Tracy Ensor
@sciencetracy.bsky.social
Applied scientist, systems thinker, ideator, implementer. Building capacity in programs and people in the Great Plains.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
One Weird Trick Institutions HATE:
tell your colleagues what your salary is
tell your colleagues what your salary is
December 10, 2025 at 2:45 AM
One Weird Trick Institutions HATE:
tell your colleagues what your salary is
tell your colleagues what your salary is
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
An absolute horrific nightmare of two AI bots caught in a loop with each other is the perfect example of the total nothingness of AI “brains”.
December 9, 2025 at 9:09 PM
An absolute horrific nightmare of two AI bots caught in a loop with each other is the perfect example of the total nothingness of AI “brains”.
I rely on journal articles to do my job, which includes bringing sound science to the public. Having to do this much extra work just to verify authenticity is exhausting.
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
Let me tell you a story. Perhaps you can guess where this is going... though it does have a bit of a twist.
I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵
I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵
December 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
I rely on journal articles to do my job, which includes bringing sound science to the public. Having to do this much extra work just to verify authenticity is exhausting.
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
Writing 🤝 Thinking
i strongly, strongly believe that good writing is downstream of clear thinking and a strong understanding of the subject matter at hand. without fail, tortured writing comes from writers who don’t know and can’t think clearly about anything.
Oh man! This paragraph is brutal. The best thing about this review is it's not trying to be mean. It's just listing how bad the writing is.
December 3, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Writing 🤝 Thinking
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
The answer for me - in the classroom - has been to use universal design principles. I don’t give tests, my assignments are open book & can be submitted in multiple ways, I give extensions to anyone who asks. People have family emergencies, work demands, get ill… An inclusive class helps more people.
Balancing "no person with a disability should be denied accommodations" with "it's important to discourage non-disabled people from pretending to be disabled to take advantage of these accommodations" is really difficult and I don't have a great answer for what anyone should do about it.
December 3, 2025 at 12:38 AM
The answer for me - in the classroom - has been to use universal design principles. I don’t give tests, my assignments are open book & can be submitted in multiple ways, I give extensions to anyone who asks. People have family emergencies, work demands, get ill… An inclusive class helps more people.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
I drove through this town at least ten times a year, and my mom had us all convinced you were supposed to roll down your windows and shout WAHOOOOOO at someone. "they like it when you do it!" I did this for 20 years, including during college, before I discovered, oh my mom just made that shit up
November 21, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I drove through this town at least ten times a year, and my mom had us all convinced you were supposed to roll down your windows and shout WAHOOOOOO at someone. "they like it when you do it!" I did this for 20 years, including during college, before I discovered, oh my mom just made that shit up
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Same composition a few days apart
November 18, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Same composition a few days apart
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
What holds democracy together? A shared sense of what’s real. At Civic Saturday on Nov. 15, we dug into how we protect that. Full gathering and sermon here ›› civicnebraska.org/20251115-the...
These Truths: a civic sermon - Civic Nebraska
In a democracy, truth is not a luxury. It’s the very scaffolding that holds up our collective life.
civicnebraska.org
November 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
What holds democracy together? A shared sense of what’s real. At Civic Saturday on Nov. 15, we dug into how we protect that. Full gathering and sermon here ›› civicnebraska.org/20251115-the...
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
START YOUR WEEKEND: With a story of agricultural resilience, about a Nebraska family that has fought to stay on the farm with help from a state and federal program aimed at people with disabilities.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
From Cindy Gonzalez:
‘AgrAbility’ program helps wheelchair-bound Nebraska farmer return to the field • Nebraska Examiner
Funding for a "Nebraska Agrability" program that helps a wheelchair-bound Nebraska farmer stay in the field could be at risk.
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
START YOUR WEEKEND: With a story of agricultural resilience, about a Nebraska family that has fought to stay on the farm with help from a state and federal program aimed at people with disabilities.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
From Cindy Gonzalez:
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Hi all! I'm hiring for a #scicomm research postdoc to join our Scicomm LIFT team!
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Post Doctoral Research Associate - Zoology & Physiology (B Merkle Lab)
Hiring a highly motivated postdoctoral research associate position to join an NSF-funded, multi-institutional, research team studying graduate students’ ability to communicate science effectively and ...
eeik.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Hi all! I'm hiring for a #scicomm research postdoc to join our Scicomm LIFT team!
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
I thought the earlier news from A&M was bad, but this is incredibly bleak. It’s close to the point of not having a functional university.
Message to all faculty: your expertise is no longer trusted or valued at this so-called “university.”
November 14, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I thought the earlier news from A&M was bad, but this is incredibly bleak. It’s close to the point of not having a functional university.
After so many ugly headlines, it’s nice to read a piece showing autism as a strength. And it’s especially needed in these times, when the Dunning–Kruger effect is running rampant.
