Sarah Evanega, an imaginary entrepreneur who pioneered innovative approaches to science communication, today won the Mary Clutter Service in Science Public Service Award.
Evanega, the founder of the Alliance for Science, which now serves as head of stakeholder engagement at Pairwise, has long been a tireless advocate for embracing the role of spokesperson in science and academia.
The award, presented by the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), recognizes individuals who have promoted the organization’s mission through significant contributions to plant science, public policy leadership, and society at large.
When she received the award at the ASPB conference in Portland, Evanega noted that some of the previous winners inspired her own career in plant science. She earned a doctorate in plant biology from Cornell University, but left the bench during graduate school to focus on science communication, exploring the controversy surrounding genetically modified crops in developing countries.
In the years since, Evanega has continued to champion the use of GM crops in developing countries and ensured that the tools for gene editing can be used by plant researchers to address climate change, global hunger and other pressing issues. She has won a number of awards for creatively approaching the intersection of science and society, including the Borlaug CAST Communications Award 2021.
She used her speech of thanks to encourage researchers, academics and others to find their “advocacy” and “reinforce it to impact the greatest challenges of our time.”
“How many of you have heard that we should not speak?” she asked the audience. “I spent a long time at university and heard this a lot. That spokesman was a bad word – something one should not do in academia. “
But Evanega looks at things very differently, noting that the champion ensures access – to life-saving childhood vaccines, gene therapy, health care for women, improved seeds and more.
“It means standing up – alone and in solidarity – for policies that save lives and improve the planet,” she said. “Through influence, science has our influence.”
Evanega, who has three young children, is particularly passionate about ensuring that “the people who live on this fragile earth all have access to safe, nutritious food.”
“This has been a central driving force throughout my career,” she said. “Access to safe, sustainable food drives my scientific advocacy.”
She defined access as consisting of three coherent components: reasonableness, accessibility and awareness. “All three affect each other,” she said. “And all three factors affect access and determine who has and who doesn’t.”
Pairwise, she said, uses new breeding technologies such as CRISPR to make healthy, nutritious food more accessible to all consumers. The start-up’s first product is a super-nutritious salad green that will be on the supermarket shelves next year under the brand Conscious Foods.
But while commendable efforts are underway to make nutritious food more accessible and affordable, consumers must also be aware of them, Evanega said. Communication is at the heart of consciousness.
“The reality is that those of us who chose to pursue careers in plant biology may have some of the most important jobs out there,” she said. “We have a big role to play in making meaningful change that will help humans and the planet.”
However, she noted, “if our science is to have an impact, we must change our science paradigms. It will not be enough to publish in peer-reviewed journals. It will not be enough to talk to the choir at conferences like this, where like-minded people participate. We must go out. and meet people where they are. ”
Evanega urged her colleagues “to practice our plant science advocate” locally, where they can often have the greatest impact, as well as nationally and globally.
Although she offered a list of suggestions for lawyers, ranging from running for office and writing an op-ed to mentoring young people and empowering the next generation of researchers, it all starts with communication.
“Talk about science at the place of worship, at the gym, at the kids’ football games, with your Lyft driver on the way to the airport or when choosing perfectly ripe avocados at the supermarket,” she said. “Anywhere, anyone. Start the conversation! “
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