MBL Awards Fellowships to Science and Health Journalists

WOODS HOLE, Mass. – Thirteen 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 31st year, the Logan Science Journalism Program (SJP) allows established science and health journalists to “step into the shoes of the scientists they cover” through immersion in hands-on research at the MBL. This year’s program, which gives fellows the choice of a laboratory-based biomedical research course or a field-based environmental research course, will run from May 31 to June 8 in Woods Hole.

In addition, four of the selected journalists were awarded new Chicago Fellowships to spend four days in Chicago interacting with researchers affiliated with The Microbiome Center, a collaboration between the University of Chicago, the MBL, and Argonne National Laboratory.

The 2017 Logan Science Journalism Program Fellows are:

Biomedical Fellows

Jamie DePolo, Senior Editor, Breastcancer.org
Anna Nowogrodzki, Freelance (based in Massachusetts)
Regan Penaluna, Editor-at-Large, Nautilus Magazine*
Leah Samuel, Reporter, Boston Globe/STAT
Warren Tong, Senior Science Editor, TheBody.com
Chelsea Wald, Freelance (based in The Netherlands)

*Chicago Fellow

Environmental Fellows

Denise Hruby, Senior Editor, Sixth Tone (China)
Sarah Kaplan, Science Reporter, The Washington Post
Craig LeMoult, Reporter, WGBH (National Public Radio, Boston)
María Mónica Monsalve, Journalist, El Espectador (Colombia)
Marcus Woo, Freelance (based in California)*
Lina Zeldovich, Freelance (based in New York)*

*Chicago Fellow

Chicago Fellowship Only

 Kathiann Kowalski, Freelance (based in Ohio)

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 molecular, cell, and developmental biology and genomics.

The Environmental Hands-On Course fellows will undertake field and laboratory research at Waquoit Bay, a barrier beach, saltmarsh, and watershed ecosystem on Cape Cod, to discover the complex ways that added nitrogen alters coastal ecosystems. Both groups of fellows will present their data at a mini-symposium at the close of the fellowship.

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, 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 advisor 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 at Woods Hole Research Center. Science journalist/producer Angela Posada-Swafford, a U.S. correspondent for Madrid’s Muy Interesante Magazine, is the Environmental Course’s journalism advisor.

Feature photo: 2016 Fellows Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and Shanna Baker. Credit: Tom Kleindinst

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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.

The Logan Science Journalism Program is sponsored by: George & Helen H.B. Logan, Friends and Alumni of the Science Journalism Program, Golden Family Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Irving Weinstein Foundation, Inc., Ross Foundation, and Waksman Foundation for Microbiology.