Chelsie Boodoo and Daniel Puentes Receive ARIS Impact Innovation Award
Chelsie Boodoo, a doctoral student in biosystems and agricultural engineering and a digital content creator for the MSU Science Festival, and Daniel Puentes, a doctoral student in physics at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, received an ARIS Impact Innovation Award for their collaboration to found MSU SciComm and “The Sci Files” podcast. MSU SciComm is a student-run organization that assists MSU students in developing their capacity to communicate complex scientific topics in clear and engaging ways and engage with the public around science. MSU SciComm hosts an annual Science Art Exhibition (held virtually in 2020), a blog and other events and activities in science art, writing and policy.
Boodoo and Puentes also launched “The Sci-Files” podcast in 2019, a weekly show that is posted online and airs on MSU student radio station WDBM on Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. “The Sci-Files” won first place for college radio talk shows at the 2020 Michigan Association of Broadcasters Awards.
“My passion for science communications has driven me to find unconventional and inspiring ways to share science stories and feature up-and-coming student researchers,” Boodoo said. “I attribute much of my storytelling skills as the digital content creator for the MSU Science Festival to my various experiences with researchers. By sitting down and learning from some of MSU’s greatest research minds, I have learned a great deal in creating relevant and essential science content for the science festival.”
“Chelsie and Daniel are models of so much that makes us so proud of our Spartan graduate community,” said Thomas Jeitschko, dean of the graduate school at MSU. “They’ve combined a passion for rigorous research with a talent for communicating about their important work to the public in a creative and engaging way. With MSU SciComm, they are also helping empower their fellow students. It’s a great pleasure to see them recognized for their dedication and ingenuity.”
