Science Seminars for Journalists

Lloyd Alter is a Toronto-based writer for Treehugger and Planet Green. He has a particular interest in sustainable issues and writes predominantly about design, science, and food topics. He has written for Huffington Post, Ontario Nature Magazine and Azure magazine and he teaches sustainable design at Ryerson University School of Interior Design and is president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. Alter has been an architect, developer, inventor, and builder of prefab housing. He has been the vice president and councillor of the Ontario Association of Architects and President of the Toronto Society of Architects. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor's degree in architecture.

Judy Benson is an award-winning health-science-environment reporter for The Day in New London, Connecticut. Her writing focuses on statewide public health, hospital, and environmental issues as well as local research by environmental scientists. In 2008 and 2009, she received first place for environmental reporting from the New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA). In 2006, she was named Journalist of the Year by NENPA. Benson graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor's degree in journalism. She plans to return to UConn this fall to further her education in natural resources and the environment.

Christopher Burrell is a freelance journalist who has worked with news outlets throughout New England, including WBUR in Boston, New Hampshire Public Radio, WGBH Boston, and the Vineyard Gazette. His features cover a variety of topics including health, immigration, social issues, and the environment. In 2003, the New England Press Association recognized him as Journalist of The Year for overall exemplary reporting. Prior to his career as a journalist, Burrell worked for six years as an elementary school teacher at Martha's Vineyard. He holds a B.A. in history from Connecticut college and an M.A. in education from Goddard College.

Becky Evans is a freelance journalist in the Boston area with expertise in fisheries, immigration and the environment. She has recently started ThreeBeats, an online blog that covers these topics and features her original writing and photography. Evans is currently working on a book about the effects of the Bouchard 120 oil spill in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Previously, she was a staff writer for The Standard-Times of New Bedford, Mass, and her work has been published by Cox News Service (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dayton Daily News, Austin American-Statesman), National Fisherman Magazine, Boston Magazine, Inc. Magazine and Harvard Business School. In 2005, she received a Metcalf Institute fellowship to attend the Seventh Annual Workshop for Journalists in Narragansett, Rhode Island. She graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor's degree in economics and English, and received an M.A. in print journalism from Boston University in 2003.

Scott Fallon is a senior writer and environmental reporter for The Record in New Jersey. Fallon's writing covers a host of topics such as site remediation, clean air and water, land use and renewable energy. Prior to becoming an environmental writer in 2008, he had covered New Jersey politics and urban affairs. In 2004, he was awarded a fellowship by Syracuse University to teach journalism classes at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication. This year, the New Jersey Press Association awarded Fallon a prize for environmental portfolio. He earned a Bachelor's degree in journalism from New York University.

David Fisher is a staff writer for ecoRI.org, covering environmental news and events in and around Rhode Island. He is a relative newcomer to online journalism, starting as a blogger, with an extensive background in the restaurant business. Fisher also works as a sous-chef for Green Gal Events and Catering in Westport, Mass., where he emphasizes locally sourced organic ingredients. In the past, he has worked for award winning restaurants in Providence, such as CAV and Olga's Cup and Saucer.

Sara Goodman is reporter for Environment & Energy Publishing in Washington, D.C., where she covers chemicals, nanotechnology and environment-related science for two of the company's publications. As a Washington reporter, Goodman's work focuses on government hearings and legislation related to her issues. Prior to her current position, Goodman interned at the Institute for War and Peace, reporting in the Netherlands. There she covered trials at the International Criminal Tribunal and traveled to Macedonia for on-the-ground-reporting about war crimes. Her articles have been picked up by The New York Times website and the Economist. She holds a Bachelor's degree in anthropology and French from Notre Dame and a Master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

Cheryl Hogue joined Washington-based Chemical & Engineering News in 1999 where she now works as a senior correspondent writing about EPA regulations, international climate change initiatives, and federal environmental policy. She has served on the Society of Environmental Journalists' board of directors since 2004. Hogue has a science background that includes a Master's degree in environmental sciences from Johns Hopkins University, an undergraduate degree in biology from The College of William and Mary, and a science writing fellowship from the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.

