Dr. Ana Maria Porras is currently a postdoctoral associate in biomedical engineering at Cornell University and spends her free time crocheting microbes and communicating the science behind them. She started posting a new creation every #MicrobeMonday on her instagram account, @anamaporras. She was able to share the wonderful microscopic world of microbes with many, but noticed that her Spanish-speaking followers were often unable to fully understand the information being presented. Thus, she is expanding her project to a second instagram account, @anaerobias, where she will post microbes every #MicroMartes. Moving forward, she has several goals:

 

Now that I have been doing this for a little while, I am ready to formalize and expand my efforts, and to be more intentional with this approach to science communication. My mission is to increase awareness of the beneficial effects that microbes have on us and on the Earth by designing appealing and eye-catching microbes. Keeping this in mind, my goals for the next year are:

• To continue to design new microbe patterns.

• To use social media to engage with educators, scientists, and science-enthusiasts toreach a wider audience in English- and Spanish-speaking contexts.

• To create a website where my patterns are available for others to purchase, and where educators and scientists can find activities and experiments to incorporate thesecrocheted microbes into their classrooms or outreach efforts.

Stay updated on her project by following her on Instagram!
English: @anamaporras
Spanish: @anaerobias

Curious about the other scicomm grant recipients? Read about their projects!