Making Connections: How SageSTEP Connects Scientists and Managers

1. Making
Connections
How SageSTEP connects scientists and
managers
LAEL GILBERT
SAGESTEP OUTREACH COORDINATOR
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

2. No one works in a vacuum
Managing
can get
messy!

4. No one works in a vacuum!

5. Translational Science
Science that is both useful and usable

6. Translational Science
Translational Medicine
 A way to ensure that
scientifically-proven
strategies for disease
treatment and prevention
were actually
implemented
 Focus on collaborations
between researchers
and clinicians
 Increase the speed at
which new treatments
reach patients.
Translational Ecology
 Emerging field in natural
resources
 Connects stakeholders
to scientists
 Recognizes that science
doesn’t happen in a
vacuum.
 Ecological research
needs to be applicable
 Mutual learning

7. One-way “communication”
Scientist
Peopl
e

8. Vita Wright, Northern Rockies Fire Science Exchange

9. Diffusion of Innovation
 Awareness
 Understanding
 Ownership
 Fitting the idea or technique into your
current understanding.
 SageSTEP outreach designed to target
multiple stages

10. SageSTEP Outreach
Website
• Anchor of outreach
program
• Active throughout
project
• Updated frequently
• Contains detailed
information
Newsletter
• Issued three times per
year
• 436 subscribers, plus
forwards and shares
• Share information in a
timely way
Field Tours
• Most valuable event
• Understanding
problem first hand
• Information sharing
and receiving
• Building trust, forming
relationships

11. SageSTEP Outreach
Webinars
• 1700 live and recorded
views
• Field questions and
feedback
• Learn to use
appropriate language
Factsheets
• Produced in response
to specific questions
and needs
• Share information in a
timely, easy-to-digest
way
Events
• A large number of
conferences,
workshops, symposia
• Posters, presentations
• Getting out the word

12. SageSTEP Outreach
Guides
• User's Guides for
Western Juniper &
Pinyon‐Juniper
woodlands
• Two pictorial fuel guides
• Field guide for interest
group concerns
• Pocket guides for
sagebrush and birds
Papers
• 46 peer-reviewed
papers
• 250 papers, poster,
and proceedings
Social Media
• Something we are
trying
• Allow people to
network with each other
through our Facebook
group.

13. SageSTEP Outreach
Principles
Work in Teams
• We expect scientists to
take on the task of
sharing information
• We help them do that
• Overcome language and
cultural barriers between
scientists and
stakeholders.
Two-way
Communication
• Listen and incorporate
information as much as
we share it.
• Trust the on-the-ground
knowledge managers
have.
Quick
Dissemination
• Don’t wait for papers to
be reviewed and appear
in journals
• Try to view uncertainty
in non-science terms

14. Great Basin
Fire Science
Exchange
Great Basin
Research &
Management
Partnership
Ecologically-
Based
Invasive Plant
Management

15. SageSTEP Outreach
What could we do better?
Questions or Comments?