Kevin Monk is a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University in neuroscience and has been the co-president of the Johns Hopkins chapter of Project Bridge, a science outreach organization. In order to make science education more fun and to provide real-time feedback for scientists, he plans to organize Science Gong Shows.

In this event, scientists present their work to an audience of non-scientists at a local bar or restaurant. The presenter may not use slides or jargon (words and phrases which are only understood by other scientists). The audience is encouraged to be active participants during the talk. Using cowbells provided by Project Bridge, they will interrupt the speaker any time they do not understand a word or phrase. Should this happen, the presenter must stop, define the jargon used, and re-describe their work without using the incriminating phrase. In this way, a dynamic
learning environment is created: the audience learns about on-going research and the scientist learns how to better communicate their work to the public. Furthermore, giving the audience power to stop the scientist will hopefully show that comprehension of science is the onus of the scientist and not the audience. By attending this event, community members will recognize that they are capable of understanding complicated scientific concepts and will be encouraged to have further interactions with scientists.

These events will take place in Baltimore, stay updated by following along with Project Bridge!