Coming from a multi-generational fishing community, I have grown to love the human aspects of ecology as much as the scientific curiosities. I also have been drawn to fishermen’s tales and the ways the natural world is relayed through story.

These interests have driven my approach as a young filmmaker, as I look for narratively driven character studies within the field of scientific storytelling and attempt to uncover the intricacies of human endeavor behind the facts. 

Passion reads beautifully on screen, so when I have the opportunity to film people who exude genuine excitement in their work, my job as a visual storyteller becomes much easier. Even more amazing is when these individuals, whether through pedagogy or personal response, are able to translate what they love for a variety of audiences, turning something as niche as bird morphology or synthetic polymers into an entry point for all types of question-askers. 

This past summer, as a Hoskins-Frame Summer Science Writing Scholar, I pursued a long-form creative project based on my experiences working in three biology, physics and chemistry labs at Kenyon — places that support this type of focused passion. The result was a documentary mini-series titled “Short-Form Scientists,” which examines the more humanistic aspects of science labs. I was motivated by questions like, “What makes people so excited about the science they pursue? And what does that tell us about the human experience as a whole?”

Through this project, I was able to nerd out with Kenyon scientists and gain a surface-level understanding of their work that only deepened my appreciation for a field I may never know in full. And as my series came together, I began to see how my voice as a filmmaker might shape and contribute to these stories instead of merely documenting them.