They educate and entertain, advocate, inform and inspire. They bring science into the community and welcome the community to our campus.

And now they’re being celebrated as science champions.

More than 60 faculty members, staff, students and alumni in the Faculty of Science and across the university are being recognized in an online Science Champions campaign.

“Science communication and community outreach are key priorities for our Faculty of Science,” says Maureen MacDonald, dean of the faculty.

“We’re proud to showcase so many champions who are passionate about connecting with communities, increasing science literacy and inspiring our future generations of scientists.”

The champions are featured on a new website and will be showcased on the Faculty of Science’s social media accounts over the coming weeks. The website highlights how each champion is making a difference and why they believe in the importance of science communication and community outreach.

The Science Champions website includes tips for aspiring champions from Anthony Chibba, Rachael Finnerty, Carmen Lee, Jennifer Heisz, Katie Moisse, Laura Parker and Nikol Piskuric, along with media relations and op-ed advice from Friends of Science Michelle Donovan and Wade Hemsworth.

The website also has Faculty of Science’s latest Long Read on why the world needs science communicators, a thank you from the Dean, plus an online form to nominate science champions who are not yet featured in the campaign.

If you have any questions or comments about the Science Champions campaign, please contact communications manager Jay Robb at robbj4@mcmaster.ca.

The Science Champions website and social media posts were created by Science IT team members Jacob Sloots, Jessica Blackwood and Jamie Kaushal.

Special thanks to photographer Connor MacLean, writer Ashley Rabinovitch and the team at Research and High-Performance Computing Support, especially Todd Pfaff, Wale Soyinka, Ginet Segui Lines and Ye Yuan. The team’s help was instrumental in configuring the backend environment for the Science Champions web application and their maintenance of the McMaster GitLab instance where the science champions codebase lives.