Have you ever considered exploring strange new worlds? Maybe seeking out new life and new civilizations? And then abandoned the idea because you’re too young or too old to seriously consider going boldly where no one has gone before?
Well, these are completely achievable goals and they don’t require working your way through Star Fleet Academy. You just need to visit scistarter.org and find a project that’s interesting to you. In the latest episode of the SciStarter podcast Citizen Science: Stories of Science We Can Do Together, I talk with three citsci volunteers who jumped into citizen science with both feet and discovered that it could change their lives.
Sumit Bannerjee
Sumit Bannerjee is a student in India with a strong interest in astrophysics. Four years ago, he discovered Disk Detective, a NASA-based project that recruits volunteers to examine short videos of stars from the James Webb Space Telescope. Volunteers learn to identify dust disks that can indicate the formation of planets and report them to the researchers. (Rest assured that you are not required to record and post yourself saying “dust disks” three times fast, though if I ran the project you most certainly would.)
Sumit reported daily to the Disk Detective team and was so diligent and accurate that the scientists invited him to work on the project more directly. In the podcast, he tells us how these contacts helped him continue his studies, culminating in his acceptance into a PhD program at Clemson University.
Michelle Peeters
Michelle Peeters loves the natural beauty of her California home not far from Sacramento and has worked both in landscape design and as outdoor education specialist. In the podcast, she describes how she jumped into phenology research– the study of nature’s seasonal cycles– with both feet after her children got older and more independent. Now she’s helping training other volunteers for the USA National Phenology Network.
Roland Moundalak
Roland Moundalak was a banker living in Beirut, Lebanon who began contributing his spare laptop computer time to a UC Berkeley research project called BOINC. Over time, he joined other citizen science efforts, including an air quality monitoring project called AirCasting. On a whim, he contacted SciStarter to see if there might be work for him and soon became SciStarter’s Program Coordinator for… Roland quit his banking job and now works for SciStarter full time, helping other science-curious people all over the world find the citizen science project that’s right for them.
You can check out the audio and video versions of this podcast at:
Life-Changing Citizen Science (Audio)
Life-Changing Citizen Science (Video)
Projects and websites mentioned in this episode are:
National Phenology Network (NPN) USA
BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing)
Citizen Science Association conference
Full Transcript
Bob Hirshon
Welcome to citizen science stories of science we can do together. Brought to you by SciStarter. A young student in India; a landscaper in California; a banker in Beirut. In this episode, we’ll hear from citizen science volunteers whose lives were changed in profound ways by their participation in citsci projects.
Bob
For most of us participating in citizen science projects is a fun, meaningful activity we slot into our daily lives, maybe while doing other things like hiking or gardening or escaping from boring or uncomfortable conversations. “Whoa, look at the time! I gotta go report on whether the hackberry’s leafed out!” But for some, citizen science has actually been life changing. True, sometimes those life changes may be negative like say, you’ve been happily collecting owl barf pellets and saving them for the owl researcher in ice cube trays stacked neatly in the freezer. But for some reason, your spouse couldn’t tolerate them and said, “it’s either me or the owl barf!” cornering you into an impossible decision. But that is not the sort of thing we are going to be focusing on in this podcast. Though I might reserve the right to revisit that in future podcasts. But no, this podcast looks at ways citizen science has changed people’s lives in positive ways. Really, Bob? Lifechanging? Seriously? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, like what? Okay, how about this: Sumit Banerjee was an aspiring young astrophysicist living in a remote city in India. But he had no clear route to achieving his dream. Then he discovered Disk Detectives, a NASA-based SciStarter affiliate project that’s also featured on the popular Zooniverse platform. Volunteers watch 10-second videos of stars from NASA telescopes, looking for any that are surrounded by dusty discs that could indicate planet formation. Sumit began contributing daily. And we’ll let him take it from there.
Sumit Bannerjee
I started doing the classifications. And then in a few months, in a few weeks, rather, I received this email from one of the one of the research scientists from Disk Detective asking me whether I would like to contribute more to the project, outside Zooniverse. And yeah, that was the start. And that was the reasoning behind it, I needed to get something for my grad school application. And that is exactly what I found citizen science to be precise. So the right thing happened at the right time.
Bob
And it’s really interesting, because a lot of people come to this sort of as a hobby. You know, they do something else, and then they they find either through Zooniverse, or through SciStarter, which is the group that I’m working with, which has Zooniverse sort of within it, something to do for fun on the side. But I guess for some people, this is a way into their career. It’s a it’s a, it’s an entree to deal directly with scientists, right?
