6 ways to contribute to science

Hello Blueprint Earth fans! My name is Keely Chaisson, and I'm a Blueprint Earth volunteer and the newest regular contributor to this blog. I'll be sharing with you random science-y awesomeness that I and other members of the Blueprint Earth team come across in the course of our work, and eventually [starting this spring!] bringing you some stories from the field. 

A little about me before we get started: I attended a PhD program in microbiology for a few years, but ended up leaving with a Master's degree because I decided I didn't want to work in academic research. Biology is my area of expertise, but I love science generally, and my passion is sharing my knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject. I believe that not enough people get a chance to understand what science is really about, and that's really a shame. Science is an amazing human endeavour, and the hard-won knowledge it provides us with truly belongs to all of us, and so all of us should be able to enjoy it.

Given this belief of mine, it's probably not surprising to you that I'm very interested in projects that allow non-science-professionals to engage with the scientific process. And it's an exciting time to be a person like me, because a number of different efforts that strive to make that engagement more likely--for instance, citizen science and science crowdfunding--are growing and changing at a rapid pace. Blueprint Earth is a great example of this this trend, and that's a big part of what drew me to being a Blueprint Earth volunteer.

Anyhow... to kick off my time here at the Blueprint Earth blog, I put together this little graphic about how anyone can get involved in science. Starting now, I'll be posting weekly, sharing both stories about our work at Blueprint Earth and about other science projects that I'm excited about. Stay tuned!