Faculty & Staff
Deborah Blum, Director
dlblum@mit.edu | @deborahblum
Phone: 617-258-8249
Deborah Blum is a Pulitzer-prizewinning American science journalist, columnist, and author of six books, including The Poison Squad (2018), and The Poisoner’s Handbook (2010). She is a former president of the National Association of Science Writers, was a member of the governing board of the World Federation of Science Writers, and currently serves on the board of advisors of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. In 2015, Blum was selected as the fourth director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT and that same year became founding publisher of Undark.
Anna Cass, Communications Coordinator
annacass@mit.edu
Phone: 617-258-8889
Anna Cass is a communications and marketing professional with experience focused in social impact. She holds a B.A. in Public Health, Public Policy, and Socially Transformative Arts from Brandeis University, where she also earned her M.S. in Digital Marketing and Design. Prior to joining KSJ, Anna developed marketing and communications strategy at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy and completed a fellowship in marketing and communications at Mass Audubon.
Myles Crowley, Program Administrator
mcrowley@mit.edu | @mylescrowley8
Phone: 617-452-3513
Myles Crowley is the program administrator for the Knight Science Journalism Program and the financial director of Undark Magazine. Prior to joining KSJ, Crowley worked in public services in the MIT Libraries Distinctive Collections, which includes the Institute Archives. He also worked in finance, operations, and media relations in the MIT News Office. Crowley has a B.A. and M.A. in history from UMass Boston and is a lifelong resident of Boston.
Jane Roberts Reza, Deputy Editor, Undark
cjr3@mit.edu
Jane Roberts Reza, Deputy Editor of Undark magazine, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned a B.A. in Journalism and Economics, with a minor in Environmental Studies. Before coming to the Knight Science Journalism program, Jane interned with the wealth team at Forbes, where she valued and wrote about some of the country’s richest billionaires. She joined Undark Magazine as Associate Editor in 2016 and has since developed its widely respected fact-checking program.
Claire Sadar, Learning and Events Coordinator
sadarc@mit.edu | @KARepublic
Phone: 617-253-0961
Claire Sadar is an events professional and freelance journalist focusing on religion, politics, social justice, and the intersections thereof. She earned a BA in History from Dickinson College and an MA in Religion and Society from Boston University. Prior to joining KSJ, Claire was the Program Manager a Historic New England where she developed virtual programs, created community partnerships, and managed events across New England.
Ashley Smart, Associate Director
asmart@mit.edu | @ashleythesmart
Phone: 617-253-3442
Ashley Smart joined the KSJ program as associate director in 2018, following eight years as an editor at Physics Today. He received a PhD in chemical and biological engineering from Northwestern University in 2007 and followed that with a two-year post-doc at the California Institute of Technology before taking up a career in science journalism. A 2015-16 KSJ fellow, he is a member of the advisory boards for the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and for The Open Notebook.
Tom Zeller Jr., Editor in Chief, Undark
tzeller@mit.edu | @tomzellerjr
Phone: 617-324-4997
Tom Zeller Jr. has spent two decades covering technology, energy policy, poverty, and the environment for a variety of national and international publications, including 12 years as a staff writer and editor at The New York Times. Tom is a former grantee of the International Reporting Project, and he was selected as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow in 2013. He joined the KSJ program as the founding editor of Undark in 2015.