Speakers

Speakers

Type one or more letters

WK
NASW workshop
NH
CASW New Horizons in Science
LL
Lunch with a Luminary

  • LL
    Peter Fisher

    Professor of Physics and department head, Department of Physics, MIT

    Galaxies rotate faster than can be accounted for by the gravitational effects of their visible matter. This and other observations indicate that ordinary, visible matter comprises only about five percent of the total mass-energy of the universe; another 27 percent must be dark matter that neither emits nor absorbs light or other electromagnetic radiation. Prof. Fisher’s main work focuses on experimental detection of dark matter, using new detector designs. He is the co-developer of DarkLight, an experiment at Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory in Virginia designed to test whether dark matter consists of so-called “massive photons.” The experiment will use a narrow, high-power electron beam to generate the hypothetical particles, called A' (A prime), whose decay products would leave detectable signatures. Fisher has a side interest in wireless transmission of electric power; he was one of a group of six MIT researchers who cofounded wireless power startup WiTricity in 2007.

    Photo by Justin Knight.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Alexis Sobel Fitts

    Columnist, Columbia Journalism Review

    Alexis Sobel Fitts is a contributor to the Columbia Journalism Review, where she writes about digital innovation. Previously she ran The Observatory, CJR's blog providing insightful commentary and explanatory reporting on the science, medical, environmental, and technology press. Her freelance work has appeared in Mother Jones, Wired, Popular Mechanics, and Salon. In 2012 she was a Robert Woods Johnson Foundation fellow in science journalism at Columbia Journalism School.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Yael Fitzpatrick

    Manager of Design and Branding, American Geophysical Union

    Yael Fitzpatrick has spent nearly 20 years pursuing the visual communication of scientific content, focusing on the merging of compelling visuals, design, and text as a designer and art director for magazines, journals, books, multimedia, and other digital and traditional channels. She is the Manager of Design and Branding for the American Geophysical Union, and previously was Art Director for the Science family of journals. She had nothing to do with THAT cover. Twitter: @GazelleInDminor

    Speaking:

    Organizing:

    Moderating:

  • WK
    Douglas Fox

    Freelance writer

    Douglas Fox is a freelance writer based in northern California. He has written for Discover, Scientific American, Slate, Esquire, Science News for Students, The Christian Science Monitor, High Country News, Nature, and National Geographic. His stories have garnered awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009), American Society of Journalists and Authors (2011), National Association of Science Writers (2013), and the American Geophysical Union (2015).

    Organizing:

    Moderating:

  • LL
    Johannes Fruehauf

    Co-founder and president, LabCentral

    As the president and executive director of LabCentral, a shared laboratory space for biotech and life-sciences startups, Fruehauf is responsible for all aspects of LabCentral’s operation. A physician and successful biotech entrepreneur, Fruehauf founded Cambridge Biolabs, a contract research facility serving startup and virtual companies in Kendall Square. He is also a co-founder of ViThera Pharmaceuticals, Deltix and Cequent Pharmaceuticals, and an advisor or board member to numerous life sciences companies and non-profits. Fruehauf earned his medical degree at the University of Frankfurt and his Ph.D. at the University of Heidelberg.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Cary Funk

    Associate director of research on science and society, Pew Research Center

    Cary Funk is associate director of research on science and society at the Pew Research Center. She is a co-author of Public and Scientists’ Views on Science and Society and How Scientists Engage the Public. She is a survey researcher with broad expertise in political and social attitudes, including politics and elections, race and ethnicity, and religion and U.S. politics. She has been specializing in public understanding of science topics since 2001. Prior to joining Pew Research, she directed the VCU Life Sciences Surveys, national surveys on science and biotechnology. She has served as an outside consultant and advisor for numerous projects about the science and engineering workforce and public opinion on science. She is currently on the editorial board of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society. Funk began her career at CBS News in New York, where she worked on pre-election surveys and exit polls; in more recent years, she served as an election night analyst for NBC News. She was on the political science faculty at Rice University and at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) before joining the Pew Research Center. While an associate professor at VCU, she directed statewide polls on politics and public policy issues and on K-12 education, in addition to the VCU Life Sciences Surveys. She earned a doctorate and a master’s in social psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Funk has published numerous academic articles and book chapters in the fields of political science, public opinion and political behavior and is a co-author of The Rise of Asian Americans, Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths, "Nones" on the Rise and The Shifting Religious Identity of Latinos in the United States.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Katharine Gammon

    Freelance science writer

    Katharine Gammon is a freelance science writer based in Santa Monica, Calif. Her work has appeared in Nature, Wired, Discover, and others, and she writes the KinderLab blog on PopSci.com.

    Organizing:

  • LL
    Neil Gershenfeld

    Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, Program in Media Arts and Sciences; director, Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Named one of 40 “Modern Day Leonardos” by Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, Gershenfeld is an expert in quantum computation, microfluidic bubble logic, physical cryptographic functions, analogic logic integrated circuits, and additive assembly of functional digital materials. He directs MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, where researchers work at the boundary between physical science and computer science.

