Bio: ROD McCULLOM specializes in reporting on the intersections of science, technology and society. McCullom's focus areas include artificial intelligence, biometrics, brain and cognition, environment, gun violence, infectious disease, and, the science of crime, trauma and violence. He has been awarded reporting fellowships to report from Australia, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Spain, and Zambia, as well as the Kavli Prize Week in Norway. Rod is a senior features contributor to Undark, and his work has been published at Nature, The Atlantic, Scientific American, MIT Technology Review and The Nation, among other magazines. Rod was a finalist for the National Association of Science Writers’ 2018 “Science in Society” Award for his UNDARK article on the lack of research around racial bias in facial recognition. Rod authored the chapter on the craft of reporting on science and justice in A Tactical Guide to Science Journalism (2022), the science writing textbook published by Oxford University Press and developed by MIT Knight Science Journalism. Rod attended the University of Chicago and his reporting and essays have been included in the syllabi at Columbia University Law School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago.

Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Career: Science writer