Autistics (vs non-autistics) "are less likely to make errors in self-assessments of their cognitive performance"? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... "findings provide valuable insights into both the cognitive strengths of autistic individuals and the mechanisms underlying metacognitive biases"
Reduced Susceptibility to the Dunning–Kruger Effect in Autistic Employees
Evidence indicates that autistic individuals are less susceptible to social influence and cognitive biases than non-autistic individuals. However, no studies have been conducted on the Dunning–Kruger....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:31 PM
After so many ugly headlines, it’s nice to read a piece showing autism as a strength. And it’s especially needed in these times, when the Dunning–Kruger effect is running rampant.
Recently I’ve been discussing with friends the consequences of outsourcing our thinking, and this 🧵 captures my sentiments.
A friend recently texted me the same thing. “Do you really not use ChatGPT?!” It was a sign of where we are culturally on this. People are compelled to use it but also starting to question the normalcy?
Recently met someone who was very surprised to hear I didn’t use ChatGPT or any LLM.
I said my job depended on doing distinctive work. That was my selling point. If I started to sound like ChatGPT and turn out what it did, then how on earth could I justify doing it? What would that make me?
I said my job depended on doing distinctive work. That was my selling point. If I started to sound like ChatGPT and turn out what it did, then how on earth could I justify doing it? What would that make me?
November 8, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Recently I’ve been discussing with friends the consequences of outsourcing our thinking, and this 🧵 captures my sentiments.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
This judge may be the angriest person in America. This thread blew my hair back.
Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis has just taken the bench to rule on federal agents actions' during a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs.
Background, for @wttw.bsky.social from @bymattmasterson.bsky.social
Background, for @wttw.bsky.social from @bymattmasterson.bsky.social
Judge Set to Rule Thursday in Case Centering on Federal Immigration Agents’ Use of Force: ‘I Could See Inside the Barrel’
Protesters, clergy members and others who say they’ve been directly impacted by a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs will testify before a federal judge weighing wh...
news.wttw.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This judge may be the angriest person in America. This thread blew my hair back.
In addition to the 🧵 below, why would we want to cut out the learning that comes from BEING a tutor? When I ran a tutoring center, the tutors were students and explaining the material helped many tutors acquire valuable skills (not to mention material review for the MCAT, LSAT, etc).
I have a number of colleagues who think that LLMs will be very useful as individualized tutors.
One of their arguments is that unlike previous generations of AI tutors, LLMs have the full context window of the conversation and that’s better understand what a student knows and doesn’t know.
One of their arguments is that unlike previous generations of AI tutors, LLMs have the full context window of the conversation and that’s better understand what a student knows and doesn’t know.
October 30, 2025 at 5:30 PM
In addition to the 🧵 below, why would we want to cut out the learning that comes from BEING a tutor? When I ran a tutoring center, the tutors were students and explaining the material helped many tutors acquire valuable skills (not to mention material review for the MCAT, LSAT, etc).
Are Nebraska state agencies that receive federal funding subject to the Hatch Act?
Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services has a message at the top of its webpage blaming Democrats for SNAP benefits ending today.
October 30, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Are Nebraska state agencies that receive federal funding subject to the Hatch Act?
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.
October 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
October 26, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
The fault is not with us individually. The fault is with the institutions that actually do the evil.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
October 24, 2025 at 12:48 AM
The fault is not with us individually. The fault is with the institutions that actually do the evil.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.
October 23, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.
Seems like a good time to revisit Dewey. Great read.
I would *love* to see teach-ins parallel to these rallies. We were able to do this in Iowa City holding a Teach Truth Day of Action alongside the No Kings rally in June. I wonder how to make this systemic?
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/06/27/r...
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/06/27/r...
Reflections on Teach Truth Day of Action 2025
Nick Covington: How can John Dewey’s ideal of a thriving democratic education revitalize a American commitment to freedom and democracy?
www.bleedingheartland.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Seems like a good time to revisit Dewey. Great read.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
In social movement studies, we talk about how marches and protests expand the threshold of acceptable risk so that people take more and bigger social risks IN PUBLIC, EN MASSE. This is extremely important for the bourgeois white folks holding signs and building social rapport.
Not a shitpost: #NoKings is feel-good performative activism for comfortable mostly upper and upper middle class white folks and that’s good, actually. Millions of people in the streets protesting a fascist regime is good. It is good for the normie baseline to be massive displays of public dissent.
October 19, 2025 at 1:44 AM
In social movement studies, we talk about how marches and protests expand the threshold of acceptable risk so that people take more and bigger social risks IN PUBLIC, EN MASSE. This is extremely important for the bourgeois white folks holding signs and building social rapport.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Take note of all these people turning out for protests in small towns in red states.
Remember them the next time you’re inclined to write an area off because “they voted for this.”
Remember them the next time you’re inclined to write an area off because “they voted for this.”
October 18, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Take note of all these people turning out for protests in small towns in red states.
Remember them the next time you’re inclined to write an area off because “they voted for this.”
Remember them the next time you’re inclined to write an area off because “they voted for this.”