Thank you for watching our video! We would love your thoughts and questions on our project.

What happens when STEM research and programming is led directly and equitably by community leaders?

In the Noise Pollution Project (https://noiseproject.org) a team of Community Researchers representing communities historically excluded from the sciences, in collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, share a different perspective and approach for doing science “with” communities instead of “on” communities.

For the first time, four community leaders share the role of co-principal investigators, gaining direct access to the scientific enterprise, including practice and dissemination of STEM research and programming by those who are impacted, fostering greater equity, diversity and inclusion.

Join us in our journey as we document the equitable co-creation of a continental Community Science Project that benefits the participating communities!

¡Gracias por ver nuestro video! Nos encantaría escuchar sus comentarios y preguntas acerca de nuestro proyecto.

¿Qué ocurre cuando la investigación y programación de STEM es dirigida directa y equitativamente por líderes comunitarios?

En nuestro Proyecto de Contaminación Acústica (https://noiseproject.org/es/homepage-es/) un equipo de investigadores comunitarios que representan a comunidades históricamente excluidas de las ciencias, en colaboración con el Laboratorio de Ornitología de Cornell, comparten una perspectiva y un enfoque diferentes para hacer ciencia "con" comunidades.

Por primera vez, cuatro líderes de la comunidad comparten el rol de investigadores co-principales, obteniendo acceso directo a la empresa científica, incluyendo la práctica y la difusión de la investigación y programación de STEM por aquellos que se ven afectados, fomentando mayor equidad, diversidad e inclusión.

¡Únase a nuestro esfuerzo  mientras documentamos la co-creación equitativa de un Proyecto de Ciencia Comunitaria continental que beneficia a las comunidades participantes!

On behalf of the NOISE Project Team, we would like to welcome you to our 2020 Video for All Showcase, where our theme is “Community Researchers Lead Science Project Equitably”.  Thank you for watching and for sharing your feedback.

There are a few key words/phrases that I would like to highlight:  co-creation, access, understanding power and privilege, and most importantly, having a seat at the table.

It has been through this NOISE Project that many of us have gained a clear understanding of what it means to co-create.  We realize how important it is that all voices are heard and have equal value at the table.  We now have a better perspective and understanding of power and privilege.  We understand that for people of color power is very difficult to obtain because those who are in power don’t want to share the power.  As people of color, we are not usually born into privilege.  However, many are born with privilege.  What we know is that those who are born with privilege inherit power.  And for those of us who are without power and privilege, we want to gain an equal access to those things that are a human right and create a healthy society for all.

 It does me no good to be given the opportunity to sit at the table and not be able to speak truth to power.  This NOISE Project has afforded me access to a seat at the table.  Therefore, I welcome the opportunity to sit at (your) the table.  And I welcome you to the 2020 Video for All Showcase.

Bobby Wilson, CoPI

CEO, Metro Atlanta Urban Farm (MAUF)

As a science educator, and researcher, I want to thank you for reminding us of the importance of the A. STEAM builds bridges, and makes science less scary, and reaches new partners. I myself produce an arts festival about water issues every year. Which has a far broader audience than a peer reviewed publication. Beautiful work.

Great project! I'm curious about how you and your team are evaluating the project? What are the goals for the project and how do you determine "success" (i.e., achieving those goals)? Thanks!

Your video communicates a warm and inclusive project--congratulations for illustrating the importance of community engagement.  I can imagine you had some real challenges in the beginning--I'd love to hear how you would describe some of the challenges of engaging the community and how you overcame those stumbling blocks. I am wiling to bet that your description of the process will be a major learning to share with the NSF community--as important as the outcome. (One technical note--the voiceover did not match the captions--so I found myself missing the narrative of one or the other when I switched my focus.)  Thanks for an inspiring project description.

Awesome video and what an amazing project! Thank you for contributing to Black excellence as you change the trajectory of food agriculture. 

Thank you all for your comments! I work with the Cornell Lab and with our community partners in this co-created science project. One of the greatest outcomes I have learned from communities leading the NOISE Project is that different perspectives bring wholeness to science work. Their voices bring perspectives to problem solving from practical and lived experiences. We, as an informal science institution would not have come up with the diverse and creative solutions that the communities we are working with bring to the project.

Equitable co-creation takes time, lots of effort to make it happen and in the end, it is the best approach! Communities know what’s best for them. When they are part of the decision making, there is better decision making. We have everything to gain when communities are included from the beginning, when we use our power and privilege to share access to work together equitably.

