Matthew Carr

Matthew Carr was awarded one of 25 Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellowships given by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, becoming the first Northwest Science & Technology contributor to receive this honor. As Mass Media Fellow, Carr spent ten weeks at the Dallas Morning News during summer 2000 as a science writing intern.

Carr joined Northwest Science & Technology in 1999, taking courses in science news writing offered through the University of Washington Department of Technical Communication. He was a recipient of the 1999-2000 Ford Writing Fellowship sponsored by The Ford Motor Company.

For the article "Water World," which appeared in the Autumn 1999 issue, Carr and NWS&T editor Deborah Illman received the Distinguished Award, Category Trade/News Articles, at the 1999-2000 Technical Publications Competition of the Puget Sound Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. They also received the Excellence Award for the same article in the category of Trade/News Articles at the 1999-2000 International Technical Publications Competition, Society for Technical Communication.

Laura Carsten

"The science writing program here at UW has been a great experience for me. When I first arrived, I had dabbled a bit in science writing, but some parts of the process still intimidated me-things like deadline pressure and conducting interviews.

Deborah's classes provided the ideal environment to get more comfortable with the process. In these courses, my classmates and I served as interns on Northwest Science & Technology magazine. This meant getting assigned a story topic, researching it, setting up interviews, and writing the story under a deadline, just as a staff writer would. We also did in class writing critiques of our rough drafts, which was very helpful. I felt like I learned a lot of techniques and tricks of the trade for writing an effective, engaging story.

And best of all, I got published clips in the magazine. One of the most important factors in landing a science writing job is having a portfolio of published clips, so this was pretty important to me."

Erica Goldman

"Winter quarter 1999, I began Deborah Illman's first science news writing course, Technical Communication 440, as someone who had always enjoyed writing but who had never thought about making it part of a career. I am a Ph.D. student in Zoology and at the stage of my thesis where my work has gotten pretty specific. For me, Deborah's course and the opportunity to write for Northwest Science & Technology came a critical point of my graduate career, exposing me to problems and questions in fields ranging from atmospheric science to marine policy and helping me to put my graduate studies in a broader context.

While I am still finishing my Ph.D., I am seriously considering science journalism in my future career path. Since taking TC 440 and 540 and writing for Northwest Science & Technology , I have also begun to write for other publications as a freelance writer. I have been working as a contract writer for the Washington Sea Grant Program, writing for both print and the internet, and have written stories for The Sciences, ABCnews.com, and The Antarctic Sun.

Although I am still working to break into science writing, Deborah's course and Northwest Science & Technology have given me a powerful boost. In addition to providing me with beautiful clips to show to other editors, I have started to build confidence in my abilities to sell a story idea to an editor, to conduct interviews with scientists at the top of their fields, and to write a good story. Without exposure to science writing through the Technical Communication courses and Northwest Science & Technology , I do not think that I would have had either the knowledge or the courage to ever get started."

Louis Porter

University of Washington undergraduate student in zoology and intellectual history Recipient of the 1999-2000 Boeing Science & Technology Writing Fellowship

"As the Boeing Science Writing Fellow for 1999-2000, I would like to thank Professor Deborah Illman and Boeing for giving me the chance to concentrate on developing my skills and understanding of science writing.

The fellowship gives students the chance to concentrate on writing science articles and studying the practice of doing so. In addition it gives writers a rare chance to spend as long as they need to research and write a story, and make it the best they can, preparing them for the world of professional writing while showing them what is possible in an ideal world. The fellowship is a great way for a young writer to start, particularly for a young science writer whose goal is to cover stories that are always complex and often misunderstood.

While supported by the fellowship, I was able to lay aside other work and concentrate on writing about science and studying science writing. It was a great chance to do course work in science writing. This was particularly important for me because it is something that my studies in zoology and intellectual history have not given me the chance to do.

I spent a good deal of time working on stories during the fellowship as well, stories that I would not have been able to cover had I been working elsewhere. I wrote a news feature for the spring edition of Northwest Science & Technology magazine and a cover story for the fall. I also wrote a story for the science section of the Seattle Times.

I am going to work this summer for the Boston Globe, where I hope to build on the writing foundation that I have started at the University of Washington. I plan on looking for work at a newspaper when I graduate in December, and I know that the education I have gained last quarter while under the guidance of Professor Illman and the fellowship will stand me in good stead."

Holli Riebeek

Received a master's degree in June 2002 from the UW Department of Technical Communication. She was selected for a technology journalism internship at IEEE Spectrum, the flagship publication of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, beginning September 2002

"One of the most valuable components of my education at the University of Washington has been the experience gained working for Northwest Science & Technology Magazine. I worked as a writer and an editorial assistant while completing a master's degree in technical communication. In my classes, I learned the theory behind science writing. Northwest Science & Technology provided a real world venue for me to learn the practice of science writing.

I interviewed scientists, engineers, and administrators to prepare articles that I knew that over 28,000 people might read. I also helped with copy editing and checking the blue line and color proofs. Not only did these experiences teach me how to be a science writer, they also allowed me to develop a strong portfolio--a necessity for any beginning science writer.

Because of my experience and my portfolio, I was offered an internship at the IEEE Spectrum, the flagship magazine for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The internship is an important step in helping me reach my goal to become a science writer. I am certain that without my involvement with Northwest Science & Technology Magazine, that goal would be very difficult to attain."