Outreach
Samuel has been an active advocate and promoter of public outreach and education across the earth and ocean sciences since he started graduate school.
He has delivered talks across all school ages to students, worked on public open-house events, contributed to digital science outreach/education series, and developed social media programs for research expeditions and the promotion of field-based scientists across diverse backgrounds.
School Outreach and Open Houses
Public outreach and teaching of ocean and earth science is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding parts of Samuel's work.​ Seeing that spark when a student connects with understanding the natural world is a very worthwhile moment.
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He has engaged with classrooms in person, and virtually through the COVID-19 pandemic, educating students at all school ages about volcanoes and ocean science.
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Open house events are also incredible opportunities to showcase the power of our planet. During the 2015 and 2017 SOEST Open House (University of Hawai'i) Samuel helped run the crowd-pleasing "Trashcano" and volcanic fountain experiments.
Social media campaigns
Social media is one of the most useful science communication tools we have in this age, and Samuel has been involved in a number of projects using social media to connect people with Earth Science.
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In early 2020, he developed and ran the 7 Days of Fieldwork campaign which featured scores of scientists and explorers across the world and engaged thousands with stories, experiences, and diversity of scientists, photographers, explorers and educators out in the field.
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During the COVID pandemic, Samuel was part of a number of science communication campaigns aimed to educate students and the public during lockdowns:
Earth Live Lessons (w/ Lizzie Daly), Quarantime (w/ Science Mom), and Volcano Moments (w/ Dr. Janine Krippner).
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Conferences and networking
Over the years, Samuel has attended and presented at many in-person and virtual conferences and workshops focused on earth science, ocean science, and science communication. He has been a regular attendee of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting since 2013.
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Particular networking/meeting highlights include participating the 2019 CIDER month-long Volcanoes workshop, and being selected as an "Ocean Discovery Fellow" to attend the 2018 National Oceanic Exploration Forum: All Hands On Deck.
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With more virtual and hybrid conferences occurring in recent times, Samuel plans on attending/presenting at the following conferences over the next year
(hope to maybe see you there!):
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Documentaries and media contributions
Providing accurate, informative and engaging narratives to portray through TV and media is an important part of scientific outreach. Samuel was featured in a 2019 NOVA-PBS documentary on the 2018 eruption of Kilauea, Hawai'i.
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He also worked as a researcher during stages of development of an upcoming Discovery documentary: Yellowstone Supervolcano: American Doomsday and an upcoming BBC Earth docu-series: Exploration Volcano
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He has further provided scientific expertise and opinion for the following news stories:
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2019 The New York Times - A 3D Encounter With a Violent Volcano’s Underbelly
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2019 The New York Times (Cover Story) - A Deep-Sea Magma Monster Gets a Body Scan
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2019 Gizmodo - Scientists Witness the Birth of a Submarine Volcano for the First Time
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2018 The New York Times - A Vault of Glass and the Deepest Volcanic Eruption Ever Detected
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2018 IFL Science - The Largest Deep-Ocean Eruption In History Was Really Quite Bizarre
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2017 AGU Blogosphere In the field – Lauren and the giant pumice
Outreach coordinator for research expeditions
In summer 2019, Samuel took on the role of the community and outreach coordinator for the Axial 3D Seismic Expedition - exploring the magma storage regions beneath Axial Seamount.
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The cruise ran a successful outreach campaign across social media, later featuring in AGU, NSF and The New York Times.
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In 2015, he also helped run the social media platforms for the Mapping, Exploration and Sampling at Havre (MESH) expedition which went on to form most of Samuel's Ph.D research.
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In the coming years, he hopes to explore innovative and exciting ways to engage the public with the oceans and marine geoscience during research expeditions.