Graduate Student Writing Project Is Carried Forward by New Editorial Team

How many of us are aware of the nuclear testing that occurred in Kazakhstan and caused radiation to seep into the crops, impacting communities? Or the agricultural cattle farming practices that lead to soil erosion and cause the decline of the striper fish population of the Roanoke River and its connected tributaries? These are just two of the many stories from “Food, Water, & Communities: An Atlas of our StoryMaps,” a graduate student writing project supported by the Center for Communicating Science (CCS).

       The StoryMaps project was initiated by Virginia Tech graduate students Madeline Grupper and Susan Chen in partnership with the CCS. The collection of narratives of communities around the world that have experienced changes to their basic resources connects readers to the human side of research.

     “There's often a whole community that's being impacted by [research] but that doesn't make it into your research article, even though [the research] has a real human element,” said Alaina Weinheimer, who joined Grupper in managing the project after Chen finished her degree work. “And so this is a venue for that human side of the research, to be shared publicly, and it's written in terms the public can understand.” 

    Writers for the project are an interdisciplinary group of graduate students and researchers from Virginia Tech, and editors are also graduate students. CCS associate director Carrie Kroehler reads over contributors’ stories before they are posted to the website.

    “What we love about this project is that graduate students dreamed it up, graduate students serve as editors, and graduate students are the writers for the StoryMaps stories,” Kroehler said. “They’re getting valuable experience communicating with a public audience, and readers are getting great stories.

    Weinheimer got involved in the project after pitching a story about overfishing in the Cartagena Bay and its impact on the local fishing communities. Later, Grupper and Chen invited her to serve as project editor, which she did for two years. She recently passed her torch as senior editor to former junior editor, Michelle (Marti) Wagnon, and Abigail (Rey) Blevin has joined the team this fall as junior editor.

       Wagnon, at the time a Ph.D. candidate in the English department’s rhetoric and writing program, recalls that she saw an email calling for stories: “I, on a whim, just submitted my proposal for a story about the Mountain Valley pipeline in Giles County, where I'm from,” she said. Her advocacy for the people and livestock impacted by the pipeline got her foot in the door as junior editor. She has now finished her graduate degree and is teaching the English department’s science writing course.

    The junior and senior editors work as a team, Weinheimer and Wagnon said, simultaneously editing one another’s stories until they are happy with the end product. A significant part of the work is finding writers. Twice a year, the editors send out a call to graduate researchers. 

      One of the objectives is to bridge the gaps of communication between researchers and the public and make the research stories easily accessible for readers. The project also gives technically oriented Ph.D. students an opportunity to develop and practice creative writing skills. 

    “You really have to divorce yourself from the research mindset and go for more of the humanity mindset,” Wagnon emphasizes. “I think it's a breath of fresh air. A lot of people tell me the writing is fun.”

       The project shares stories from around the world and provides a map of the location of each research story, helping readers see the big picture while keeping the focus local. The editors believe that local stories have a bigger impact on readers and show “the complexity of environmental issues in our own backyards.”

    One of Wagnon’s most challenging stories to work on was her own, a story she wrote about her hometown and a pipeline being built without correct permits. The new junior editor, Rey Belvin, also “visited home” in their story for the project, writing about crab potting by Chesapeake Bay fishermen and the accidental death of local terrapins. 

    Wagnon noted how important it is in their storytelling to tell the truth and to be mindful of the fine line between truth-telling and villainizing.  

      Wagnon shared her excitement about becoming senior editor for StoryMaps. Some of her goals as senior editor include more marketing and publicity, helping storytellers bring their writing to fruition, and doing more outreach with these stories from around the world – with hopes to broaden the scope and add more wiggle room. 

    “I expect the project to morph in its own way over time,” she acknowledged.   

By Heather Winslow and Quinn Richards, Center for Communicating Science graduate assistants

    Do you have a story to share about a community and a natural resource struggle? Looking for a unique published science communication opportunity? The editors of the Food, Water, and Communities blog, sponsored by Virginia Tech's Center for Communicating Sciences, are always looking for graduate students who want to share their stories about communities that have faced a natural resource challenge and how that challenge inspired their career or graduate work.

    Interested writers should complete this Google Form about their story. Alternatively, you can email Marti Wagnon (michellew@vt.edu) and/or Rey Belvin (acbelvin@vt.edu) with a 3-5 sentence description of your story. For an example story, click here. If selected, writers will be contacted to contribute a full story.