Format: ORAL

Nicolette Sipperly

Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, New York, USA

Unification of art and science has largely been accepted in the scientific community as a way for scientists to hone in on communication skills and be able to share their science more broadly. However, I argue that there are greater implications integrating art and science process. During this presentation will share how it became essential for me to make art to explore my personal experiences alongside my work crafting my dissertation. For example, through this process I found the ways that looking at my emotional experience and personal growth with a scientific attention to detail and curiosity allowed me to overcome difficult interaction; to take ownership for my emotions rather than attempting to control the emotions of others. I share the how I consciously bringing my heart into science helped me find (or rise again after failing to find!)  the notoriously elusive plants I study while navigating summers in the Rocky Mountains from Idaho to New Mexico solo. Finally, I share how devoting my final field season to water color portraits of my study group taught me more about the environments I studied than past seasons driven by my rush to collect data. By allowing awareness of my emotions to be present in science, I found I was able to connect to my work more honestly and with less resistance to failed expectations. Most importantly, I found beauty in and purpose for my unique strengths. Without taking into account emotional reality, science will perpetuate the disconnect between humans and the natural world that is made undeniable in the depletion of our world's soils, dramatic loss of biodiversity and in the always rising rates of depression and anxiety. However, if we embrace and move forward without rejecting any parts of ourselves, we can mend our relationships by connecting to human creativity.