    Ideas developed at the center have formed the basis of at least 10 startups, including Formlabs, Lyric Semiconductor, Makani Power, ThingMagic, and Kovio. Gershenfeld’s “Fab Lab” idea popularized mass customization and paved the way for the current explosion in low-cost 3D printing and other forms of digital fabrication—an idea that is now evolving toward the concept of “programmable matter,” custom-manufactured objects that can change their shape in response to information from the environment.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Virginia Gewin

    Freelance science journalist and co-founder, Bracing for Impact

    Virginia Gewin covers environmental issues — from food security to acidifying oceans to endangered species — from her perch in Portland, Ore. Following an American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media fellowship at The Oregonian and an internship at Nature magazine, she has worked as a freelance journalist for over a decade. Her work has appeared in Nature, Science, Discover, Popular Science, Slate and others. Last year, she played a founding role in Bracing for Impact, a climate change reporting project published by a team of six for Beacon Reader.

    Speaking:

    Organizing:

  • LL
    Lorna Gibson

    Matoula S. Salapatas Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Prof. Lorna Gibson, head of MIT’s Cellular Solids Group, studies the mechanics of materials with a cellular structure such as engineering honeycombs and foams, natural materials such as wood, palm and bamboo and medical materials such as trabecular bone and tissue engineering scaffolds. Recent projects include balsa as a model for bioinspired design of engineering materials; structural bamboo products, analogous to wood products such as oriented strandboard; and aerogels for thermal insulation.

    Prof. Gibson graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto and obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. She was an assistant professor in civil engineering at the University of British Columbia for two years before moving to MIT. She is the co-author of Cellular Solids: Structure and Properties (with M.F. Ashby) and of Cellular Materials in Nature and Medicine (with M.F. Ashby and B.A. Harley). She teaches two subjects: Mechanical Behavior of Materials (also offered online through MITx as 3.032x) and Cellular Solids: Structure, Properties and Applications). She was recently named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT's top award for undergraduate teaching. She has served as chair of the faculty and Associate Provost at MIT.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Chrissie Giles

    Commissioning editor, Mosaic

    Chrissie Giles studied biochemistry at the University of Leeds in England. Concluding that clumsiness and practical science do not mix, she completed a master’s in science communication in 2003 and has been working as a writer and editor in London ever since. Her editorial career began in a medical communications agency and, via a brief stint in the heady world of motor caravan journalism, she now writes and edits stories on biology and medicine for the Wellcome Trust. She is a commissioning editor at Mosaic, the trust's longform publication.

    Pitch Guidelines

    Subject matter
    A Mosaic story needs to be on a topic or issue that will resonate with a general readership. A scientific or research angle is important too. Our remit is fairly broad, spanning any aspect of biology, medicine, public health, history or ethics that in some way touches on human health, or the human condition more widely.

    Narrative
    The most important thing for Mosaic is the story. We’re not after reviews, profiles or essays. What we want is a strong compelling narrative that will engage our readers over 3000+ words. We have many ‘topic, no story’ pitches, and we won’t commission until we have some idea of what the potential narrative might be. What’s the transformation at the heart of your piece? Where do we start, and where might it end? What’s the journey we want to take the reader on? Can you sell me the story in a single sentence?

    Reporting
    Reporting is very important: we’re not interested in a piece that could be written without you leaving your desk. We cover expenses for any travel that is essential to the piece, so tell me how you plan to report the story. Where would you go? Who would you see? What scenes would you be painting in your piece?

    What’s new?
    ‘Why now?’ is another question we ask when considering pitches. We’re not looking for news or investigative journalism, but there has to be a sense of why our readers would want to read about this topic at this moment in time. Of the pieces we’ve commissioned so far, many draw on new discoveries or new approaches that are transforming a particular field and then explore and explain the science and social/cultural context around it. Others are on timeless topics that have always fascinated, such as ageing or consciousness. But they are all new in some way. So, what’s been published on this topic before? How is your angle different and what makes your story unique?

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Jason G. Goldman

    Freelance science writer

    Dr. Jason G. Goldman is a science writer based in Los Angeles. He writes about human and animal behavior, wildlife biology, ecology, and conservation for Scientific American, BBC, Earth Touch, Environmental Media Lab, Los Angeles magazine, and elsewhere. He was editor of The Open Laboratory 2010: The Best of Science Writing on the Web and is co-editor of The Complete Guide to Science Blogging. He hosts a podcast called The Wild Life, and is completely obsessed with raccoons. Follow Jason on Twitter and Instagram: @jgold85.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Cynthia Graber

    Co-host/co-founder, Gastropod

    Cynthia Graber is the co-host/co-founder of Gastropod, a podcast about the science and history of food. She's an award-winning radio producer and print reporter who’s covered science, technology, food, agriculture, and any other stories that catch her fancy for more than 15 years. Her work has been featured in magazines and radio shows including Wired, Fast Company, BBC Future, Slate, The Boston Globe, Studio 360, PRI’s The World, and many others, and she’s a regular contributor to the podcast Scientific American's 60-Second Science. She was a 2012-2013 Knight Fellow at MIT, and her radio and print awards include those from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the international Institute of Physics. Gastropod was launched in September 2014 and already has won two major awards.

