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Raven Baxter

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Not to be confused with Raven Baxter (character).
Raven Baxter
A portrait photo of Raven Baxter, wearing
Raven Baxter in 2020
Pronunciation
  • ˈreɪvən ˈbækstər
NationalityAmerican
Other namesRaven the Science Maven
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsScience Education, Science Communication, Molecular Biology, Music
InstitutionsBuffalo Public Schools, Erie Community College
Academic advisorsDaniel L. Potts (undergrad), Gregory J. Wadsworth (grad), Noemi Waight (grad)
Websitewww.scimaven.com

Raven Baxter (also known as Raven the Science Maven) is an American science communicator, molecular biologist, and STEM educator. Baxter is the founder of STEMbassy, a science advocacy organization and web series, as well as the founder and lead organizer of Black in Science Communication, an organization created with an emphasis on amplifying voices in the Black community. She is recognized in Fortune magazine's "40 Under 40 in Health" list for 2020.

Education

Baxter completed Bachelor's (2014) and master's (2016) degrees in biology at Buffalo State College, where she researched protein folding in Caenorhabditis elegans.[1] In 2021, she earned her Ph.D. in curriculum, instruction, and the science of learning at University at Buffalo's Graduate School of Education,[2] and was awarded the Arturo Alfonso Schomburg fellowship for her Ph.D. program.[3]

Career

While pursuing her master's degree, Baxter worked as a substitute teacher in Buffalo Public Schools. She went on to work at AMRI Global in drug discovery following her Master's program. Baxter also taught as an assistant professor of biology at Erie Community College, an experience which she says changed her career path.[3] While completing her Ph. D. program, Baxter worked as an academic adviser at Buffalo State.

Baxter was an invited speaker at TEDxGreatMills in September 2020, talking about the difficulties of being a Black scientist in academia.[4][5]

Baxter partnered with the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) during Earth Week 2021 to create a series of videos to educate students about climate change that were shared across all NCSE's and Baxter's platforms. [6]

Baxter was invited to give the opening keynote at SciComm2020[7] and has been published in Mother Jones.[8] She was selected as a Distinguished Lecturer for the RTI Fellows Program in 2021.[9]

Baxter launched Smarty Pants Clothing in January 2021.[10][11] Smarty Pants features STEM-themed apparel and accessories, for people who want to proudly and loudly demonstrate that they are scientists.[12] Ten percent of sales goes toward college scholarships.

Baxter was a judge for the 2021 Reach Out Science Slam Communication Challenge, in recognition for her expertise in molecular biology and science communication, as well as her public recognition as a Fortune 40 under 40.[13][14]

Recognition

In 2021, Baxter won the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence - Special Service: COVID-19, which was a special award given to just one student in the entire State University of New York system. The Chancellor's Award is considered the highest honor a SUNY student can received from the University.[15] In 2020 she was recognized as one of Fortune's "40 under 40".[16][17].

Music

In 2017, Baxter began publishing science education videos under the moniker "Raven the Science Maven."[18][19] Her popularity expanded after releasing "Big Ole Geeks," a parody of Megan Thee Stallion's hit "Big Ole Freak." Her next song, "H.B.I.C. (Head Boss in Charge)," was released for International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2020.[20] "Wipe It Down," Baxter's parody of Lil Boosie's "Wipe Me Down," contained information and safety tips related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and received nearly 27,000 views in its first three months.[21] Baxter released a remix of Megan Thee Stallion's song "Body" titled "Antibodyody", which explains how the body makes antibodies to fight disease, written to help one of Baxter's former students prepare for an immunology exam.[22][23] Megan retweeted Baxter's "Antibodyody" on Twitter commenting, "I should've been studying like this the whole time lol".[24] The "Antibodyody" song is Dr. Baxter's most popular song, having been viewed on Twitter over 2.2 million times, and viewed on YouTube over 15,000 times.

Year Title Twitter Views YouTube Views
2019 "Big Ole Geeks" 15,000 4,000
2020 "H.B.I.C." 130,000 3,900
"Wipe It Down" 415,000 41,700
"A.T.C.G" § N/A 470
"Computer Love" § N/A 250
"Poll Dancer" 179,000 1,500
"Antibodyody" 2,200,000 15,000
2021 "100 Digits of Pi" 33,000 640

§ Audio only; not shown on Twitter

References

  1. ^ "Immunological Strategies to Study GRP170 in Caenorhabditis elegans". Buffalo State College. 2017-08-08. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  2. ^ http://www.buffalo.edu/content/dam/www/commencement/2021-accessible-pdfs/UB-Graduate-School-of-Education-Commencement-Program-Book-2021.pdf
  3. ^ a b "Our Stories: Raven Baxter '14, '16". Buffalo State. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  4. ^ "You Don't Look Like A Scientist!". TED - Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  5. ^ "'Raven the Science Maven' encourages students to find their voice in STEM". Penn State News. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  6. ^ "NCSE and Raven the Science Maven: A collaboration to help new generations teach climate change | National Center for Science Education". ncse.ngo. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  7. ^ "Raven the Science Maven: Raven Baxter 2020 SciComm Keynote Speaker 1". Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  8. ^ Baxter, Raven; Flynn Mogensen, Jackie. "I'm a Black Female Scientist. On My First Day of Work, a Colleague Threatened to Call the Cops on Me". Mother Jones. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  9. ^ "The RTI Fellow Program Distinguished Lecture Series: The Modern Lyrics of Leadership and Communication in Science". RTI. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  10. ^ Howes, Laura (February 21, 2021). "Science style and a makeup shake-up". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-03-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "STEM Workers: Be Your Unapologetic Self". Gizmodo. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Science style and a makeup shake-up". Chemical and Engineering News. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  13. ^ "CEMB Students to Compete in 2021 Reach Out Science Slam Communication Challenge". Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Biology. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Reach Out Challenge". Museum of Science. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  15. ^ "SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence - Special Service: COVID-19". www.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  16. ^ "Raven Baxter, 2020 40 under 40 in Health, Fortune". Fortune. 2020-09-03. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Raven Baxter". National Science and Technology Medals Foundation. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Raven the Science Maven". Spotify. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  19. ^ "The Hip Hop Scientists Mixing Beats and Brains". Global Shakers. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  20. ^ Berg, Alex. "That's So Raven (The Science Maven)". AM2DM. Buzzfeed News. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  21. ^ Hastinges, Cole. "Raven the Science Maven's "Wipe It Down" Goes Viral on YouTube". Buffalo Rising. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  22. ^ "A Biologist Explains Antibodies through Rap Music". Medika. 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  23. ^ Baxter, Raven. "Remix of @theestallion 's Body song - Antibodyody". Twitter. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  24. ^ "Thee Stallion comments on a parody of her song". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
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