Projects and activities

As an enthusiastic advocate for science popularization and a strong supporter of EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion), whenever possible I participate in educational activities within and beyond the academic context. Recently, I have been  committed to engaging in volunteer work with the Brazilian community, as a way to return to the investment I received during my education and to inspire young students to pursue similar paths.

Below are some examples of the activities in which I got involved recently or in the past.
Competition Mil futuros cientistas in 2023. From April to June, I mentored  college students from my hometown in Brazil in a project to propose a solution for the glass waste produced in the city. The final competition can be watched here, the group I mentored started the pitch at 1h 13min and stood out as the 2nd best solution.
Asynchronous mentoring recorded in July, with the astro-physicist Melissa Mendes and in May 2023, as part the project ELA-STEM of the Redi Institute. The project aims to demystify concerns of following a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in young female students from unprivileged schools in Brazil.
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From 2019 to 2022 I volunteered as an editor of the beagle, a bilingual science blog. I also organized workshops for science popularization, such as the one in the picture, led by Melissa Kahdra from La Conversation, in 2022.
EDI workshop during the QCBS symposium in 2019 (photo by A. Gonzalez).
QCBS Microbial Ecology Seminar Series organization team (2018-2019)
Fairs: 24 hours of science in 2018 and 2017 (left) and Eureka festival in 2018 (top)
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UFMG and schools (photo by M. Gualbalto) - Belo Horizonte, Brazil, July 2015. Read about it here or in this text I wrote about the activity.
Training at Folha de São Paulo (Photo by Eduardo Azinelli Folhapress) - São Paulo, Brazil, June-July 2015. Know about the program here and about the newspaper here.

Publications for science popularization

Articles
Find all articles I've published for science popularization in this portfolio: https://nailabcosta.contently.com/
Blogs
I write about a variety of topics in my personal blog, most of the texts are in Portuguese, since this is my mother tongue ;-)

Audiovisual productions
Video produced for the CSEE BIPOC spotlight library microgrants, where I present a bit of my story as a scientist born in a developing country, I tell what motivated me to pursue a PhD in Canada and why I am fascinated with the microbial world!
Costa, N. B., Neto, D. A. P., Miranda, M. C. 2013. Rotina de uma reação de PCR (video showing the routine of preparing a Polimerase Chain Reaction, text and audio in Portuguese)