KSJ Names 2026-27 HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship Class Representing five different Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the students are interested in everything from AI to astronomy.

The Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT has named 10 outstanding undergraduate journalism students to its 2026-27 HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship class. The students come from five participating Historically Black Colleges and Universities — Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, Morgan State University, and North Carolina A&T State University. 

The fellowship, now entering its third year, provides undergraduate journalism students and other students with a strong interest in journalism with training, mentorship, and early career support to report on science, health, and environmental issues. The hybrid fellowship kicks off with a week-long science journalism summer camp at MIT, featuring hands-on workshops led by world class science journalists from top publications and journalism schools. Each fellow is then matched with a professional science journalist who serves as their mentor during the remainder of the 10-month fellowship, working with them to provide additional training and to help the fellows develop and pitch compelling science stories.

The Knight Science Journalism Program worked with faculty at the participating HBCUs to design the program and to select the incoming fellows, whose interests range from environmental justice and medicine to AI and astronomy.

“It’s been terrific to see previous fellows come away from this fellowship brimming with good ideas and confident that they can tackle complex science-related issues with their reporting,” said Knight Science Journalism Program associate director and HBCU Fellowship director Ashley Smart. “The same is certain to be true for this new class of fellows, who will bring incredible talent and enthusiasm, and a real passion to make a difference with their reporting.”

“I’m so happy to see this group of young journalists get introduced to science journalism and hopefully consider it as a career,” said Knight Science Journalism Program director Usha Lee McFarling. “Our field has not always been open or welcoming to people from all backgrounds, and it’s wonderful to see that changing.”

In addition to the HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship, the Knight Science Journalism Program offers an academic-year fellowship for mid-career journalists and a one-semester fellowship, launched in collaboration with Springer Nature, for science journalists from Africa and the Middle East. More than 400 science journalists from six continents have participated in the program’s fellowships since it was founded in 1983. The Knight Science Journalism Program also publishes the award-winning digital magazine Undark and administers a national journalism prize for local science journalists, the Victor K. McElheny Award.

The 2026-27 HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship Class

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