Last week I was reminded multiple times of my love of hats. I don’t wear them too often myself, due to the large cranium I prefer not to boast about. But I do like to try on hats, and I wonder why we do not wear them more often.

The first reminder occurred when Dutch Queen Beatrix announced last week that she will abdicate the throne in April. I immediately felt a loss; no more awesome hats (“Hoedjes van de Koningin”). The new King Willem-Alexander will probably not wear something as awesome as this:

But I wasn’t sad too long, since I am really a “Republikein” at heart.  And apparently I have, figuratively, quite an extensive hat collection myself – even some with fancy feathers in them. Let me explain.

The second reminder of my love of hats happened  during the #Venn13 session at the ScienceOnline conference I attended this week. The session was organized/moderated by Ed Yong (@edyong209) and Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics). The whole session is storified here.

Between the two of them Ed and Jonathan wear many hats: scientist, journalist, open-access promoter, administrator, writer, teacher, public information officer, etc. They challenged the attendees of the session to think about the many hats they themselves they wear. I may not don as many hats as Jonathan, even though we are both at a public university (JE at UC Davis, myself at University of Illinois), but I can show you of a couple of stylish hats I have accumulated for myself: entomologist/researcher/advisor, instructor/instructional designer, Entomological Society mover-and-shaker.  And all this while my official title is “Research Scientist”.

In recent years I have also become a promoter of Bioinspiration (or Biomimicry) within the Department of Entomology and the School of Integrative Biology, but also beyond my home department into the College of Engineering and the College of Education. This means that my hats have collected quite a bit of plumage. The point is probably best made by leaving the hat-analogy for a little while and to make the point by describing three completely different scientific conferences I have attended in the past six months.

Biomimicry Europe Innovation and Finance Summit (Zurich, Switzerland, August 2012)

In August 2012 I attended a summit in Zurich, Switzerland, that was organized by the Foundation For Global Sustainability and SwissCleanTech. These two entities brought together people from all over Europe who were interested in the topic of Biomimicry. The summit featured workshop sessions led by Dayna Baumeister who is one of the founders of Biomimicry 3.8. I have been interested in the Biomimicry Institute for quite a few years now and it was a pleasure to meet Dayna and talk to her.

The conference was mainly about how to innovate with biomimicry principles, and what tools are available to us to accomplish this. The speakers included scientists I greatly admire such as: Thomas Speck and André Studart. I hope to blog about their work soon.  The workshop/conference was special because I came in contact with not only  biologists and engineers who feel strongly about bioinspiration, but also with the people who are working on a more sustainable future; policy makers and business leaders, for the good of the environment but also because of the company’s bottom line. It was great to feel that my input as a researcher and instructor was appreciated and I myself learned a lot from people I rarely come in contact with.

As someone who was promoting insects as inspiration for innovation I wore my “researcher in entomology” and “instructor” hats at this conference, but I also tried to imagine walking in the shoes of an engineer, a sustainability innovator, a biomimicry practicioner, and a business person. I definitely felt most comfortable wearing the entomologist’s cap, and learned to appreciate this old hat even more as I convinced others that nature in general, and insect in particular, need more study for the good of our own society. The future focus of this blog.

Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America (Knoxville, TN, November 2012)

I have been a member of the premier insect-society (ha!), the Entomological Society of America (ESA), for almost 20 years. First as a grad student, then as a post-doc, and now as a research scientist (=faculty-let).  Through the years I have served at different levels of leadership, for instance as the President of the Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology section during a major ESA reorganization.  Currently I am on the Program Committee, which is a 3 year term. At the Annual Meeting in Knoxville this past year it was my task to organize the large student competition – which means keeping hundreds of presenting-students and judging-judges happy and on time. Luckily I get to do this with a co-chair, my good friend Luis Canas from Ohio State University. Luis and I were asked to be Program co-chairs because the current ESA President, Rob Wiedenmann (my former PhD advisor) wants to put forth an international face. So here we are, Luis from El Salvador, myself from the Netherlands, representing the rest of the world as the face of a very, very American scientific society.

At the meeting in Knoxville I gave a talk about BioInspiration as part of a bitter-sweet symposium. The symposium was in memory of my graduate (MS) advisor Dr. Nancy Beckage who passed away earlier in 2012. Dr. Beckage was a professor of Entomology, Cell Biology and Neuroscience at the University of California at Riverside. She studied the physiological responses of insects to immune challenges such as pathogens and parasitoids. She did important research and was a great writer. Her review articles are wonderful introductions to immunology and parasitology. In fact, she once considered a career in science journalism.

