When Emma Dauster started graduate school studying the brain, she thought she would work in the lab forever. However, she also believed in taking advantage of opportunities; she applied for a traineeship working on polymers and joined a student blog group. Eventually, she came across an opportunity she couldn’t pass up—a writer position with the science education company Complexly for their program, SciShow. Today, Dauster is a senior staff writer for SciShow, where she delves into science topics to bring quirky and unexpected educational stories to viewers and ignite their curiosity in the world around them.
As a writer for SciShow, Emma Dauster exercises her science curiosity to bring a variety of science topics to people in an interesting and engaging way.
Emma Dauster
How did you transition into science communication?
In my fourth year of graduate school, I decided that I wanted to see if science communication could be a good fit since I enjoyed writing for the blog. I applied to the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Fellowship, and although I didn’t get selected, it was how I learned that Complexly produced SciShow and other science shows that I watched. When I went online, I saw that they were hiring, and I just had to take that chance, so I applied and got hired. So, I actually started my job while I was writing my dissertation.
What do you do in this role?
When I first started, I was a general science writer, and we were a much smaller team. So, I was pitching, researching, and writing scripts for videos on a variety of science topics—many outside of my research area—so that they were informative but also exciting for a general audience. In 2024, I was promoted to my current position, where I’m now doing more editing as well. Since we’ve expanded, I can write more in my wheelhouse, but I still get to pitch ideas from any science niche. The pitch meeting we have with our producers is actually my favorite part of the week. It’s so exciting to hear what other people are thinking about and to get so much great feedback from everyone about how we could make the videos better. One of my favorite projects I recently pitched and worked on was a video about battles between apex predators.
What’s really exciting is how the same curiosity that drove me in graduate school is still there in what I’m doing now. I became a neuroscientist because it allowed me to be a lot of things: a chemist, a biologist, an engineer. Now, I’m asking questions about all kinds of science, and I’m still finding new, interesting ways to answer questions.
What advice do you have for trainees interested in science communication?
Follow what excites you, and take every opportunity you can, because you never know when it will become really helpful. I did a traineeship in a polymer science lab as just a way to fund some of my PhD, but I was able to use that as an example of how I’m not just a neuroscientist. Having that diversity in my skillset is exactly the type of generalist I need to be in this job. Then, find somewhere on the internet to post your stuff, whether that’s a student blog, your own website, or even doing some freelancing.
