By Monica May Aaron Burden/Unsplash Mario Aguilera was scrolling through Twitter when a post caught his eye. UC San Diego biologist Fabian Rivera-Chávez, Ph.D., had co-written an article in Spanish for the LA Times with the goal of encouraging vaccination in the Hispanic community. Aguilera, the director of strategic communications for UC San Diego’s Division …
Ed Yong and the Craft of Science Writing
By Allie Akmal The words STORIES MATTER appeared in giant letters on the screen behind science journalist Ed Yong, as he stood, backlit, on the stage at Scripps Research Auditorium on a recent drizzly Thursday afternoon in San Diego. “Science is not just this purely objective empirical neutral force that can be dissociated from the …
How to Use (And Not Abuse) Direct and Indirect Quotes, Part One
This is Part One in a two-part series on using direct and indirect quotes. Check back soon for Part Two! By Tiffany Fox Quotations (also known in journalism as direct quotes and indirect quotes) help to humanize science and often add much-needed emotional contrast. They provide a sense for the “characters” in our stories – …
Continue reading "How to Use (And Not Abuse) Direct and Indirect Quotes, Part One"
Meet Monica May, SANDSWA Logo Contest Winner
By Alyson Smith Monica May, a science writer at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), recently won the SANDSWA logo design contest. Her concept features a lighthouse – a reference to San Diego’s fishing and shipping history and May’s view of science journalism as illuminating facts to protect our society. May enjoys learning about …
Continue reading "Meet Monica May, SANDSWA Logo Contest Winner"
On Being Freelance
That work space looks unusually tidy I was laid off from my communications job at Sanford Burnham in 2011, the collateral damage from a grant funding crisis. Theoretically, I could have gotten a similar position at Salk, TSRI or UC San Diego, but I was concerned the same funding issues would catch up with me. …
SANDSWA 