Equity, diversity and inclusion.  The NOISE Project.  What a tool to bring science within reach of the historically marginalized communities!  Because of the NOISE Project, disadvantaged communities are learning that our communities are more adversely affected and suffer more health challenges because of NOISE.

There is more stress in our communities.  There is more hypertension in our communities.  There are more cardiovascular diseases in our communities.  There is more COVID-19 in our communities. 

All these maladies can be attributed directly to NOISE pollution in our communities.   As a first-time CoPI and a person of color, I am engaged in a national research project and the co-creation of change based on equity, diversity and inclusion.   Because of funding provided by the National Science Foundation, we are able to use the NOISE Project as a tool to engage youth and communities in the sciences. 

Bobby Wilson, CoPi

CEO, Metro Atlanta Urban Farm (MAUF)

Noiseproject.org

What are some examples of ways that each of the "communities uniquely defines how we carry out our research"? Are there some efforts to ensure some common measurement of what you target as key outcomes?

Very well done. I appreciate that you highlighted the importance of the people who are involved in your project. Further, the importance of not only community involvement but allowing the community to drive your work.

What challenges have you faced thus far and how have you addressed them?

As a college student, I believe this is a great way to contribute to equity, diversity and inclusion for all and I hope to see more things like this in the future. Thank you all so much. 

What a wonderful project! Noise pollution is a topic that is rarely discussed. Our air holds a lot. It is good to hear of the diverse communities involvement and the impact the knowledge gained has provided for them. 

Fantastic project!  I am very touched by your model of doing science "with", rather than "on" the community.  Do you anticipate being able to measure any changes in public health, for example reduced hypertension, in your community in the future? 

Your team has created an incredible project that appears to incorporate every aspect of STEM/STEAM, as well as community engagement. You've brought much needed attention to the value and impact of citizen science!  

Sin duda un proyecto de ciencia ciudadana, hecho por la comunidad para la comunidad. La contaminación acústica un problema que te afecta a tí  y a tu Comunidad. 

What an inspiring model for us to follow; I can see the heavy lifting on the front end and the resulting joyful, empowered community resulting.

Your work is of particular interest because I am starting a DEI/ community-led citizen science program with a focus on students in 4th-6th grade. I hope to develop a student citizen science to community leadership pipeline, focusing on issues the communities identify.

Any insights, references, or best practices you could share on co-creation and how communities come together to identify issues would be much appreciated. Clearly you (collectively) have been successful!

I am an engineering educator, and I wonder if you have any advice for undergraduate programs to help us better prepare our students to work in community based projects?

I am happy that the NSF is moving in a direction that recognizes and understands what equity is and is investigating and investing in projects like this. I am happy to see DEI throughout every phase of the project including the development of the questions and the dissemination of the results back through the communities so that they know the impact of their investment.  Thank you for sharing!

Equity.  Diversity.  Inclusion.  Can a ship sail without a captain?  Can a plane fly without a pilot?  Can a vegetable crop produce itself without a farmer?  Just as the ship’s captain must be able to adapt to changing conditions and respond to emergency situations, and the pilot must be able to navigate through turbulent flight conditions and determine the safest route in times of crisis, so must the farmer also be able to understand the science of the seasons and their impact on planting and harvesting.  What each of these scientists have in common—the captain, the pilot and the farmer—is that they all have the ability to lead, analyze, calculate, determine and communicate the outcome based upon access to scientific information and an established protocol of patterns and predictability.  Science is everywhere.  Science is what guides the NOISE Project, an NSF-funded collaboration between Cornell University and four independent community-based organizations across the United States.  Good leadership recognizes the need to adapt to changing conditions, to respond to emergency situations, to navigate through turbulent conditions.  Good leadership also recognizes when it is time to change our course in the middle of a global pandemic.  Just as Covid-19’s impact has been more acute among people of color and other marginalized communities, so has the impact of NOISE.  As farmers, must we continue to plant our crops amid Covid-19, we must continue to plant seeds in the minds of our youth by exposing them to the “fields” of science.  The study of NOISE pollution and community involvement in the NOISE Project is a direct result of good leadership.  It will be the leadership of citizen scientists that will produce the next generation of captains, pilots and farmers, etc.  Good leadership will ensure that the NSF comes to acknowledges past patterns and predictability that have led to blatant inequities and a lack of minority representation in the science “fields”.   Now, through successful collaborations with large institutions, ICBOs are gearing up to lead the collaborations.  And with continued funding from the NSF, we can begin to co-create a new reality—one that is based on equity, diversity and inclusion from the bottom up.

