From early on, Sharon Shattuck (BS ’05) took an interest in both science and storytelling. Her interest in science led her to focus on forest ecology as an undergraduate student, but as her knowledge of plants and ecology grew, Shattuck discovered that she was innately weaving her love of telling stories into the process of studying organisms and ecosystems. This early realization is what set her on a path to fulfilling both interests by becoming a filmmaker with a passion for telling stories about science. 

“I love being able to go into an ecosystem and know what I’m looking at—details like the pH of the soil, the diversity of plant life, just seeing the system as a whole and telling a complete story about the ecosystem,” says Shattuck. After earning a BS from the Program in the Environment at the University of Michigan (U-M), Shattuck volunteered on Barro Colorado Island in Panama as a field research assistant on a forest regeneration study and then took a position working in the herbarium in the botany department at the Field Museum in Chicago. She enjoyed the work and was on track to pursue a PhD in botany but decided instead to change course and study documentary journalism. 

To achieve this, Shattuck attended New York University (NYU), where she acquired the experience and skills needed to start producing films. Her thesis, which she completed in 2009, was a short film exploring the world of ‘beneficial parasites’ and the people who use them to treat autoimmune diseases. At the time that Shattuck was working on this film, she returned to the U-M Biological Station to be a teaching assistant, something she had done for several summers, so much of it was filmed on the property. The film, which was nominated for a Student Academy Award, launched her into a career in filmmaking.

Soon after graduating from NYU, Shattuck met and began working with filmmaker Ian Cheney. They became close collaborators, making six films together starting with “The City Dark,” which was released in 2011. Some have been science-based, and some have not. By 2017, they had begun filming for “Picture a Scientist,” the story of women scientists fighting gender bias and harassment. The film was slated to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in the spring of 2020 but due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was canceled. Still, the film has received widespread recognition and distribution with a broadcast on PBS and streaming on Netflix. In 2022, the film was nominated for an Emmy. 

In addition to featuring women scientists in academia and chronicling the harassment and discrimination they have faced, the film pushes further by offering new perspectives on how to make the STEM fields more diverse, equitable, inclusive and open to all. “Gender discrimination is a pervasive problem, especially in science. I think our film does a good job of showing people that they aren’t alone when they experience this. I also think the film shows the importance of finding a community and a support system, whether you decide to come forward or not,” says Shattuck.

According to Shattuck, the release of the film has resulted in some unexpected, surprising and encouraging outcomes. “It just took off in the scientific community and became a huge thing. For a while, it seemed like everybody was talking about it, and we’ve had some amazing outcomes. For instance, there’s a prominent research lab that’s using the film to train all their new hires, and we just heard about a case of someone at an institute coming forward about gender discrimination that was inspired by our film.”

Shattuck continues to work as a film director and also produces podcasts. Her work has appeared on the National Geographic Channel, Slate, Vice, The New York Times, Gimlet, The Atlantic, ProPublica and Radiolab. Currently, she is working on developing a film about a mysterious bioluminescent ocean phenomenon related to microbes. In it, she follows a scientist who is on a quest to figure out this mystery. 

Having spent her formative years in Michigan and at U-M, Shattuck says these early experiences come through in everything she does. “I’m a midwesterner at heart, and I think it shows in my work,” says Shattuck. “I loved my time at U-M. My friends and I basically lived in the Dana Building. It was such a special place, and so is Ann Arbor in general. During that time I was able to develop both my artistic and scientific sides, and I carry a lot of creativity and inspiration from there in my work today.”

“Picture a Scientist” was screened in the Dana Building on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Shattuck was in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. View more details here.