Allie Arp has always enjoyed writing and public speaking, so it comes as no surprise that she now finds herself working in communications. But young Allie would have never expected to be a scientific communicator.

“If you would have told me that I would know this much about photosynthesis and be enmeshed on a scientific adjacent team all day, I wouldn’t have believed you. I avoided science in high school and college as much as possible. I assumed that because I wasn’t good at math, that I was not good at science either,” Arp said.

But as the Communications Manager for the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency Project, an international research project that aims to engineer more productive crops by improving photosynthesis, Arp has fallen in love with the process of translating the complex language of science. She realized that what she once considered a weakness proves to be a strength.

“I tell scientists that if you can explain the science to me, then I can explain it to someone else. There’s a saying that if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. At RIPE, I often feel like the dumbest person in the room, which is amazing,” Arp said.

“The best part of my job is talking to the researchers who are all passionate about their work, and there are always so many questions I want to ask.”

Beyond writing research stories, Arp plays a central role at RIPE through running its social media accounts, updating the website, planning events, managing the internship mentorship program, and helping with the early career research ambassador program. Though her numerous responsibilities keep her busy, Arp is driven by her connection to RIPE’s mission to equip farmers with higher-yielding crops and improve global food access and security.

Born and raised in Iowa, Arp grew up surrounded by agriculture. “Both my parents were teachers, but my grandparents owned a farm and lived right down the road. My other grandparents worked on a dairy farm when my dad was growing up, and I also participated 4H’s agricultural programs.”

This led Arp to pursue agricultural communications after earning her bachelor’s degree in public relations and professional writing from the University of Northern Iowa in 2013. Being an avid sports fan, she was initially torn between going into agriculture or sports and even applied to a communications job with the Green Bay Packers—one of the teams she passionately follows. But ultimately, Arp decided to keep her career separate from her main hobby.

Despite her past aversions to science, professional writing assignments Arp completed during her undergraduate classes inspired her to go into technical writing. While her classmates thought projects like editing a psychology journal or reorganizing a forklift manual were boring, Arp enjoyed them and recognized the need for technical communicators. Her first two jobs after college focused on translating soybean research to farmers.

“We would take the research being done and communicate it with farmers so they could make changes to their farms to save money or help improve yields. I think having this direct application to science really helped me get started.”

Alongside working full-time, Arp continued to expand her knowledge and skills by obtaining a master’s degree in journalism and agricultural education at Iowa State University. She then moved to Illinois in 2018 to become the Coordinator of Communications for the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While it was a good experience to learn and write about engineering, computer science, and cybersecurity, Arp was happy to return home to agriculture when she took the position at RIPE three and half years ago.

Now with over a decade of communications experience, Arp also prioritizes helping others improve their communications skills—both scientists and non-scientists alike. In collaboration with Laurie Leonelli (PFS), a professor of agricultural and biological engineering, Arp will be running her third workshop on research elevator pitches at the American Society of Plant Biologists annual meeting this summer. “Everyone needs these skills. Especially now, people want to hear directly from scientists,” she said.

Arp also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Hawkeye Community College where she teaches an asynchronous public speaking course. Whether her students are still in high school, pursuing a college degree, or preparing to work on their family farm, Arp hopes that she can provide tangible skills and help them believe that public speaking isn’t scary.

Reflecting on her journey and her current role, Arp said, “There's so much going on in science, and I try to read all that I can because it's just absolutely incredible. I just want to give more people access to science and don’t want anyone to think they can’t do and love science because they are not good at math.”