DU students make The Flame Challenge final cut

In April 2018, three DU undergraduate students were recognized as top-three national finalists in the widely-popular science communication contest The Flame ChallengeTM, held annually by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. Dylan Appleby, Isaiah Jakab and Piers McCarthy created a four-minute video aimed to teach a hypothetical eleven-year-old student the answer to “what is climate?”

Notably, all three team members are non-science majors. The team formed during their class, Science of Contemporary Issues, a three-part 1000-level course fulfilling the Natural and Physical World general curriculum requirement at DU. Biology professors Emily Barter and Julie Morris encouraged students in the class to enter The Flame Challenge in multiple categories (written, video, graphic).

When the video team entry was chosen as a finalist, the team had to name Barter as the official contest entrant due to submission rules that the entry must come from a “scientist.” This maneuver gained them national recognition and the possibility of a trip to New York to receive the award from well-known public figure Alan Alda.

They did not win in the end, but their video lives on. View their entry below.