Out of many bad situations, we can usually find some good.   With a global pandemic topping the charts as the number one bad, one of many good things that I have been able to see and hear more clearly are the birds.  They are singing louder; they are flying more freely.  In my opinion, they appear to be happier.

My hope during this pandemic is that minds will be opened.  Those with the power and the privilege will have fewer beliefs of entitlement blocking their view and will be able to see our society from a different perspective and see science through a lens from which they’ve never seen it before.  Equity, diversity and inclusion.

My hope is that those who sit in high places will be able to see the farmers through a more scientific lens.  Right now, we see the farmer differently from the captain who sails the ship.  We see the farmer differently from the pilot who flies the plane.  We fail to realize that both the captain and the pilot rely on the scientific skills of the farmers to produce healthy fruit, vegetables and other forms of agriculture that they need to maintain a sound mind and body for the jobs they perform.

I want to remind you that STEAM is a part of what the farmer does every day.  We are environmentalists.  We are food producers.  We are mentors for the next generation that will enter the science fields.

Did you realize that, as farmers, we need to calibrate the amount of space it takes to grow cantaloupes and watermelons?  I have concluded that, as a farmer, science is an integral component of what we do.

My hope is that out of Covid-19 will appear opportunities for people of color to have equal access to participate in the science programs at your institutions.  By ensuring that this becomes a reflection of our “new norm”, I truly believe that we will not have to go through another long-term pandemic like the coronavirus.  It is also my hope that we will start building our science programs from the bottom up and not continue to build from the top down, providing equal access on the bases of equity, diversity and inclusionn.

This is my message to you for today.

This project is awesome. I’m glad Tri-Cities High School students are a part of such a great cause! Thank you Mrs. Turner and Ms. Rasheed for leading our students. 

The Tri-Cities High School Community Science Collaborators are one of the most wonderful aspects of our project. They are incredible!! Such knowledgeable and capable leaders. We are grateful to have them be part of the project. And enormously grateful to Mr. Wilson, Mrs. Turner and Ms. Rasheed!!

Words don't come close to expressing the depth of my appreciation for the opportunity to be a part of this project.  

As an educator, I am humbled to be able to offer this tremendous opportunity to my students.  As a parent of two adult sons, I relive certain aspects of their academic journey almost daily when I think about missed opportunities.  It could have been due to lack of access, lack of inclusion.  At this point, my story could take off in so many different directions.  But gratitude keeps me looking towards the future with hope.

Suffice it to say that I am forever changed by my involvement with the NOISE Project.  My students' trajectory is forever changed by their involvement and association with Metro Atlanta Urban Farm, Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, the National Science Foundation, and every single individual who has directly or indirectly deposited renewed hope into them by way of the NOISE Project.

Who are they?  The Junior Community Science Collaborators?  They are members of the Tri-Cities High School National Beta Club.  And they are the face of every minority, every urban child, every person of color who ever had a desire to break the glass ceiling, but didn't know how or think it was possible, to dare to dream of success in STEM/STEAM careers.  Because of the NOISE Project, the scientists, ICBOs, project investigators, project evaluators, CoPIs, community science collaborators, and every other career that is represented on this project, all of the youth are finding inspiration and motivation to reach beyond the low-hanging fruit to the possibilities they now know exist and are waiting for them as they prepare to stand among the next generation of scientists.

If I start calling names, I'll surely miss someone.  So, thank you, NOISE Team!

Phyllis, you are making me cry! The NOISE Project would not be what it is without your leadership and dedication. Thank you for all you do. We are going to change the way science is done!!! 

THANK YOU!!

Greetings,

The STEM Video Showcase is coming to an end and it makes the ICBOs feel so grateful that the community people and science researchers have together with the single goal of bringing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion into STEM/ STEAM Research. Let's continue this dialogue beyond this week's inspiring showcase event. People of color need to be included in all aspects of a STEM grant project from beginning to end. With COVID-19 America has changed, in fact the world has changed so have to get creative and use Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics to create unity in our nation and across the world. 

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed in this meaningful and rich dialogue!

To keep following our project visit our website (noiseproject.org)