Sumit
Oh, yes, definitely, Bob. At least for me, that was the case, because I was looking for experiences, research experiences to mention on my grad school application, and I did not have any before 2019. And citizen science was the perfect place to start with because through citizen science, I came across some of the most intelligent, smartest people that I have ever worked with. And they were friendly enough, they were helpful enough to help me with my applications. And it’s thanks to them, thanks to the citizen science project that I’m a part of right now, which helped me not only go through my master’s degree completely, it has also helped me get into PhD position that I’m starting in a few weeks from now. So yeah, you are absolutely correct when you say citizen science is like an entree for many of us who are looking for a career in science and in academia.
Bob
Anything else you’d like to share?
Sumit
I cannot think of anything right now. But yes, if I have to express my gratitude to citizen science, I would definitely take this, this opportunity to do it. Because I don’t think without the support that I have from the scientists that I’ve been working with for the last two and a half years, I would have made into the Ph. D. program that I am into right now. So yeah, thank you citizen science. And thank you in particular to the group from Disk Detective and gamma gamma, the Gamma Ray Observer project, which is about to come online on Zooniverse platform. So yeah, without these, these projects, I don’t think I would have never made it to the PhD programs of any institutions. So yeah, thank you pretty much for helping me out there.
Bob
Alright, thanks so much, Sumit.
Sumit
Thank you, Bob for having me.
Bob
Sumit’s flying to the United States this summer and starting his graduate study at Clemson University in the fall. Now think for a moment how cool this is. Sumit was able to join a NASA project work hard at being a strong volunteer, and eventually began interacting directly with the lead scientists, he jumped like 10 rungs on the science career Ladder, even though he was halfway around the world. If you’re a student, you could find a project on SciStarter that interests you, become a top tier contributor yourself. And it may or may not lead to working directly with the top scientists, but it will definitely give you valuable experience in the field and impress college admissions people and help you achieve your goals just as it helped Sumit. An isolated case you say? “Hah,” I scoff. Michelle Peters started out volunteering in her hometown of Coloma, California, and has now taken it to a whole new level, helping scientists studying phenology, which is the science of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, like when flowers bloom or animals migrate or hack berries leaf out. Hey, Michelle, how are you doing?
Michelle
Hi, Bob. Doing well. Thanks. Thanks for having me here today.
Bob
Great. And where are you coming to us from?
Michelle
I’m in Coloma, California, which is just east of Sacramento in the Central Oak Community, plant community, and just below the mountains that reach up to Lake Tahoe.
Bob
Oh, okay. All right. Beautiful. Wow. So I have it on good authority that– we haven’t met yet– but I have it on good authority that you are a super volunteer. And I just want to have you share your your journey. How did you become a citizen science volunteer? And what are you what are you into?
Michelle
I worked in education for a while and actually the past 10 years off and on just part time as I raised the boys, and I currently am back with one of my jobs, which is that I serve as a sort of a facilitator for the evening program for the Kelowna outdoor discovery School, which is a fourth grade historical program, where we do living history, immersion, and there’s some science in there, of course, too. Big focus on Native Americans in the evening with my very good friend, Kimberly Shining Star. And yeah, so I do that for my paid stuff. But then I, you know, I was recently freed of some time because our boys are a little older now. And realized that I wanted to delve into something else that was like bigger, fulfilling, important that, had to be important. And, you know, living in California, we basically in Coloma we have a beautiful winter, usually, especially this year, with lots of rain. I think it’s beautiful, because we hardly get that in California. Our springtime is amazing, right now that the green is almost like out of Ireland, it’s so special. And but after that, you know, we kind of weave over the past few years, we slip into this long, hot drought, we have long fire season, we have catastrophic wildfires that are scary, you know, us our in our communities, we I pack my car, I regularly add my list, like it’s that kind of a lifestyle from summer through fall. And it’s it’s hard. And it’s it’s a result of climate change. And these things are, you know, we need to study them, we need to look at them, we need to understand them better, we need to figure out ways that we can mitigate the harm that we’re doing with our carbon. And so I was just in this headspace with it, you know, that like I needed to find something that would, would work. And recently I’d been studying statistics, and some computer science and things. And I ended up thinking, you know, I want a data project that involves the environment that’s going to be important. And at the same time, the American River Conservancy reached out and they said, hey, you know, we’re looking for a volunteer amongst the volunteer lists that they send it out to who’s interested, is anyone interested in leading a phenology program? Because they just don’t have time. They’re very focused on conservation efforts, which are very important around our watersheds. The South Fork American River or the headwaters of the Cosumnes River.
Bob
Oh, and explain what phenology is for some of the listeners certain viewers that may not know.
