Humans of Tyson 2024

 
 
 
 
 

Suzanne Loui

Senior Lecturer, Environmental Studies
Co-Principal Investigator, Team Humans

 

“The scholars, the scientists, the writers, the actors, the anthropologists, the geologists, all these people whom I have had the good fortune to meet over the years have been nothing but welcoming. We need to be able to ask each other questions and not feel awkward about it.” 

Suzanne Loui joins Tyson for her fifth summer, overseeing the Humans of Tyson writing project, aimed at understanding the human perspectives behind the field station’s science community. Humans of Tyson profiles 58 people this summer. 

I want my students to know that there is usually discomfort in doing new things and that’s okay.

“I work in the field of environmental humanities. When I first came to summer seminars at Tyson years ago, I remember sitting there feeling like I was listening to a foreign language. I liked what I could understand and enjoyed learning about the goals and outcomes of projects. I couldn’t understand a lot of the analysis of their research, but it was a friendly community that kept welcoming me back.  

I want my students to know that there is usually discomfort in doing new things and that’s okay. You are not always going to be in your comfort zone. Go to lectures that you know nothing about. Why not hear speakers whom other people say are not who you should be listening to? Listen closely to what that speaker has to say instead of sitting in a room of others’ opinions. 

Ask questions. Nobody wants to feel like their field is undermined or irrelevant in another research setting. But the more we can help each other to understand our fields of expertise, the more we realize the common goals they share. I am very heartened to see more students doing science and humanities with equal passion.”