Time for scientists to embrace their power to educate

When an infection attacked his heart, James M. Lang was admitted to the hospital where he stayed for three months, ultimately receiving a heart transplant. "We live in the age of wonders," he wrote in the introduction of his new book, "Write Like You Teach: Taking Your Classroom Skills to a Bigger Audience." It's why I wanted to talk to him. Lang, who holds a doctorate in English, didn't need a life-threatening illness to prompt recognition of scientific wonders. As someone who mentors fellow educators, he knows all too well that modern life is drenched in systems and products that started with scientific research. If you drink water from a faucet, take prescription or over-the-counter medicines or hold a smartphone in your hand, scientific research matters to you. The federal funding cuts to research along with our nation's fiscal year 2026 budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Science Foundation should alarm every person in this country. University scientists carry their expertise from the lab to the classroom to help future generations build on this knowledge and propel humanity forward. Somewhere along the way, the general public has gotten lost in the mix. Somehow, funding for research has been deemed wasteful and excessive. It's been deprioritized by the Trump administration. But when you really look at the work being done, you see exactly how it touches you and your family. For example, according to the American Cancer Society, "for the past 50 years, every significant medical breakthrough, especially in the treatment of cancer, has been linked to sustained federal investment in research." Lang is a professor of practice in the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Notre Dame and writes a regular column on teaching and learning for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He's built his career around helping educators communicate their expertise both in the classroom and out. I find him to be a bit of a kindred spirit. "On one hand," Lang said, "we want to just find those people and help them tell their stories." This is what I try to do each week in this column. Journalists everywhere report on data analysis and new academic research. But Lang hopes researchers will feel empowered by his book to do more. He said, "I want people to understand you can do this work on your own. You don't have to rely on someone else to do it." The public needs to hear the voices of scientific expertise. Though educators and academics might feel that they've lost some sense of control of their profession, Lang urges them "to re-embrace this power that you have to educate people and help people learn about the things that you really care about." This is where the kindred spirit part comes in. I spend a good amount of time coaching academics, authors and those with lived experience on how to share their expertise and perspectives with the general public by writing op-ed columns and letters to the editor. I want everyone to practice civil discourse and advocate for good. After reading "Write Like You Teach," I want to add this book to my toolbelt. I hope Lang's book lands in the hands of every educator and academic who holds knowledge that the general public should understand. It's too important. Our communities need to know how much our daily well-being depends on the scientists who are working in labs and mentoring our next generation. "The research I see people doing around me is designed to help people," Lang stressed. "It's designed to help the world become a better place, improve the environment, improve our lives, improve relationships and improve our spiritualities." Researchers are unlocking the secrets to our natural world, our social constructs and our expansive universe for the benefit of humanity. We cannot deny the rewards of science and the funding necessary to support them. The time is now for scientists to share their stories of discovery and make the importance of their work abundantly clear. It's OK to learn from educated people. It's not elite to value expertise. The National Institutes of Health is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. These budget cuts matter to you whether you realize it or not, and the research lost will matter to your grandchildren.