we never stop to explain to them what we are doing and why.

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I especially liked learning how to communicate science at different levels.

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The Tech Museum gets many different types of visitors so I've gotten a chance to talk to young kids, parents, high school students (both at the museum and at a local high school), and even monks about science. I've also always enjoyed writing so it was fun answering genetics questions for the Tech Museum website. We get really good, specific feedback from the program and everyone comes out of the program as better communicators. I've learned how to make science seem less intimidating to people (e.g. Instead of asking if someone knows about DNA, asking if someone has heard about DNA and what they have heard about it) and how to be comfortable explaining complex topics in a clear manner. Stanford at the Tech was very rewarding and one of my favorite experiences at Stanford.

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The Stanford at the Tech program is an amazing opportunity for graduate students, and I'm really glad I took advantage of it!

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I got to experience two other important applications of science that you don't always get in academia - teaching and writing about biology for the public. And I was surprised at how much fun I had doing it! The challenge of trying to engage kids with genetics was incredibly rewarding, especially in those moments when you see understanding light up their faces. Overall the program was a great survey of different teaching methods, as we needed to communicate to little kids, high schoolers, adults, small groups, classrooms, as well as on paper. We also used a variety of projects during the program, so you get experience with communicating ideas through experiments and through just simple dialogue. Overall, I feel very lucky to have participated in Stanford at the Tech.

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I had an awesome experience at the Tech.

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Communicating science to a broad audience is a necessary skill in graduate skill and beyond, and learning to do that at many levels was extremely useful. The hands-on experience was way more fun and helped me pick up these skills faster than any technical communications class, seminar, or workshop I have attended. It was also exciting being in the spotlight with a range of levels of enthusiasm--talking with young kids who are eager to learn, teaching harder to engage teenagers at Overfelt High School, and answering Ask A Geneticist questions online were three very different forums for learning to communicate well. One of the most rewarding experiences I had during the program was seeing that "Aha!" moment when little kids would understand the concept of natural selection after only a 10 minute game.

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All graduate students and postdocs wishing to share and rekindle their love for science

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 should consider volunteering at The Tech. It is hard to capture all the things I've gained at the Tech in a single paragraph. From guiding 5 year-olds through hands-on gel electrophoresis experiments, to explaining to a grandmother how DNA from one cow cell carried all the information to make the whole cow, to invoking research interest in high school students, to answering genetics questions online, the Stanford at the Tech program really gave a fresh spin to my role as a scientist. It's easy to get disenchanted with science when we don't share how relevant and important it is to the general public. I walk away from the program being more adept at communicating science to people of all ages and background, while knowing I have made a real contribution to their science education.

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Volunteering at the Tech Museum was a unique experience for me.

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It really showed how tasks that we perceive to be trivial can actually be a challenge. The communication skills that I acquired while working at The Tech were at the opposite spectrum of what I have learned as a grad student. I firmly believe that children are the future of science, and I found out that it can be harder to communicate science to them, than to a scientist. Working with children and high school students and seeing them enthusiastic about science was the most rewarding part of my time at The Tech.

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Working at the Tech was a weekly reminder that it's not just scientist who think science is awesome.

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Whether we were in the museum or teaching at high schools, it was fun to see that most people can't help but get excited when they see their own cheek cells up close or extract gloppy strands of DNA from a hunk of cow meat. Working at the Tech showed me that kids have an innate interest in, and a surprising amount of intuition about science so it's worth it to take the time to communicate it to them. It's even better when you hear the parents mutter an impressed "whoa, that's cool" under their breath, too!

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Working at the Tech museum has been the highlight of my postdoc. 

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Helping kids get excited about science has been a great reminder of why I love science so much.  I joined the Stanford at the Tech program because I am interested in pursuing science education professionally.  However, the training Barry gave us is applicable to anyone who is trying to explain their research at a cocktail party or to their grandmother.  The wide range of experiences I got was great, from going to Overfelt High School, working with 5-15 year olds at the museum, explaining my research to their parents, teaching lab classes, and writing for the website.  I highly recommend the program to everyone!

