Public Engagement: IceCube Citizen Science and Start Talking Science

Two programs that work on engaging the public in research will be presented: Name that Neutrino and Start Talking Science. Name that Neutrino is a citizen science project where volunteers aid in data classification for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a particle detector at the South Pole. Name that Neutrino obtained more than 88,000 classifications by over 1,300 registered volunteers in order to investigate similarities and differences with results obtained by a deep neural network machine learning algorithm. The results provide specific insight into improvements needed for both Name that Neutrino and the deep neural network. Start Talking Science is an annual public event where STEM researchers present posters aimed at a non-technical audience. The presenters, including students and seasoned professionals, must participate in a review process which focuses on how to communicate their science to a general audience. Start Talking Science was founded in 2013 in Philadelphia and has since involved over 200 researchers and approximately 600 community members.