Speakers

Speakers

  • Kainaz Amaria

    Supervising visual editor, NPR

    Before coming to NPR, Kainaz Amaria was a freelance photojournalist — her clients included the New York Times, Vogue India, Reuters, Bloomberg, etc. Prior to that role she was at the St. Petersburg Times, in Florida. Kainaz has a B.A. in international relations and political science from Boston University and an M.A. in photography from the School of Visual Communication, Ohio University. In 2010 she was a Fulbright Scholar based in Mumbai, India where she completed a short film on the Parsi Zoroastrian community, which you can see here.

  • Christie Aschwanden

    Freelance writer and founder, Creative Convergence Workshops

    Christie Aschwanden is a health columnist for the Washington Post, a regular contributor to the New York Times, and a 2013/2014 Carter Fellow. She’s a contributing editor for Runner’s World and her work appears in dozens of other publications including Slate, Smithsonian, Mother Jones, New Scientist, Consumer Reports, Grist, More, Discover, Men’s Journal, and O, the Oprah Magazine. She was the 2013 recipient of the NASW’s Science in Society Award for Commentary or Opinion and was a National Magazine Award finalist in 2011. She blogs about science at Last Word On Nothing and is the former managing editor of The Open Notebook. Find her on Twitter.

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  • Alán Aspuru-Guzik

    Professor of chemistry and chemical biology, Harvard University

    Alán Aspuru-Guzik works at the interface of quantum information and chemistry and harnesses large-scale computation for discovering molecules that will enable critical advances in technology. In particular, he is interested in the use of quantum computers and dedicated quantum simulators for chemical systems. He and his group recently developed a density functional theory for open quantum systems. He also leads the Clean Energy Project, a distributed computing effort for screening renewable energy materials. A graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Aspuru-Guzik launched his faculty career at Harvard in 2006 after earning his Ph.D. and conducting postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley. He has received a number of awards for research and teaching and in 2010 was selected as a Top Innovator Under 35 by MIT’s Technology Review. In 2012, he was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society and received the ACS Early Career Award in Theoretical Chemistry. Twitter

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  • Katie Baillie

    Science news officer, University of Pennsylvania

    As one of the University of Pennsylvania’s science news officers, Katherine (Katie) Baillie works with faculty, staff and students to share and promote their research, primarily in the life sciences. Prior to joining Penn, she worked as a writer and editor at The Wildlife Society, where she helped launch the organization’s member magazine, The Wildlife Professional. Katie has more than a decade of science writing experience, including stints at Science and NPR and freelance work for USAID, the American Society for Microbiology, New Scientist, Earth, and other outlets. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology at Haverford College before fleeing the laboratory for the newsroom and has a master’s degree in science writing from Johns Hopkins University. She’s currently enrolled in Penn’s Master of Environmental Studies program.

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  • John Beacom

    Professor of physics and astronomy; director, Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University

    John Beacom has been at Ohio State since 2004 and was named professor in 2010. The fundamental goal of his work is to help turn “neutrino astronomy” from an oxymoron into a observational science and to develop its theoretical consequences. His research spans neutrinos, supernovae, high-energy astrophysics and dark matter, and frequently connects theory to experiment and observation and physics to astronomy. His research, teaching and service has been recognized by a National Science Foundation CAREER award and Fellowship in the American Physical Society, two major teaching awards from OSU and an Outstanding Referee Award from the APS. He is currently Chair of the APS Division of Astrophysics.

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  • Steven Bedard

    Digital Editor, California Academy of Sciences

    Steven Bedard is Digital Editor at the California Academy of Sciences, where he oversees digital content strategy and development. A science writer, editor, and producer for more than 15 years, he has written and produced immersive multi-screen experiences, short- and long-form documentaries, interactive games and simulations, and has written hundreds of articles and essays on a wide variety of topics from astrophysics and archaeology to genetics, evolution, and public health.