Nancy was a mentor, a friend, and a role-model for me. But also a cautionary tale. I feel that Nancy did not get the support that she needed at important times in her life, in large part because she would never ever ask for help as she was a very private person. Mental illness in academia is not uncommon, but for women getting support is often rather difficult, especially for a woman in a discipline/department where women are underrepresented. Again, this is a topic for a blog post I hope to come back to in the future.

During my talk at ESA I made the case that Nancy had a great love for insects. She also appreciated that insect parasitoids can teach a lot about animal physiology.

This type of thinking was passed on to me and now I have come to appreciate the diversity of insects immensely. Insects have adapted to almost all of earth’s habitats, except maybe the open ocean. Insects have a lot to teach us as long as we open ourselves to creative thinking and let ourselves be inspired to innovate.

Participating in this symposium was difficult, there were lots of tears and regrets, but also great camaraderie among those who Nancy influenced during her life.  She inspired me. She still influences my research, my teaching, and most importantly, she influences my interactions with those around me since she taught me that nothing is more important than meaningful personal relationships.

So what hats was I wearing at the ESA Annual Meeting? Definitely the “Entomology researcher” hat (my grad student Gwyn Puckett presented her work at ESA), but also the “Service” hat with the fancy feathers bestowed to a promoter of curiosity, respect, generosity, acceptance, compassion in entomology and academia – because if we do not adhere to these principles then there will be devastating consequences to our (or our colleagues) personal lives, but also to science research and understanding.

Again, I definitely felt most comfortable wearing the hat of an “Entomologist”, the one promoting insects as inspiration for learning about science and for  innovation. At this ESA meeting the “Service” hat with all its feathers (=responsibilities) weighed heavy on me. I had to try to put myself in the shoes of other ESA members, many of whom are in a field far outside of insect physiology or bioinspiration, in the shoes of students, in the shoes of ESA staff and leadership, in the shoes of those women who came before me and who’s legacy I proudly carry on my shoulders.

(NB: at this meeting I had to pleasure to meet many of my “new” online ento friends. Two of them: @BioInFocus and @GeekInQuestion even recorded a Breaking Bio Episode from there: Episode 10)

Science Online 2013 (Raleigh, NC, January 2013)

And now for my third meeting in 6 months. For the second year in a row I attended the Science Online meeting in Raleigh, NC. I cannot say enough about this un-conference, the organizers, the attendees. It is absolutely my favorite work-related event of the year. For a taste of what the conference is like just visit this link and start clicking through all the awesomeness.

It was at this conference that I was first reminded of all the hats I wear, and that each hat is adorned with many feathers. The hats that brought with me to Raleigh is the science instructor hat. Next to my bread&butter Insect Physiology graduate course I teach a few courses in the Online Master of Science in Teaching of Biological Science Program at the University of Illinois (a team effort with @sciencegoddess). In all the courses that I teach for this program insects are heavily featured, because there so many aspects of their biology are interesting and important. The students in the courses are themselves high-school teachers and they are very eager to learn the latest about biology and how to teach it. The Science Online conference put me in contact with journalists and writers who help me explain the content of my courses – which is then passed on to the high-school students. In addition, I met high school teachers who are very active online and serve as teachers for me too (@lalsox, @2footgiraffe, @paleoromano etc.). All three use social media in their science courses, something I am trying to encourage my students to do too.

At ScienceOnline I did not really unpack my “Entomology/researcher” hat (except during Friday dinner). But I did juggle both my “Instructor” hat and my “Service/Outreach” hat. It was at first a little uncomfortable since it put me, as a communicator, front and center, and not my cool study animals. As was the case last year, the conference did force me to imagine myself in the shoes of journalists, writers and bloggers who are trying to work with scientists and/or the public to make science accessible to many different types of people.

I have to thank all the attendees at all the conferences covered here for inspiring me, for giving me the confidence to wear all my hats and to try out new things so I can add more feathers to my caps.

But now that I see all these ornate hats all lined up in front of me I wonder if it would be wise to invest in a Collecting Vest. This garment is one of those accessories worn by only the most serious of entomologists. Surely investing in a vest like the one E.O. Wilson often wears can help me do my job even better. All my research, teaching, and outreach tricks would be easily accessible, and the vest, together with a “pooter“, would make me look professional in whatever setting I find myself. Then again, there is a thin line between looking professional and looking goofy.  It might also be wise to invest time in revising my job description.

A special thanks to the Scio13 attendees for helping me celebrate Queen Beatrix’ birthday (January 31st)…which happens to be my birthday too (and I covet her hats).

Thanks to all of you I have renewed faith in my abilities…look… I finished my first real blog post 😉 (A blog post which is not really about the topic that will be the focus of this blog…but oh well, baby steps).