Michelle
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. So let me, it was very serendipitous thing that they asked and I thought, yes, let’s do it. So one of the definitions is it’s the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena in relation to climate and plant and animal life. So we study what are called phenophases, which are just the lifecycle events of plants and animals. So we’re looking at leaf out, typically in the spring, for most species, we’re looking at flowering, fruiting, falling leaves. And we also look, we can observe the animals that interact with these plant species as well. And so phenology is a really wonderful thing because it contributes… so like, just the things that… what I love about it, is that these are things that a lot of us are already doing. In fact, I would probably put money on that every single human on the planet, notices some phenophase every year, whether it’s in the city, and you notice, oh, the mosquitoes are out now. Or you notice that your favorite flower’s blooming, the daffodils are coming up, something like that. Unfortunately, for some people, it’s an allergy season, here it is, you know. So plants have a vital role in telling us about climate change, because they, some of them can adapt, and some of them cannot. And when you have rising temperatures earlier in the year, you can have an earlier leaf out. And you can have a species starting its lifecycle for the growing season a little earlier. But you know, will that be that’s natural, that species come out earlier as well and be able to have its normal interaction and fulfill its responsibility with that species. So we’re looking at those relationships. And when they don’t match, it’s called a phenophase mismatch. And these things are really important to researchers. So what we do with this program, is we collect data, and it’s any one of us participants, citizen science, you know, any person can observe on these plants, and note what’s going on with them. And they can become an observer on the USA NPN website, and they can put this data in. And the cool thing is, it’s in cooperation with so many organizations like the USGS, USDA, NASA, you know, they’re looking at this data that’s put in by everyday people like you and me, and using it to help predict and build models that can lead to all kinds of things to help us with our food supply. To help us with understanding allergy season, just so many things that can happen with it. And I feel like it’s a very empowering thing for just an everyday person to do.
Bob
Great. So what are your plans now? You’ve I guess you’ve been involved in the phenology project for a while. What’s happening with that? Are you doing more? Are you are you where you want to be?
Michelle
Well, interestingly, I’m actually in the spring cohort of the Leadership Program, which is just finishing this week. So I’m actually about to launch my phenology program with the American River Conservancy within about two or three weeks from now. So we have I have been leading volunteers to get their observer certification, which anyone can do, you can go right now to the USA NPN. Check out the species start your observer certification, you could do that on your own. We’ve been setting up our personal sites, and just kind of cheering each other along with that. And so the next step is to create a site at what’s called Wakamatsu, which is a historical site. It’s a land that the American River Conservancy owns and has a lot of resources. And so we’ll be setting up an actual monitoring site there as well. That’s our first goal. To educate volunteers as to, you know, collecting data entering it. getting familiar with the species having a good time. That’s that’s such a great thing about phenology, too, is we’re out here to enjoy our environment have a good time. It can be a source of relaxation for people while you’re contributing something really important. So and then in the future, we plan to develop educational programs. I do talks for them for their California naturalist certification courses, just little pieces to get people you know, little ear worm like here, this is what phenology is and you’re probably already doing it. So little things like that, and then eventually some more detailed educational programs for every age.
Bob
Well, thanks so much, Michelle. Thanks for sharing.
Michelle
Thanks, Bob.
Bob
Tracking climate change is an enormous undertaking, and it’s enormously important, too. If you want to help, you’ll find dozens of climate related research projects at SciStarter including Nature’s Notebook, Journey North, I See Change, and so many others. Finally, we have another amazing citsci- based life transformation right here on the SciStarter staff. Roland Mondalack worked in banking in Beirut, Lebanon, with an interest in recreational biking and hiking. Hey Roland, thanks for being with us.
Roland
Hey, Bob, I’m excited to be on your podcast.
Bob
Yeah. So how– well, actually before we get into the whole science volunteering stuff, I’m just a little curious, and I think people might be, because you’re coming to us from Beirut, Lebanon, right?
Roland
Yeah, yeah.
Bob
How is it? We have a cartoon version of Beirut here. I’m sure you have a cartoon version of Washington DC, too. But what’s it really like? Where are you? We have this image of it as being this war zone or something.
Roland
Yeah, so So the war is over, since many years. We still have our own challenges, our daily struggles. But it is a really beautiful country naturally. And culturally, we’re a very diverse demographics. So it’s a really exciting place to be. And it’s where you learn to be resilient. You have to be resilient, and you have no other option. But yeah, once you get used to it, and you start to know how to live, and enjoy yourself, it’s not such a bad place after all.
Bob
And you clearly had time and space and the ability to do some science volunteering. When did you first begin being a citizen scientist?
