SciChats @ Salk is a science outreach program that promotes interactions between researchers at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and students at Del Mar Hills Elementary School in Del Mar, California. Our goal is to give students a forum to ask scientists specific questions about their field of research, as well as broader questions about how science works, what motivates them, and anything else they are curious about. We hope that this program will give students a clearer picture of how science progresses, encourage them to imagine a future for themselves as scientists, and illustrate the contributions that science makes to society.
We hope that this program will help scientists to hone the valuable skill of distilling their research down into simple, accessible terms- a skill that will certainly help with writing compelling grant applications or papers, or presenting one’s research to peers. Further, we hope that participant scientists will embrace the opportunity to engage the public in the process of science. This exercise is both our duty as researchers supported by public funds, and essential to ensuring the future support of the scientific enterprise.
Stay tuned!