Seed Grant Award: Picture a Scientist

The objective of this proposal is to use film – specifically Picture a Scientist – to effect change across the scientific communities on all Columbia campuses. Picture a Scientist is a movie about the roots of racisms and sexism as seen through the eyes of three scientists, a distinguished very senior biologist, an accomplished, mid-career Black chemistry professor, and a newly tenured Earth Sciences faculty member.  All are women; their stories are powerful. We facilitated two types of University-wide events in connection with a 3-5 day screening period available for up to 500 participants simultaneously in late September.  One event, to be organized within each interested academic unit, is a discussion of the major themes of the movie in a format tailored individually by faculty and trainees at a time or times determined by each unit.  No funding is requested for these discussions.  The second event focuses on the making of the film itself and will take the form of a “Talkback” with the creators of this movie, the filmmakers and the scientists.  The filmmakers have agreed to appear in this talkback, that was held in early October and this required honoraria for them and for the scientists. The Talkback was hosted by the Zuckerman Institute as part of their Arts programming and was open to all members of the Columbia Community virtually.  

This project was funded through the Addressing Racism: A Call to Action for Higher Education initiative of the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement.