Alumni Profiles

Doyin Adeoye sought out Metcalf Institute’s Annual Workshop with one goal in mind. “I wanted to learn more about the science behind the environmental issues in Africa,” said Adeoye.

When Annalyn Ardoña first began producing segments for the GMA Network’s Born to be Wild television show in the Philippines, she felt conflicted about leaving the political beat to cover the environment.

Journalist Emily Atkin channels her frustrations over the response to the crisis into a new online publication, Heated. She says Heated has had a significant impact on readers’ attitudes about climate change.

“A lot of folks feel like it’s too late. People feel like we kind of made our bed and now we have to lie in it, so they throw up their hands and tune out,” said Biello, an associate editor at Scientific American.

As the Midwest braced for a dangerous cold snap, Chicago Tribune reporter Tony Briscoe knew exactly how to place the record low temperatures into scientific context.

As a child growing up in Florida, Meredith Rutland Bauer slept through hurricanes. But when Hurricane Irma sprinted towards her home state in late August, Bauer panicked.

Bradley Campbell goes to work everyday to his “dream job” as a producer for PRI’s weekday radio show, The World.

Born in New Mexico and raised in Chicago, freelance journalist Cally Carswell is exactly where she wants to be, back in her home state reporting on climate science, ecology and land management.

Patrick Cassidy’s career path has taken him from Peace Corps volunteer to news editor at the Cape Cod Times. “Like most people’s lives, it was as much of an accident as anything,” said Cassidy.

Eli Chen began pondering the environment as early as high school in the “consumer-driven” suburbs of Chicago.

Two years after the worst oil spill in U.S. history sent 200 million of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Nigel D’souza was among a consortium of U.S. scientists studying the spill’s impact.

Christine Dell ‘Amore has reported on environmental issues from six continents around the world, including Antarctica.

Award-winning journalist Emily C. Dooley still relies on many of the tools she gained as a fellow in Metcalf's Annual Workshop. “I’ve done a number of fellowships, and this was by far the best.”

Julia Kumari Drapkin is on the cutting edge of environmental journalism. “We’re doing climate change journalism in a totally different way,” says Drapkin, the executive producer of iSeeChange.

The timing was right, in 2014, when Elizabeth Dunbar attended Metcalf Institute’s Climate Change and the News: Impacts in the Great Lakes seminar in Chicago.

Award-winning journalist Alexa Elliott gets to suit up for work sometimes at WPBT2 in Miami, Florida, where she dives into her job as creator, writer and producer of “Changing Seas.”

Journalist Robert S. Eshelman is looking forward to diving back into one of the most important environmental beats of our time: climate change.

Tim Faulkner’s career path began with a deep appreciation for nature, dating back to his childhood as a Boy Scout in Rhode Island.

Just months after Floriano Filho completed his Metcalf fellowship in 2011, an environmental disaster struck his homeland off the coast Brazil.

Armed with degrees in English and science writing, but limited first-hand exposure to the world of scientific research, journalist Sujata Gupta dove headlong into Metcalf's Annual Workshop.

Cynthia Henry shares this advice with the early-career journalists she manages at the Philadelphia Inquirer: When interviewing a scientist for a story, “you can’t be afraid to say I don’t understand.”

Toledo Blade environment reporter Tom Henry described his profession this way in an article for Nieman Reports “When done right, it’s passionate storytelling with a hard-nosed quest for truth.”

Corbin Hiar inherited his respect for conservation and sustainability from his paternal grandparents. “My grandparents grew up in the depression in North Dakota and they struggled a lot,” says Corbin

Jesse Hirsch has worn several hats over the years – restaurant critic, agricultural reporter, and food journalist.

Eighteen years after attending Metcalf Institute’s Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists, alumna Mari N. Jensen remains a steadfast supporter.

Chloe Johnson, coastal environment and climate change reporter for the Post & Courier in Charleston, has had a passion for storytelling since she began writing for her high school newspaper.

Environmental journalism isn’t just a calling for Debra Krol, it’s a part of her ancestral roots. “I want to provide the Indigenous voice that is missing from so much environmental coverage.”

Steve Krueger considers himself a pioneer of sorts. He was the first full-time environmental reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in British Columbia.

Timo Kuester’s parents provided the first clue that he needed help engaging non-scientists in his work. When he tried to explain his research to them, “they clearly didn’t understand what I did, and I don’t blame them.”

Award-winning journalist Judith LaVoie has covered a wide range of issues throughout her career for newspapers in Canada, Cyprus, England, and in the Middle East. 

Sebastien Malo picked up a newspaper for the first time at the age of seven and was hooked. “I would sit at the dinner table in my dad’s chair and read the newspaper from cover to cover,” says Malo.

When Hurricane Matthew slammed into Haiti, killing more than 540 people and leaving a trail of destruction in its path, Associated Press (AP) reporter David McFadden was there.

Researching, educating, and communicating with others about nutrition is more than a profession—it is a moral obligation for Noereem Mena.

Rhonda Miller’s career has taken her across the country to jobs in radio, print, and online news organizations covering a wide range of topics with an emphasis on human impacts.

Brentin Mock approaches his stories through a social justice lens. Mock recognized a void in environmental news coverage early in his career and set out to make a difference.

When Jeff Mosier plunged into his new environment beat, he had 23-solid years of reporting under his belt. But even a veteran journalist can feel “a little lost” in new territory.

Sonia Narang takes her audience deep into the Navajo Nation where water is scarce and drought conditions are severe.

Ngoc Nguyen seeks to highlight the stories and voices of immigrant communities through journalism.

When Bloomberg News reporter Alex Nussbaum covered the 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, he searched for stories about people, not policy.

Aaron Orlowski left Metcalf Institute’s 2014 Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists with a brand new perspective on how researchers approach their work.

Edward Ortiz, reporter at The Sacramento Bee, calls his experience at Metcalf Institute “groundbreaking,” especially his one-on-one interactions with scientists.

Tatiana Pardo Ibarra, a freelance journalist in Bogotá, Colombia and an alumna of Metcalf's2020 Annual Workshop for Journalists, strives to give voice to those who often go unheard.

Switzerland-based freelance writer and photojournalist Jacopo Pasotti has trekked across the planet telling stories about science, cultures, and our natural world for decades.

Dennis Pillion was covering sports for the Alabama Media Group in 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon spill dumped millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Jacqueline Ronson pitches story ideas to an unlikely group of people – not to her editors, but to her audience.

When Pakistan was gripped by a severe heat wave that claimed the lives of 1,300 people, very few people understood that this crisis was not simply a local event, but the result of a global phenomenon.

Trekking through the woods to learn about forest ecology and hopping aboard a fisheries trawl is what comes to mind Richard Salit reflects on his Metcalf experience.

Investigative reporter and radio producer Neena Satija envisioned a totally different career path when she began her freshman year of college at Yale University.

Julia Scott adds new meaning to the term “diving into a story.” Her experiential reporting style has taken her inside an iron lung after interviewing a woman who relies on the device to breathe.

Millions of gallons of oil had already flowed into the Gulf of Mexico when Mother Jonesreporter Kate Sheppard attended Metcalf Institute’s Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists in June of 2010.

When Kate Siber decided to leave her stable reporting job at Outside Magazine for an uncertain career as a freelance journalist, she took the plunge with trepidation.

Growing up in a tiny Wisconsin town, reporter Jake Spring craved adventure. Years later, that adventurous spirit would take him around the globe as a foreign correspondent for Reuters.

Meera Subramanian has been passionate about the environment since the age of 19, when she spent four months aboard a cruise ship navigating the globe through the Semester at Sea program.

Gabriela Teissier spoke in a hoarse voice several days after reporting on more than seven extensive wildfires, the most destructive that Southern California has seen in recent history.

Brown University graduate student Torrey Truszkowski is among a growing number of scientists nationwide who recognize the importance of science communication.

Andy Uhler, a reporterfor American Public Media's Marketplace, is knee deep in the Mexico/U.S border wall dispute looking at the proposed wall from all angles.

Amelia Urry’s deep curiosity took off at an early age, fueled by rocket scientists. Her father helped launch NASA satellites into space and her mother worked on the Hubble Telescope.

When Chelsea Wald, a freelance science and environmental journalist, reflects on her Metcalf experience, she values the connections she made with fellow reporters most.

Seventeenth century-author Thomas Fuller once said, “We never know the worth of water til the well runs dry. It’s a sentiment Brett Walton can relate to as a reporter for Circle of Blue.

Metcalf Institute alumna Rebecca Williams has been immersed in one of the worst public health threats in recent history, the Flint Michigan water crisis.

Christine Woodside has a soft spot for Metcalf Institute. Her relationship with the organization began in 1999 with the inaugural Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists.

Rosanna Xia’s beat for on Los Angeles Times' environment team stretches 1,200 miles along California’s expansive coastline.

Eager to step away from the daily grind of general assignment reporting in Beijing and Taipei, China, Manuela Zoninsein says Metcalf's Annual Workshop in 2010 was like a “breath of fresh air.”