Faced with federal funding cuts, scientists are learning to communicate about what they do — and why it matters.

Scientists searching for a cure for cancer have no trouble finding public support. But for those studying potato disease, it’s a tougher sell.

The Trump administration seems to have banked on the idea that the public will see much of scientific research as wasteful or arcane. It has slashed — or proposed slashing — billions in research funding.

Faced with this existential crisis, academics are seeking new ways to rally public and political support to fight the cuts and preserve their funding.

Enter a group of Cornell University graduate students with an ambitious plan to change the way people think about science. They have recruited more than 500 researchers across all 50 states to write op-eds for local news outlets, to be published over the next week. The idea, said Emma Scales, a Cornell doctoral student involved in the effort, is to have scientists introduce themselves to the public.