Outreach
We believe that public communication of science is both a responsibility and a privilege. We take several approaches to communicating our science to the general public.
- We love to share sleep knowledge with the local community, including organizations at Baylor. You may have seen us at BURST meetings, Alzheimer’s Association meetings, or Teen Science Cafes. If you’re interested in hearing about sleep, we’re interested in telling you about it.
2. Students who take Cognition (3331) and Sleep (3375) are challenged to translat
e their learning into a benefit for the general public. Since 2016, students have completed 126 outreach projects that communicated science to more than 6,000 community members. Outreach sites have included churches, schools, libraries, assisted living communities, museums, hospitals, scout groups, athletic teams, animal clinics, sheriff offices, veterans groups, and a juvenile correctional facility. Below are some example projects:
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- A student composed a piano song in which the musical score mirrored EEG waves from the different stages of sleep. He played it at three events and passed out sleep brochures.
- A team acted as directors of an art exhibit, soliciting artists to depict sleep deprivation. They secured space at at 7Twelve Art Gallery
to display the 10 submissions (sculptures, water colors, ink, photography, video, an
d canvas paintings). - A team wrote and illustrated a children’s book on how animals sleep. They read the book to children at a daycare center (who demanded an encore), sent the children home with their own coloring book version, and included a sleep-tips pamphlet for the parents.
3. Our favorite outreach efforts are those we do at the local museum. Since 2016, the SNaC Laboratory has held biannual “pop-up” exhibits on sleep science and brain health. We bring polysomnography demonstrations, sheep brain dissection activities, and sleep-science videogames. But, the best part is always simply chatting with people about exciting topics.