Roland
I first learned about citizen science, maybe in 2013. Around that period, I personally purchased a phone and it had this built in app that lets you volunteer computing power when you’re not using it or when you are charging it is called BOINC. And it was a rebranded version called HTC Power to Give. And that’s where I started reading about citizen science. And I got more and more excited about it. So I downloaded the app on my laptop. And I’ve been running it for years until I started with SciStarter. And yeah, and even before I started to do SciStarter, I volunteer a little bit with a local citizen science initiative and Lebanon. So yeah, I, I was pretty sure that’s where I wanted to shift my career because I was a banker. So it has nothing to do with science. And I neither studied banking nor science. So I have a my Master of Arts in Media Studies. It has a little bit with what I’m doing with SciStarter regarding communications and social media and so on. But yeah, now I’m in my comfort zone in the career that I really want.
Bob
Oh, wow. So having your computer used passively, for other other purposes. That’s a pretty, you don’t really have to pay much attention to any science or anything. It just kind of happens. What did you do after that, that started getting you more involved?
Roland
I started getting more involved with projects such as Zooniverse, and other projects where the barrier to entry is pretty low. And more and more, I started discovering other projects. And now I have this air quality monitor which I hang on my bike whenever I goes, do some cycling. And I simply monitor my environment. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in this country who use this device. So yeah, it’s exciting to be one of the few people who are spreading the world– the word about citizen science.
Bob
And what project is that where you do the air quality monitoring?
Roland
It’s HabitatMap. Okay, yeah, or AirCasting.
Bob
Okay. And they just get it automatically. You’re, as you’re biking around, it’s measuring air quality, and it automatically goes to them?
Roland
Yes, it takes measurements periodically. And once you’re back, you simply sync it with your phone, and it uploads it, uploads it to the internet to this worldwide map where you can compare your results with other countries. And I was pleasantly surprised that the pollution levels weren’t as as bad as I initially thought. So yeah, they aren’t perfect either. But it’s good to know.
Bob
Hmm. And so then, you know, our listeners and viewers may not know, but you eventually got involved with SciStarter, and now do work for SciStarter. How did that happen?
Roland
I simply emailed them. And I sent I’ve sent an email to SciStarter’s email. So there was no job placement. And I had no idea, I wasn’t very optimistic about having anyone reply back. And I was pleasantly surprised when Darlene replied within like 20 minutes.
Bob
She’s always monitoring!
Roland
Yeah, so the initial feeling was okay, that’s too good to be true. Then I started doing some work. And I was still working at the bank. So I spent several months working having these two jobs, which was a little tough, but certainly worth it. And then I left the bank and started full time with SciStarter.
Bob
Oh, I didn’t know you were full time!
Roland
Yeah, yeah.
Bob
Okay. Well, so this is. So this is, we just have to tell our viewers that Roland works for SciStarter. I work part time as podcaster. But you’re working full time. And now you’re getting other people interested in citizen science?
Roland
Yes, yes. This is something I like to advocate for.
Bob
Yeah. So what else? What, do you have any advice for people who may not be scientists, but you know, may be sort of curious about citizen science and how to get involved?
Roland
Yeah, definitely. So I never wanted to have a career in science, and I never worked for it. But I’ve always loved, and I’ve always been interested in science topics in the format that, that allows regular people to understand them. So I, sometimes I read articles, I subscribe to some YouTube channels to keep myself updated. And citizen science is a great way to improve your science literacy, and to do good. So first, you have to ask yourself the question, if you want to volunteer in anything? And if the answer was yes, citizen science is a great way to volunteer. And you have a wide range of projects, trustworthy projects, you can help with, which should obtain information that they wouldn’t otherwise, because, especially in my case, and around where scientific research is much less active compared to the US, for example. So I think in these places, citizen science is even more important to give a broad look of the globe, whether it’s on biodiversity or other things. So it’s a great way to feel productive, and to teach science to your students, if you’re a teacher. And if maybe, I don’t know if you’re a retired person, it’s a great way to feel productive.
Bob
Great. All right. Thanks so much, Roland.
Roland
Thank you.
Bob
Today Roland is working full time for SciStarter helping to get others involved in citizen science in hopes that their CitSci adventures can be as fulfilling and rewarding as his have been. Well, that’s all we have for you this episode. In May, we’ll be coming to you live from the annual citizen science conference in Tempe, Arizona, or at least recorded with live enthusiastic attendees there. I’m Bob Hirshon. I’ll see you then. This podcast is brought to you each month by SciStarter, where you will find thousands of citizen science projects, events and tools. It’s all at SciStarter.org. That’s S-C-I-S-T-A-R-T-E-R dot O-R-G. SciStarter’s founder is Darlene Cavalier. And thanks so much to you, the listener and the citizen scientist for getting involved and making a difference. If you have any ideas you want to share with us or any things you just want to hear on this podcast or you just want to say hi, get in touch with us at info at SciStarter.org. Once again, our email address is info at SciStarter.org. Thanks.