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The Stanford at the Tech program exposes you to a part of science you will never see in the lab.

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This was my first time working with children and writing for the public. Thankfully, Barry took the time to teach me how to do both of them. It was great to learn how and why you should say something in order to communicate with people instead lecturing at them. I got a lot from the program in this sense. The skills I learned over the last six months will be invaluable for my future. I am very glad to have had this opportunity.

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Science is useless, if you don't communicate your results!

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The Tech program is unlike anything you've done before: it will really hone your communication skills and teach you new ways how to tell your story. Barry is a great a mentor and you will come out a better writer and talker!

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Teaching science at The Tech was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had as an educator.

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When I first started working at The Tech, I was not sure how much I would gain from the program. However, I quickly learned on my first day how rewarding and challenging it can be to explain in words what genes and cells are to 2-8th graders. As the weeks went by I learned to adapt my thinking and speech to be able to make science fun and interesting to kids of all ages. I found that dialoguing with kids was the most effective way to keep their attention and help them understand the importance of genes. Watching their faces light up when they were able to see the nuclei in their cheek cells or figuring out who committed the crime by comparing DNA bands was so rewarding. I can honestly say that I looked forward to coming to The Tech every week and running the demonstrations. I also learned so much writing answers to the Ask a Geneticist questions. By far this was the most challenging in relating genetic concepts in a simple and logical way. Not only did I learn a lot about the genetics of certain diseases or conditions, but I also learned how to communicate science effectively through writing. Overall, my time at The Tech was one of the best learning experiences I have had at Stanford. I highly recommend the program to people who enjoy learning and teaching science.

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Volunteering at the Tech was exciting, challenging, and a worth-while experience!

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From having someone choke on my first day to having a broken water pipe on my last day, every experience through this program has been highly memorable. It was exciting to inform people from all ages, different educational and cultural backgrounds about various scientific concepts. This program provided me with two very important skill sets— the ability to adapt and the ability to promote learning and thinking. I learned to adapt my communication and writing styles in order to be an effective communicator not only in English but also in Spanish by translating "Ask a Geneticist" responses. By adapting effectively, I was able to disseminate scientific information that very often appears esoteric to the masses. Providing people, specifically those with limited resources, with knowledge has been extremely gratifying. It is always humbling to witness the extent of the disparities in education between different socioeconomic groups, and also to discover the lack of translated scientific and medical information online. I am grateful for my participation in this program. I walk away not only knowing that through my work, I positively contributed to closing the disparity gap, but also walk away with two universal skill sets—knowing how to better communicate and adapt.

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Volunteering at the Tech offered an invaluable opportunity to hone my science communication skills.

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The ability to communicate complex biological topics to people outside academia is a challenging task that requires practice. Through my experience at the Tech, I have been able to develop new strategies to more effectively communicate my work to people outside my field of expertise.

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Getting involved in Stanford at the Tech was definitely one of the best decisions of my graduate career.

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Although I enjoyed being a Teaching Assistant in various courses at Stanford, it was truly exciting to teach science in a realm outside of academia. Until The Tech, I had few experiences where I really felt that I was teaching others about things that they would not have learned otherwise. While at The Tech, I loved having the opportunity to de-mystify DNA for non-scientists. It was always rewarding to see the look of comprehension sweep across the face of a visitor -- whether they were five, fifteen, or fifty years old. Any challenges that I faced in the program were definitely worth even just one child revealing his understanding by repeating how evolution happens. Writing answers for Ask the Geneticist questions also gave me a more complete perspective on science education, and the role of science in general, outside of academia. Going to the Tech each week and interacting with such diverse groups of people was always the highlight of my week – I will miss it!

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Hearing a 3rd grader exclaim "That's so cool!" definitely makes your day.

