Speakers

  • Brian Vastag

    Position/Organization:

    Science Reporter, the Washington Post

    Brian Vastag is a science reporter at The Washington Post, where he covers general science, the environment, climate change, and space. Vastag covered the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown for the Post, penning six front-page stories during the height of the crisis and more than a dozen stories overall on the disaster and its political fallout.

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  • Mitch Waldrop

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    Features Editor, Nature

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  • Heidi A. Wayment, Ph.D.

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    Professor of psychology, Northern Arizona University

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  • Erica Westly

    Position/Organization:

    Freelance

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  • Paige Williams

    Position/Organization:

    Narrative Writing Instructor, Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University

    Paige Williams is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist and editor who specializes in narrative nonfiction and features. Her magazine stories have been published in anthologies including The Best American Magazine Writing and The Best American Crime Writing. In 2010 she launched a website with her story Finding Dolly Freed, as an experiment in independent journalism, a project covered by National Public Radio, the Columbia Journalism Review, Wired, Mother Jones and others. She was a 1996-97 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where she now teaches narrative writing.

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  • Garen Wintemute, M.D., M.P.H.

    Position/Organization:

    Director, Violence Prevention Research Program, University of California, Davis

    Garen Wintemute's interest in preventing gun violence grew out of his work as an emergency-room doctor. "Most people who die from gunshot wounds are pronounced dead at the scene; we never see them in the ED. If we want to decrease the number of people dying from gun violence, we need to prevent them from being shot."

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  • David Wolman

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    Contributing Editor, Wired; Freelance writer; Incurable generalist

    David Wolman is an author and freelance journalist. A contributing editor for Wired, his writing has been anthologized in the Best American Science Writing series, and he has written for a variety of publications, including Outside, Mother Jones, Newsweek, Discover, New Scientist, Salon, and High Country News. His new book, The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers--and the Coming Cashless Society, will be published in February. Twitter: @davidwolman

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  • J. Judson (Jut) Wynne, M.S.

    Position/Organization:

    Cave research scientist, Merriam Powell Center for Environmental Research, Northern Arizona University

    Jut Wynne grew up on an island in South Georgia, where he would catch and bring home snakes, frogs, turtles, baby raccoons and assorted wounded animals. Because cave exploration can be physically demanding, Wynne trains extensively to keep in shape. He has completed numerous mountain runs, including the 43-mile Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon in New Mexico, which starts at 4,500 feet and climbs to 11,501 feet.

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  • Ashley Yeager

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    Science Writer, Duke University

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  • Bora Zivkovic

    Position/Organization:

    Blog Editor, Scientific American

    Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at The Scientific American. Born in Belgrade, Serbia (then Yugoslavia) he majored in biochemistry and molecular biology in high school, trained horses and studied veterinary medicine at University of Belgrade. Upon arrival in the USA, Bora did research on circadian rhythms in Japanese quail at North Carolina State University. Together with Anton Zuiker, he organizes the popular annual ScienceOnline conferences in Triangle region of North Carolina.

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