Brandon Keim is a freelance journalist specializing in science, technology and culture. Since March 2007, he has written for Wired.com's award-winning Wired Science. His work has also appeared in Adbusters, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, ABC News, Seed, Psychology Today and Nature Medicine. He has made broadcast appearances on NPR's Science Friday and Here & Now, BBC's World Have Your Say, CBC's As It Happens, Animal Planet and G4's Attack of the Show, and he writes for his blog, earthlab.net. Keim graduated from Tufts with a B.A. in American studies and received an M.S. and an M.A., both in journalism, from Columbia University.

Elaine Marie Lembo is deputy editor for Cruising World Magazine in Middletown, Rhode Island. She is an avid sailor and writes primarily about boating and the recreational marine industry. In the past, Lembo has served as editor, reporter, columnist, writer, and blogger for magazines and newspapers throughout New England. In 2000, she received an award from Boating Writers International for her coverage of a U.S. military rescue of the family aboard a cruising sailboat off the coast of Nicaragua. She has also worked in the boat chartering and delivery business. Lembo earned her B.A. in liberal arts from The Pennsylvania State University.

Peter Lord joined The Providence Journal in 1979 and began covering environmental issues such as water pollution, hazardous waste, suburban sprawl and declining biodiversity two years later. He has traveled to northern Alaska to write about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to the Shetland Islands to cover an oil spill, and to Belize, Guatemala and Costa Rica to write about development pressures on forests there. In 2002, he took part in a two-week tour of Brazil, lecturing to students and journalists on how good environmental journalism can prompt good government actions. Lord teaches journalism at the University of Rhode Island and serves as journalism co-director of the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting. He recently completed a term on the board of directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Lord earned a Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, in 1973 and a Master's degree in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island in 2007.

Joan Melcher is a freelance writer living in Missoula, Montana, and a regular contributor to the Miller-McCune online magazine. Her work also has appeared recently in Via magazine, Montana magazine and the Miller-McCune print magazine. Previously, she was editor of The Montanan (University of Montana), communications director for the Community Environment Council in Santa Barbara, California, and freelance writer and magazine and book editor (The Energy Review; T.H.E. Journal; Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet; Blue Planet; Our Natural History: Lessons of Lewis and Clark). She began her career as a reporter for The Spokesman Review in Spokane, Washington. Melcher received a B.A. in journalism from the University of Montana.

Brentin Mock is a New Orleans-based reporter who contributes regularly to TheRoot.com, GOOD, TheGrio.com, The American Prospect, and is a staff reporter for the investigative journalism non-profit, The Lens. Just prior to his current work, he was a Metcalf Institute Environmental Reporting Fellow covering environmental policy for The American Prospect. Previously, he was staff writer for the Intelligence Report magazine published by Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and for the Pittsburgh City Paper newsweekly from 2002 to 2006. He received the National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Investigative Reporting Award for magazines in 2008 and was a finalist for the same award in 2007. He and the Intelligence Report staff were awarded the 2007 UTNE In-Depth/Investigative Reporting Award from the UTNE Independent Press for their coverage of race, immigration and hate organizations. Mock received a B.A. in English and African studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 2002.

Kendall Moore is an associate professor of journalism and film media at the University of Rhode Island. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with a background in medical and environmental reporting. As a journalist and field producer, she has created content for ABC News/Discovery Health, PBS and Reuters. She is the director of several films, including: Charm City; Song in the Crisis; The Good Radical; and Sovereign Nation/Sovereign Neighbor. She is the recipient of several prestigious grants and awards including: two Fulbright Scholar awards, Tanzania (2001) and Jamaica (Specialist, 2004); The Rhode Island State Council for the Arts Fellowship for Film (2007); and a Poynter Institute Teaching Fellowship (2004). Her work has been featured in festivals and on PBS. Her current writings center on post-colonial film theory; she is currently in production on Sick Building which looks at PCBs as an endocrine system disruptor. She is also the director of the Women's Documentary Collective and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and the New School for Social Research.

