Dear Fellows,
As much as I love the extra daylight hours and the warmth of summertime, fall has always represented a welcome fresh start. Synced with the academic calendar, September conjures feelings of a new chapter. As such, the Office of Education is delighted to launch our fall programming, including new workshops and services. From the upcoming NICHD Postbac Orientation sessions and the Postbac Seminar Series to the 19th Annual Fellows Retreat (October 22), we have career exploration and support for all levels. Don’t be a stranger—we hope to see you at these group sessions, and you’re always encouraged to contact us for a one-on-one session.
The September 2024 newsletter is also a special one because it’s our annual arts issue! We’re excited and proud to showcase art by our very own DIR fellows, plus a feature article written by NICHD postdoc Dr. Ian Trees.
Keeping with the sentiment of Dr. Trees’ piece, I thought to share a few highlights from an interesting EMBO Reports I came across. According to the authors, “Art and science both render ideas about the world into a form that allows the viewer to connect to the idea.” They link our sense of wonder and awe to the aesthetic beauty of nature. As Dr. Trees points out in his enclosed article, this phenomenon generated historical interplay between art and science—the natural sciences actually began as qualitative investigations of nature (cave paintings, anatomical sketches, etc.).
As a send-off into this newsletter issue, consider that the modern/post-modern relationship between art and science has become more divergent. Zhu and Goyal state: “the separation of art and science into different cultures in the West took place during the 19th century, which incidentally or consequently coincides with coining of the term ‘scientist’ in the mid-1800s. Both disciplines share their origins in the representation and interpretation of nature, but, over time, their methodologies diverged, and the scientific school of thought became largely driven by specialization and hypothesis-based inquiries.”
How might an active re-integration of art and science make us more effective researchers?
Enjoy!
Yours,
Erin
Erin Walsh, Ph.D.
Deputy Scientific Director for Science Management
This newsletter is for NICHD fellows and by NICHD fellows. We want to hear from you! Please send your questions, comments, and ideas to the NICHD Office of Education Director, Dr. Megan Bohn, at megan.bohn@nih.gov.