The more I learn?

?The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.??Michel Legrand, musical composer. 

Last week I attended the InterActions Collaboration of Particle Physics Communicators meeting at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where I gave a presentation about Sanford Lab?s education and outreach efforts. I was honored to represent Sanford Lab and excited about the opportunity to learn from communicators. 

The InterActions Collaboration is comprised of communicators from research institutions and laboratories around the world. Founded by Petra Folkerts, former Communications Director of DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron), its mission is to ?support the international science of particle physics and to set visible footprints for peaceful collaboration across all borders.? While that may seem counter intuitive when considering many of the institutions represented compete on major experiments, the reality is very different, said Katie Yurkewicz, Head of Communication at Fermilab. 

?These projects build trust and cooperation between the world?s particle physics communicators, and help convey the message around the world that particle physics means peaceful collaboration,? Yurkewicz said.

This year?s meeting came on the heels of the announcement that the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Takaaki Kajita, a leading researcher with the Super-Kamiokande Collaboration (Super-K) in Japan, and Arthur B. McDonald, the lead researcher with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Collaboration (SNOLab), ?for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.? Communicators from the University of Tokyo and SNOLab were at the meeting. I was able to talk with them about the communication efforts that went into managing the media after the announcement was made, as well as the connections to Ray Davis Jr.?s 2002 Nobel Prize. 

The meeting focused on a variety of topics: using Google Analytics effectively, planning an animation, updates on lab experiments and activities, and education and outreach, which were enlightening. We also toured several laboratories at Brookhaven, including the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Inelastic X-Ray Scattering beamline (IXS). Admittedly, I was a bit star-struck just being in the place where Davis began his research into neutrinos. 

But I was more impressed with the true spirit of collaboration, the free sharing of information and the desire by all present to help each other learn and become better communicators. 

?The meetings are an amazing window into the world of science communications across countries and cultures,? Yurkewicz said. ?Being able to discuss the many challenges of particle physics communication with colleagues from around the world has definitely made me a better science communicator.?

It?s easy to focus solely on what?s happening in your own backyard. Attending this meeting with other particle physics communicators from such places as CERN, Fermilab and other international laboratories taught me a very important lesson: I still have a lot to learn.