Randy Olson

Early life

Olson was born in Heidelberg, Germany, the son of Colonel John Eric Olson, West Point graduate (class of 1939). He moved with his family to Hawaii in 1960 (age 4) where they lived until 1964 as his father was stationed at Schofield Barracks and served as a military advisor in the growing Vietnam War. Olson credits his time near the ocean in these years with his eventual career as a marine biologist. They subsequently moved to Virginia, then Kansas City, Kansas where he attended high school and began college at the University of Kansas.

Science career

After dropping out of the University of Kansas for a semester and ending up working on an oceanographic project in Puerto Rico, Olson returned to college, and transferred to University of Washington. There he got involved in marine biological research along the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, spent a semester at Friday Harbor Marine Laboratory, and graduated with a B.A. in Zoology.

He was accepted to Harvard University's Ph.D. program in biology. His dissertation research took him to Australia in the early 1980s studying coral reef ecology on the Great Barrier Reef. While conducting his research he spent an entire year living on Lizard Island on the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. He earned his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Harvard in 1984.

He returned to Townsville, Australia as a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, working for the Australian government studying the problem of the crown-of-thorns starfish and its destructive effect on the Great Barrier Reef. In 1985 he visited the U.S. research station in Antarctica at McMurdo Sound for his research on starfish reproduction which involved numerous scuba dives beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.

In 1988 Olson was appointed a professor in the Zoology Department at the University of New Hampshire. His research on the dispersal of larvae of marine organisms on coral reefs has been described as "some of the best work in that field". During his time at UNH Olson also produced several short films on marine life, such as Barnacles Tell No Lies, Lobstahs, and Salt of the Earth. Salt of the Earth was shown on a local PBS station. After being awarded tenure in 1994, Olson took a leave of absence to attend film school, eventually resigning his scientific position.

USC Cinema School

Olson went through the graduate film production program at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, earning his M.F.A. in 1997. For his student film he wrote and directed the twenty-minute musical comedy short film, You Ruined My Career, starring Carol Hatchett, one of Bette Midler's Harlettes. The film premiered at the 1996 Telluride Film Festival in the "Filmmakers of Tomorrow" showcase, won numerous awards, and was selected by Atomfilms as one of "The 100 Most Important Student Films in the History of the U.S.C. Cinema School."

Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project

Olson teamed up with senior coral reef ecologist Jeremy B. C. Jackson of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to create a 7 minute short film Rediagnosing the Oceans. Then, in 2001, Olson collaborated with Jeremy Jackson, Steven Miller of University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and veteran Hollywood big budget movie producer Gale Anne Hurd to create the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project. Initial funding came from the three founding partners: The Ocean Conservancy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Surfrider Foundation. The term "shifting baselines" was coined by fisheries biologist Daniel Pauly in 1995. Olson broadened the definition with a widely cited OpEd in the Los Angeles Times in November, 2002.

Sine then the project has produced a series of short films, television commercials, Flash videos and contests (stand up comedy, photography, video) all written and directed by Olson. The most successful piece of media produced was the Ocean Symphony Public Service Announcement (PSA) which featured a symphony of comic actors playing instruments they didn't know how to play, symbolizing the disharmony in today's unhealthy oceans. This included Tom Arnold on kettle drums, Madeleine Stowe and Paul Michael Glaser on violin, Henry Winkler on harp, Sharon Lawrence on cymbals, and Jack Black as conductor.

Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus

In 2006, Olson directed the feature documentary, Flock of Dodos: the Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus. The film drew on both his evolutionary biology background and his Kansas upbringing as he visited the controversy raging over evolution in his home state. It even includes his mother, Muffy. Flock of Dodos premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, in April 2006, and since then has played at film festivals in the U.S. and abroad. The film aired on Showtime TV in the US. Olson also used Flock of Dodos as a contribution to the skeptical activism essay "What Do I Do Next: Leading Skeptics Discuss 105 Practical Ways to Promote Science and Advance Skepticism" published by Skepticality.

Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy

In 2008 Olson wrote and directed the mockumentary feature film, Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy, which premiered on the west coast of the U.S. at the Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and on the east coast at the Woods Hole Film Festival.

40 Years of Silence

In 2014 this film showing the POW experience of Olson's father, Colonel John Eric Olson, was presented and discussed at West Point USMA.

Books

Randy Olson is the author of several books, most of which address the ways in which scientists can better communicate their work to others. In Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style (2009) Olson discusses his change from scientist to filmmaker. He encourages researchers to focus on style of presentation as well as the accuracy of their work, and suggests tips from filmmaking that may help to engage with an audience. Connection : Hollywood storytelling meets critical thinking (2013) features the "And, But, Therefore" template that Olson has presented in a TEDMED talk and a letter in Science Magazine. In Houston, We Have A Narrative: Why Science Needs Story Olson focuses on the importance of narratives as fundamental human communication structures. Olson describes narratives as containing three essential components “And, But, Therefore,” or ABT. “And” established basic facts, “But” marks a turning point, a change, and “Therefore” takes the listener to an ending, built upon the “And” and the “But.” Another way to think about ABT structure is to say that "And" describes the setting, "But" identifies the problem, and “Therefore” creates a resolution.

Bibliography

He has also written the following blogs:

Criticism

Olson has been criticized for potentially "dumbing down" serious science issues. His response is that his critics fail to grasp the difference between "dumbing down" and concision. Two major reviews for "Sizzle" exemplified the divide. The science journal Nature gave the film a poor review titled, "Climate Comedy Falls Flat." In contrast, the Hollywood entertainment magazine Variety gave it a favorable review stating that the movie is, "An exceedingly clever vehicle for making science engaging to a general audience."

Some reviewers have expressed discomfort with the vision of scientists as the "salesmen" of facts. Even if using Olson's methods will enable them to more effectively present their ideas, "the main virtue of his method is that it forces scientists to figure out exactly what they’re trying to sell."