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Lisa Grossman

    Physical sciences news editor, New Scientist

    Lisa Grossman is the physical sciences news editor of New Scientist. Her work has appeared in New Scientist, Wired.com, and Science News, among other publications. She received the 2015 IOP-STFC Physics Journalism Prize for her story about the hunt for natural quasicrystals. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

    Pitch Guidelines

    Our general news pitch guidelines emphasise that New Scientist is first and foremost a leisure read - it is informative, authoritative and entertaining. Our readers love science and love being surprised. The most important thing is that the story be new - we have a fresh magazine out every week, so everything we cover has to be a specific advance that actually moves science forward, not something that's been chugging along for a while. News hooks must be sharp. That feature you've been polishing for months is probably fantastic, but I'm not the right person to pitch it to. That said, a weekly magazine is a hungry beast, so there are lots of opportunities to pitch again if your first shot bounces off the rim.
    I'm the physics and astronomy news editor, so I'm looking for space and physics pitches particularly. But don't let that stop you if you have a story in another beat - I can pass along good ideas to the relevant editor or give you their contact info.

    These are some of the questions I ask myself before commissioning a story. If you can answer yes to half of these, you’re onto something.

    • Is it new? Is it unique or superlative in some way (first, biggest, oldest)? Is there a good reason to write about it now?
    • Is the top line (not the headline, the main thrust of the story) instantly grabby and a must-read?
    • Would normal people (non-physicists, non-scientists) find it fascinating if you told them about it in the pub? Does it make you go “wow, neat”?
    • Does it answer a Big Question about the universe (where did we/the solar system/the universe come from? Where are we/the solar system/the universe going? How did it all get to be the way it is? Are we alone?)
    • Will it be useful in the real world? When/how much?
    • Is there a real world news event it ties in to?
    • Is it happening right now somewhere in the world? If so, can we go see it?
    • Does it challenge previously held beliefs?

    Speaking:

  • WK
    Fred Guterl

    Executive editor, Scientific American

    Fred Guterl is executive editor of Scientific American and author of The Fate of the Species: Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and How We Can Stop It (Bloomsbury 2012). He has won numerous awards for writing and editing from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Overseas Press Club, the American Society of Magazine Editors and other organizations. He led Scientific American to its first-ever award for National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2011. Guterl was formerly deputy editor at Newsweek International. He makes frequent speaking appearances and has appeared on Charlie Rose, the Today Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and others venues. Guterl holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester and has taught science writing at Princeton.

    Pitch Guidelines

    Please send pitches that are no longer than four paragraphs. Ideally, pitches make a point, include a draft nut paragraph in the 1st or 2nd sentence, expand on the idea for a few paragraphs, and reveal what the story will state, rather than providing background.

    The pitch also should briefly answer these questions: Why would SciAm's audience want to know about this topic? Why should we run this story now rather than five years ago or five months from now, for instance? And what are the broader implications of these findings, or how can this topic/finding help our readers understand themselves or their world?

    Stories that Scientific American readers like to read typically fall into one of more of these categories: enterprised, contextualizing, big-picture, myth-busting, explainers, coverage of precedent-setting findings, coverage of new trends in science, or unexpected angles on journal article news that our competitors won't have. We also seek coverage of emerging or cutting-edge areas of science and discoveries that might be under the radar and haven't been covered by mainstream science news outlets. We typically do not assign profiles, Q&As, or reviews online (if you have a profile or Q&A idea, please send that only to Amber Williams at awilliams@sciam.com). We assign 700-word stories for online and 200- to 300-word stories for the front of the magazine. Our staff and competition already closely monitor the better known journals (Cell, JAMA, NEJM, Nature, Science, PLoS, PNAS), so assignments for stories based on papers in these journals are harder to land with us.

    Scientific American's topic areas are energy/sustainability (including environment, energy technology, climate science, earth science, volcanoes, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes), evolution (including archaeology, paleontology, evolutionary biology, evolution education), health and medicine (including biotech, biomedicine, ethics, infectious diseases, medical technology), basic biology, chemistry, math, physics, science education, automative technology, communications technology, military technology, consumer-electronics, computing technology, cognitive science, neuroscience, thought and cognition, and space science (including astrophysics, ET life and cosmology).

    Please send pitches in a single email addressed both to Amber Williams (awilliams@sciam.com), editor of the magazine's "Advances" section (front of the book), and to Robin Lloyd (rlloyd@sciam.com). We look forward to hearing from you.

    Speaking:

Pages

Brought to you by