College Profile 2023

‘WHEN SPIDERWEBS UNITE’ Science Outreach Center gets nearly $2 million to develop graphic novel, after-school program

W hen industrial hog farms started locating in Tillery, an impoverished and predominantly Black community in eastern North Carolina, the residents told local and state officials the farms were causing environmental harm and making them sick. Prove it, they were told. Working with University of North Carolina Epidemiologist Steve Wing, they did just that, prompting state reg ulations for industrial hog farms, which protect communities from harmful pollution. Now, the Clemson University Sci ence Outreach Center (SOC) has been awarded a nearly $2 million National Science Foundation grant to work with

‘The story is so powerful. I wanted to find a platform to share it with not only the public, but with youth.’ Science Outreach Center Director Renée Lyons

Tillery community members to develop a graphic novel titled “When Spider webs Unite” that tells Tillery’s story. It will be the basis for an after-school STEM club that empowers African American youth to identify problems in their own communities, conduct scientific investigations, and create and implement action plans to address those issues.

The genesis of the My STEM My Story project came from research SOC Director Renee Lyons, a former high school science teacher, did for her dissertation. Lyons conducted a qualitative re search study examining citizen science projects that successfully engaged African American communities. Tillery was one of those projects.

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CLEMSON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE | 2023 COLLEGE PROFILE