Nancy Nichols is a journalist, editor, and broadcaster who covers business and environmental issues. She is the author of Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town's Toxic Legacy. Her work has appeared in The Harvard Business Review, The New York Times Book Review, The Nation, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Chicago Tribune. She has written commentaries for National Public Radio's "Marketplace" and produced a documentary about the economic issues facing Philadelphia that was nominated for an Emmy Award. Nichols is a graduate of New York University.

Meaghan O'Neill began her career in magazine journalism in New York City in 2000. While working for Interior Design, she became inspired by the tremendous boom that was happening in eco-design and sustainable architecture, which led her to help launch TreeHugger. In addition to helping launch TreeHugger.com in 2004, O'Neill has contributed to publications as diverse as Men's Journal, Teen Vogue and Slate.com. She is also co-author of the book Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks to Modern Eco-Living. In 2007 O'Neill was nominated for an American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Award for "Slate Green Challenge." She received her B.A. in English from Boston College.

Zulima Palacio is a veteran journalist based in Washington, D.C., with more than thirty years of experience as a writer, correspondent, producer and video journalist. For the last 23 years she has worked with Voice of America in Washington as a television producer and video journalist. She films, writes, edits and produces all her stories. She has covered many subjects around the world but for the last decade she has focused on health, marine life and environmental issues. Palacio is a divemaster and underwater videographer. She has received numerous awards from Voice of America for original scripts, excellence in programming, and contributions to the video unit. She received her Bachelor's degree in journalism from Javeriana University in Colombia and her Master's in television production from Louisiana State University.

Elissa Yancey Sonnenberg is a freelance editor and assistant professor of journalism at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. She teaches environmental journalism and health-focused journalism seminars, and has been developing tools to train journalists to report on environmental health issues. A former editor at Cincinnati Magazine, Sonnenberg's work has been published in regional and national outlets including Family Circle, Mothering, Environmental News Network, and MSNBC.com. She serves as advisor to the UC Association of Black Journalists and UC Society of Professional Journalists, among others, and has presented at numerous conferences, workshops and seminars on journalism education. Sonnenberg received her B.A. in English literature and journalism from the University of Cincinnati and her MS.Ed. in education and social policy from Northwestern University.

Lori Valigra is a freelance writer and editor based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her work focuses on the environment, science, technology, and business for local, national, and international audiences. Her stories have been published by The Christian Science Monitor, GlobalPost, The Boston Globe, The Gulf of Maine Times, Science Magazine, National Geographic News, BusinessWeek, Technology Review, and others. In 1992, Valigra was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT where she studied Japan-U.S. relations, biotech, the environment and tech transfer. From 1987 to 1992, she worked as Tokyo bureau chief for IDG News Service, covering the electronics and computer industries in Asia. In 2006, she was awarded a Metcalf Institute fellowship to attend the Eighth Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists. Valigra received a self-designed undergraduate degree in medical writing from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master's Degree in science journalism from Boston University.

Christine Woodside is a writer and editor from Deep River, Connecticut, and author of Energy Independence: Your Everyday Guide to Reducing Fuel Consumption (Lyons Press, 2009). This is the second edition of her book, first published in 2006. Her articles about the environment and American life have appeared in The New York Times, the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media, Blue Ridge Press, The Washington Post, The Hartford Courant, Audubon, Appalachia, Woman's Day, a weather anthology called Soul of the Sky (Mount Washington Press, 1999), and several university, conservation, and regional magazines. Woodside is editor of Appalachia, a conservation and mountaineering journal, and she has edited the quarterly, Connecticut Woodlands, for the past nine years. Previously, she was the environmental reporter for The Day in New London. Woodside was a fellow of the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting in 1999 and now serves on its advisory board. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.