Keep Going, Keep Planting

Finding Purpose in Uncertain Times

We all remember exactly where we were on 9/11 (well, assuming you were born before 2001). I was a high school senior, sitting in English when the planes hit, then in study hall when the towers fell. Living "up the road" from NYC, it felt surreal, especially knowing a classmate whose dad was in the towers and a cousin who had a meeting scheduled there that morning.

Surely, we’d be sent home to process, to grieve, or at least to acknowledge that the world had just changed forever. But nope. Off to math class, where the teacher handed out a quiz. Yep! On 9/11, I took a math quiz. Then I went to work after school. At the time, it felt almost unnatural. But somehow, the world just kept moving.

Years later, COVID, another world-altering event, shut down my university over spring break. No pause, no regrouping, just an immediate shift online, straight through to the end of the semester. No passing go, no collecting $200 (unless you count the stimulus checks).

My maternal grandparents were proud first-generation Americans from Ukraine. The day Ukraine was invaded in 2022, I gave a lecture on elasticity.

I’m not saying the "go go go" mentality is always the best way. But sometimes, it’s the only way. And right now, with everything happening under this regime, it feels like the most important one.

It reminds me of the saying: "If the world ends tomorrow, plant a tree." When everything feels helpless, do something positive. Or just keep going. Keep. Doing. (Fun fact, it’s for this reason I call my students my “trees.”)

How Do We Keep Going?

This post is bigger than the academic topics I usually write about; it’s about all of us. Knowledge creators and holders shape policies, education, and innovation, and they need to act. Now.

So how do we push academia forward, whether we’re inside it or relying on it?

Here are a few small actions you can do today that could make a big impact:

• Reach out to academic journals on social media. Ask how they’re addressing misinformation and political interference. Hold them accountable.

• Check what scientific organizations are doing. Reach out to see how they’re pushing back against censorship and funding restrictions. And when you find ones taking action, commend them! Even small efforts matter. I have to say, I’m really impressed with the American Institute of Physics.

• Submit op-eds or blog posts. Write about what’s happening in your field or your desired field and why it matters. If you’re a student or admirer of academia, write about why these thought leaders matter to you.

• Support independent research. Follow and share work from scientists and scholars who are resisting political pressure.

• Encourage open-access publishing. Research is harder to suppress when it’s widely available, let’s make sure it gets seen! Maybe you can help fund researchers who are resisting political pressure to publish in open-access journals (it’s not cheap!). MORE TO COME ON THIS SOON!

• Send a note to a professor or colleague you admire. Ask them to speak up about funding cuts, misinformation, or academic freedom. Tell them how much their voice matters! And if they do speak up, share it, amplify it, celebrate it!

• If you’re an instructor, talk to students. Make sure they know what’s at stake for their futures in research and academia.

Because even when hope seems lost, we take an exam, connect with students, and show up for our communities. We plant whatever tree we have the energy to plant.

And, remember, if you only have 40% to give, and you give all 40%, you’ve given 100% (attributed to Jim Kwik). #econgirlmath

I’ll be working through some of these suggestions next week and will report back!

Dr. McD