Founded in 1846 with Millard Fillmore among its founders, the University at Buffalo is widely regarded as SUNY's flagship and belongs to the Association of American Universities
Baxter in doctoral regalia in front of a mural of Harriet Tubman. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Raven Baxter
The University at Buffalo conferred a Ph.D. on Dr. Raven Baxter on Feb. 1, 2022. Her degree, from UB's Graduate School of Education, is in Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning, with a concentration in science education.
Baxter defended her dissertation in June 2021. Titled "Culturally Responsive Science Communication: The Messengers, Messages, and Voices in Communicating Science through Hip-Hop," it studied her own music videos as Raven the Science Maven. She analyzed public comments on the videos and interviewed 18 Black women in STEM and non-STEM professions.
The study produced a new Culturally Responsive Science Communication framework. According to its published abstract in the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), the framework is "undergirded by Culturally Responsive Teaching and Black Feminist Thought."
The degree came as researchers tracked who works in science and who trusts it. In April 2021, Pew Research Center reported that Black workers were 11% of all employed adults but 9% of STEM workers, unchanged since 2016. In November 2021, the National Science Foundation reported that Black doctorate recipients rose from 1,939 in 2010 to 2,458 in 2020. Two weeks after her conferral, Pew found that 29% of U.S. adults had a great deal of confidence in medical scientists, down from 40% in November 2020.
Baxter described her research in a March 2021 lecture for RTI International, while still a doctoral candidate. Science communication, she said, "is a field that looks at how to bridge the gap between science and the public."
"I'm interested in building community in science and around science and a community that acknowledges people's cultural identities," she said. Of her work as Raven the Science Maven, she said, "I use hip hop to bridge the gap between science and the public."
She also shared an early finding from her interviews. "85 percent of all of the women felt like they couldn't be their authentic selves at work," she said. The women "likened their inability to be their authentic selves at work and their lack of sense of belonging to working a second job while they're at their job."
Weeks after her defense, Baxter joined the June 29, 2021, launch of Facebook's Bulletin. "She just finished her PhD, so huge congrats to you," said Campbell Brown, a Facebook vice president. Baxter answered, "I did some novel research in science communication that is going to help us understand how to communicate science better to the public."
UB was founded in 1846 as a private medical college in downtown Buffalo. Millard Fillmore, later the 13th U.S. president, was among its founders and served as its chancellor until 1874. It joined the State University of New York in 1962. UB describes itself as one of 59 U.S. research universities that belong to the Association of American Universities.
Baxter is a molecular biologist with bachelor's and master's degrees in biological sciences from SUNY Buffalo State. Her doctorate, she told the National Science Teachers Association in April 2022, "is in science education."
The dissertation's record is on ERIC, and the doctoral program is described on the Graduate School of Education's website.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the launch of the Planetary Health Check 2026 at Climate Week NYC, where she interviewed climate scientist Johan Rockström and former Unilever chief executive Paul Polman.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, from the SDG Media Zone at UN Headquarters and the Unstoppable Africa business forum.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from BiotechTV's first U.S. Science Summit in Kendall Square, where about 20 science creators joined biotech leaders on July 21, 2026.