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  • Martha Belury

    Carol S. Kennedy Professor of nutrition, The Ohio State University

    Martha Ann Belury earned her Ph.D. in biological sciences, specializing in carcinogenesis, from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research seeks to identify dietary components that prevent carcinogenesis. Compounds that she evaluates include dietary fatty acids and flavonoids, a diverse group of bioactives that affect energy metabolism and inflammation. Her research has resulted in more than 90 research articles and funding support from a variety of agencies (NIH, USDA, NASA), private organizations (American Cancer Society, American Institute for Cancer Research) and for-profit companies. Belury has served as a grant reviewer for the American Cancer Society, American Institute for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Agricultural Research Service and Department of Defense. She serves on the editorial boards of Lipids, the journal of the American Oil Chemists Society, and Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. She was recently honored as having published the 17th most cited paper in 70-year history of Nutrition Reviews and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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  • Melissa Lutz Blouin

    Director of news and publications, University of Florida Health

    Melissa Lutz Blouin is the director of news and publications for University of Florida Health, where she leads a team of people in a comprehensive program that includes science communications, media relations, publications, and crisis communications. Before joining UF Health in 2012, she was the senior director of academic communications for the University of Arkansas, where she founded the magazine University of Arkansas Research Frontiers. She has more than 20 years of science writing experience, much of it in a university setting. She also worked in newspapers and has written freelance articles for magazines, including Science. She has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Oberlin College, a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a master’s degree in French literature from the University of Arkansas.

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  • Jennifer Bogo

    Executive Editor, Popular Science

    Jennifer Bogo is the executive editor at Popular Science, where she orchestrates coverage on topics ranging from medical breakthroughs and space exploration to advances in alternative energy and robotics. Stories she edited have won a National Magazine Award and been included in The Best American Science Writing and The Best American Science and Nature Writing anthologies. Jennifer is currently a board member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, and her past editing jobs include Popular Mechanics, Audubon, and E/The Environmental Magazine. She has a degree in biology and environmental science, and she's traveled to research stations from the Arctic to the Antarctic to report stories herself.

  • Andy Boyles

    Science editor, Highlights

    Andy Boyles is science editor at Highlights magazine, a freelance writer, and a former acquiring editor in the Highlights trade-book division, Boyds Mills Press. He has been a science writer and editor for more than thirty years, working for newspapers, magazines, and university publications before he joined Highlights 20 years ago. At Highlights, he works to acquire articles that (1) help kids develop a deep, lasting connection with nature or (2) show that science is an ongoing, self-correcting process or (3) both. He has worked with countless aspiring nonfiction writers through Highlights Foundation workshops and organizes the Foundation’s annual Nature Writing and Science Writing workshops. Andy is a member of the National Association of Science Writers, the National Science Teachers Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He was elected a fellow of AAAS in 2012.

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  • Brad J. Bushman

    Professor of communication and psychology; Margaret Hall and Robert Randal Rinehart Chair of Mass Communication, The Ohio State University

    For about 30 years, Brad Bushman has studied the factors that cause human aggression, including violent media. He is a member of President Obama’s committee on gun violence, and has testified before the U.S. Congress on the topic of youth violence. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed journal articles. Google Scholar lists more than 25,000 citations for Bushman's articles, ranking him #2 among communication scholars cited. In 2014 he received the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Media Psychology and Technology from the American Psychological Association. His research has challenged several myths (violent media have a trivial effect on aggression, venting anger reduces aggression, violent people suffer from low self-esteem, violence and sex sell products, warning labels reduce audience size). One of his colleagues even calls him the "myth buster." His research has been published in top scientific journals including Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and has been featured extensively in mass media including the BBC, New York Times and NPR. Twitter

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  • Siri Carpenter

    Freelance science writer and editor

    Siri Carpenter is an award-winning freelance science writer and editor and co-founder of the non-profit The Open Notebook, a Web publication that provides tools and resources to help science journalists sharpen their craft. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

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