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I love how hands-on the activities we run at the Tech are. Plus, the diversity of people we interact with contrasts with my experiences as a teaching assistant. Working with kids and their parents at the Tech, high school students during trips to Overfelt High School in San Jose, and the 21+ crowd at the Tech's After Hours events made me much more comfortable explaining scientific concepts to all ages and backgrounds. Finding ways to keep an audience engaged and discover each of their inner scientists was a fun and rewarding experience! I also think it's incredibly important for scientists to communicate the impact and relevance of scientific research to the general public. Many people haven't had the chance to interact one-on-one with a scientist before, and many scientists don't regularly have opportunities to talk directly with the public. Stanford at the Tech provides a great opportunity to do so, and I would definitely recommend it to all scientists!

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Volunteering at The Tech was an incredibly fulfilling and edifying experience, and fun at that!

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Both at The Tech and at Overfelt High School, the opportunity to interact with kids and adults at all levels of education and experience broadened my understanding of the public's relationship with science, and how I can contribute to it. I learned a lot of tools and skill sets in communicating science with the public that I've since used in talking to my own friends, family and random acquaintances. It is also just a joy to take some time out of the week, to engage with people in a way that we don't often get to in the lab. I would recommend the Tech program to anyone…I think it's a hugely important complement to the rest of our graduate education.

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Working at the Tech museum has been the highlight of my postdoc. 

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Helping kids get excited about science has been a great reminder of why I love science so much.  I joined the Stanford at the Tech program because I am interested in pursuing science education professionally.  However, the training Barry gave us is applicable to anyone who is trying to explain their research at a cocktail party or to their grandmother.  The wide range of experiences I got was great, from going to Overfelt High School, working with 5-15 year olds at the museum, explaining my research to their parents, teaching lab classes, and writing for the website.  I highly recommend the program to everyone!

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Volunteering at the Tech museum gives you a whole new perspective on science.

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Talking to the public, especially the children, forces you to break down complex scientific ideas into small, simple talking points that can be easily digested. Communicating these ideas allows you to think critically about what information is the most important and gives you a new sense of how all the basic pieces fit together. Interacting with the wide range of visitors to the Tech museum challenges you to think about science in new and different ways and gives you insight into how the public thinks about genetics. The public's genuine interest and enthusiasm will reenergize your own passion for genetics and give you the confidence to engage with people outside of your scientific community about your own work.

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Working at the Tech Museum is awesome for so many reasons.

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Of course it is a great opportunity to educate the public in science ("There's DNA in all food and there's no reason to be scared of it!") and simultaneously refuel your own passion for the subject. It is also a great opportunity for grad students and post docs to work on their science communication skills. If you can explain something to a 5th grader who is swiveling around on her stool, you can explain it to anyone. But you don't realize how much of an impact just meeting a scientist can make until you work at the Tech. When I finally convinced one skeptical kid that I was a "real-life scientist", he exclaimed, "That's so cool! I never met a scientist before. I want to be a scientist when I grow up!" True story. I also didn't realize how many adults I would interact with at the Tech. The field trip chaperones linger with questions after their groups have finished the activity. A curious museum security guard listens in on a demonstration and pipes up with a question or two. For me, one of the most inspiring aspects of my time at the Tech was watching a dialogue unfold between the public and the scientist. I was amazed at their curiosity and willingness to put themselves out there and ask questions. It required that they trust me to meet them halfway with an answer they could understand. It made me hopeful that someday we could scale this dialogue up, to a national level between the curious public and accessible scientists.

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Working at the Tech is a great way to gain confidence in explaining science to the public.

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You get the chance to explain science in a conversational manner and answer questions along the way. I think this type of practice ultimately makes people better public speakers. The enthusiasm of the kids is contagious and it is a fantastic escape from the stresses of grad school life!

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Working at The Tech was a truly fun and educational experience. 

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As a student in genetic counseling, we are often faced with the challenge of providing genetic information to people of various ages, educational levels, and backgrounds. While at The Tech, I could take what I had learned as a genetic counselor and broaden this to a wider group of people, especially children. How can tons of kids who are excited about learning science not immediately brighten your day?! The line of kids waiting to do demonstrations never ceased to amaze me-and once I learned how to approach questions effectively, I realized that they all knew so much! The feedback provided as part of the program on engaging participants, using easily understandable language, and science writing was invaluable. I will surely put all of this to use in my future career, and would highly recommend The Tech to anyone who loves kids and values science education!

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