MBL Awards Fellowships to Science and Health Journalists to “Get Their Hands On Research”

Contact: Diana Kenney
508-289-7139; dkenney@mbl.edu

WOODS HOLE, Mass. – Thirteen science journalists have been awarded Logan Science Journalism Fellowships from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), an international center for biological and environmental research and education and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.

Now in its 30th year, the Logan Science Journalism Program (SJP) allows established science and heath journalists from around the globe to “step into the shoes of the scientists they cover” through immersion in hands-on research at the MBL. This year’s program, which offers fellows the choice of a laboratory-based biomedical research course or a field-based environmental research course, will run from May 25 to June 4.

The 2016 Logan SJP Fellows are:

Biomedical Fellows

Lisa Gillespie, Web Reporter, Kaiser Health News

Phoebe Hall, Staff Writer, Brown Medicine

Alec Hamilton, Producer and Host, WNYC (NPR)

Rod McCullom, Freelance Global Health Writer and Producer

Sudhi Oberoi, Science Writer/Editor, Archives and Publication Cell, Indian Institute of Science

Michael Stone, Freelance Journalist

Mark Wolverton*, Freelance Science Writer/Author

*Woods Hole Fellow

Environmental Fellows

Shanna Baker, Senior Editor, Hakai Magazine

Jennifer Barrios, Reporter, Newsday

Bethany Brookshire **, Science Education Writer, Science News

Sasha Chapman **, Freelance Journalist (Canada)

David Levin, Science Editor, Pellet Productions

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, Freelance Science Journalist (Mexico)

**Arctic Field Experience Fellow

2015 Fellow Sumathi Reddy in the Biomedical Hands-On Research Course. Credit: Rachael Buchanan

In the Biomedical Hands-On Course, fellows are plunged into the world of fundamental biological research that underpins current biomedical science. Using both novel and established model systems, particularly marine organisms, fellows will gain exposure to techniques and concepts in cell, molecular, and developmental biology and genomics.

The Environmental Hands-On Course fellows will undertake field and laboratory research at a large-scale ecosystem experiment in the Plum Island salt marshes, north of Boston. After collecting samples and measurements, they will return to MBL to analyze and interpret their data.

Two of the Environmental Fellows, Bethany Brookshire and Sasha Chapman, have also been awarded Arctic Field Experience Fellowships. In July, they will travel to Toolik Field Station on Alaska’s North Slope and spend one week with ecosystems scientists pursuing field research, including studies of global change.

Journalist Mark Wolverton has been awarded a Woods Hole Fellowship to spend two weeks in Woods Hole attending lectures in the MBL's renowned Discovery Courses and interacting with the MBL's international community of researchers and faculty.

Over the years, the Logan Science Journalism Program has granted fellowships to hundreds of journalists from prominent news organizations, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Nature, Science, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, USA Today, CNN, and Scientific American.

The Biomedical Hands-On Research Course is co-directed by Charles “Brad” Shuster of New Mexico State University and Phong Tran of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. The course’s journalism director is Robin Marantz Henig, author and contributing writer, New York Times Magazine. The Environmental Hands-On Research Course is directed by Linda Deegan, senior scientist in the MBL Ecosystems Center. Science journalist/producer Angela Posada-Swafford, a U.S. correspondent for Madrid’s Muy Interesante Magazine, is the Environmental Course’s journalism director.

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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.