Begun in 2015 as Science Talk Northwest by scientists and communicators, the volunteer-run association gathers the field each spring at SCIENCE TALK
Dr. Raven Baxter joined the board of directors of the Association of Science Communicators on Sept. 12, 2025. The volunteer-run nonprofit describes its mission as being "the hub of the professional science communication community."
Its members include public information officers, scientists, researchers who study science communication, educators, museum and zoo interpreters, and content creators. The group says it works to "advance the value of science as a source of societal benefit."
Baxter joined during a year of public debate over federal science. In March 2025, thousands rallied in Washington, DC, and more than 30 U.S. cities at Stand Up for Science events against funding and workforce cuts. In June, hundreds of National Institutes of Health scientists issued the Bethesda Declaration to push back against cuts and changes at the agency.
Public trust in scientists had also not recovered from its pandemic high. In November 2024, Pew Research Center reported that 76% of U.S. adults had confidence in scientists to act in the public's best interests, down from 87% in April 2020. Only 45% said research scientists were good communicators.
In an interview the association recorded in February 2026, Baxter spoke about those funding fights. "As we all know, federally funded scientific programs have been vastly threatened across the board and I've seen a lot of scientists and science communicators stand up and do the hard thing of speaking up and making sure that we preserve the future of science," she said.
Baxter speaks with the association in February 2026. Image: Association of Science Communicators video
"You just have to speak up," she said, adding that no one has to do it alone. "It's a community effort. It is a collective work to advocate for change."
She described the field as a shared conversation. "It's all just a conversation. We're a community. Everyone's trying to figure stuff out. We all don't know the same things."
Her goal is for science to sit as close to everyday life as sports. "As enthused as people are about cheering for their favorite sports team, I would like that for the field of science," Baxter said. "I want it to become an integrated part of society like that."
Since joining the board, Baxter founded the association's Science Communication Consortium on Ethics, which she chairs and which first met in January 2026. In March 2026 she gave the closing keynote at SCIENCE TALK '26, the association's 10th conference.
The association began in 2015 as Science Talk Northwest. Its first conference, held in 2017 at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, sold out. The group became Science Talk in 2018 and took its current name in 2022. More than 400 people attended its 2025 conference, according to an informalscience.org listing.
Baxter is a molecular biologist known online as Dr. Raven the Science Maven. Her doctoral research at the University at Buffalo focused on science communication.
The association's next conference, SCIENCE TALK '27, meets in Chicago on April 8 and 9, 2027. More is on the Association of Science Communicators website, and the February interview is on its YouTube channel.
Dr. Raven Baxter founded the Science Communication Consortium on Ethics at the Association of Science Communicators, which held its first meeting on Jan. 26, 2026.
Dr. Raven Baxter joined the Advisory Group of the Aspen Institute's Our Future Is Science initiative in October 2025 and gave the keynote at its 2025-26 kickoff.
The New York Times featured Dr. Raven Baxter's fair housing story on its homepage on May 31, 2024, and later reported that she would be the face of a national campaign against housing discrimination.
