From the ComSciCon SEEDS team: 

Webinar Title: Solving for "X": Strategies for Transdisciplinary Relationship-Building 

Speaker: Dr. Samantha Jo Fried (Tufts University) 

Event Date and Time: Thursday, June 4th 3-4:30pm ET on Zoom).

Registration Link: Register Here

About the Webinar: Throughout Dr. Samantha Jo Fried's career, a theme has persisted: she has often been the one person who does x in the space of y. Frequently, x = the humanities and y = the sciences. But sometimes, x = theory when y = practice, and sometimes, those exact same variables have been reversed! In this webinar, Sam will offer a few anecdotes about times when she specialized in x, in spaces where the work was primarily in y. She'll discuss strategies for clarifying your expertise so that it’s more than just a “mysterious variable” to collaborators. These strategies are shaped by her commitment to push back against elitism and make room for different ways of knowing. Following the talk, there will be time for discussion about the difficult and continuous work of transdisciplinarity and relationship-building.

About the Speaker: Dr. Samantha Jo Fried is the Associate Director of Civic Science and a Research Professor at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. Her work spans curriculum development, faculty governance, and community partnership research. Most recently, she taught "Civic Knowledge: How We Know Things," a course at the intersection of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and Civic Science that explores the vital relationship between theory and practice through community-centered partnerships.

Event Host: Funded by the Kavli and Rita Allen Foundations, ComSciCon’s SEEDS project is creating a resource for early-career scientists looking to impact the world beyond academia. By curating stories of researchers navigating the ethical and societal implications of their work—efforts often unsupported by traditional institutions—SEEDS provides the insights needed for scientists to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

We hope you can join us for this engaging conversation!