What does the Artemis II moon mission have to do with an immigration crackdown in Minnesota? What does a sprawling surveillance system mean for residents of the U.S.’s third-largest city? What are the questions that keep scientists up at night — and what does it really take to answer them?
Knight Science Journalism Fellows have been probing these questions and more, producing can’t-miss stories and racking up coveted awards in the process. Here’s what some of our esteemed alumni have been up to:
A New York City Reunion
In April, current KSJ Fellows and staff took a field trip to New York City. It was a nice opportunity to visit world-renowned science institutions, including Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the American Museum of Natural History. But it was also a wonderful opportunity to connect with KSJ alumni, said KSJ Director Usha Lee McFarling (‘93):
“Jonathan Fahey (‘08), Health and Science Editor at the Associated Press, hosted a wonderful visit to the spectacular AP newsroom, where we also joined the morning news meeting — quite something to witness on a day when your country is at war. We also toured the equally spectacular offices of The Transmitter and Quanta Magazine as a guest of longtime friend to KSJ, Ivan Oransky, who reminded me he was an undergrad at Harvard when he met me during my KSJ fellowship year. Columbia Journalism School Dean of Academic Affairs Duy Linh Tu (‘21) graciously hosted us at the uptown campus’s J-school — a visit that included an inspiring conversation with the school’s Dean, Jelani Cobb. And Angela Posada-Swafford (‘01) arranged a lovely visit to the Explorer’s Club, in their historic building on the upper east side of Manhattan.
“While in New York, we also hosted a reception for local alumni, and it was lovely for this year’s fellows to have the chance to meet and mingle with fellows from years past, including the phenomenal Ottavia Bassetti (’87), Larry Husten (’95), George Musser (’15), Elana Gordon (‘19) and Rachel Gross (’19).”
A Haul of Major Awards
Ambiental Media, a Brazilian investigative journalism initiative founded by Thiago Medaglia (‘20), won both second and third place for outstanding explanatory reporting in the small outlet category of the 2026 Society of Environmental Journalists Awards for their projects “Cerrado: Brazil’s Sacred Water Link” and “Rio 60ºC: How the city is preparing for extreme weather events.”
“Cerrado” was also one of ten winners of the Global Investigative Journalism Network’s Sigma Awards. Judges called the investigation “a masterclass in translating intricate data on river flows and land use into a coherent narrative, shining a necessary light on a biome critical to global water security.”
Isabella Cueto (‘22) was one of five journalists to win the National Magazine Awards’ ASME NEXT Award for Journalists Under 30. Cueto is a chronic disease reporter at STAT. Her recent work for the magazine includes a multipart investigative series on the U.S. alcohol epidemic and Polk Award-winning coverage of the Make America Healthy Again movement.
New on the Bookshelf
Roberta Kwok (‘21) will make her book debut this summer with “Lost In Curiosity: Field Notes from Scientists’ Adventures into the Unknown.” The book, named to the American Booksellers Association’s Indies Introduce list, delves into the “messy middle” of science, following geologists fending off relentless snowfall on a remote Greenland glacier, an evolutionary biologist desperately searching for an elusive frog in Borneo, astronomers scrambling to capture fleeting signals of a faraway moon, and more.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert called it “a lively and revelatory book” that “couldn’t be more timely.” Kwok worked on portions of the book during her time as a KSJ Fellow. The book is scheduled to be released on July 21, 2026.
Rowan Jacobsen (‘18) is preparing for the release of his new book “In Defense of Sunlight: The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure,” which will hit bookshelves in June. Published by be published by Scribner/S&S, the book makes the case for the health benefits of the sun and investigates what we risk when we minimize our exposure. Author Bill McKibben called it an “entertaining and informative account” of how the sun provides civilizations with light, warmth, dinner, and power.
“My initial research into the topic came during my fellowship year,” Jacobsen said, “and would not have been possible if I hadn’t had the time and freedom to dive deep. My first feature article on the subject came a few months after my fellowship ended and I’ve been regularly publishing on the subject ever since.”
Jacobsen will give a talk about the book in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 8, as part of the Harvard Science Book Talk Series.
Courtney Humphries (’16) celebrated the release of her latest book, “Climate Change and the Future of Boston,” in March. The book gives an in-depth analysis of the climate impacts facing Boston and the city’s efforts to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. Published by Anthem Press, it is Humphries’ second book.
The latest book from Jason Bittel (’21), “Grizzled: Love Letters to 50 of North America’s Least Understood Animals,” was published by National Geographic in March. Bittle describes the book as a totally new kind of field guide — “a wildlife wonder-guide, if you will” — full of diverse, impassioned experts, and possibly unlike any other animal science book on the market. He wrote the proposal for the book while he was a KSJ fellow.
Passion Projects Bear Fruit
Lisa Grossman (’24) published a pair of standout essays this spring: “How Pluto Helped Me Accept My Trans Partner’s New Name,” which won Narratively’s True Romance Writing Prize for longform, and “On moonshots and Minneapolis,” which juxtaposed the Artemis II lunar mission with the tumultuous US Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown in Minnesota.
Grossman said the projects marked an ambitious new turn for her as a writer. “I hadn’t published much in the way of personal essays at all before my KSJ fellowship,” she said. Grossman added that the Pluto piece was adapted from an essay she wrote in a creative nonfiction workshop she took during her fellowship. Meanwhile, the essay about Minneapolis, published in Science News, where Grosman is the astronomy writer, “just felt really important to write.”
“It was difficult and scary to put that much of myself out there, especially at the same publication as my regular space reporting,” she said. “I think the practice and support I got during my KSJ year helped give me the confidence to do it.”
A feature by Rod McCullom (‘16), “Inside Chicago’s Surveillance Panopticon,” was one of several cover stories in the March/April 2026 issue of MIT Technology Review. It was his first print feature at the magazine, and one he said he’s particularly proud of “because it crystallizes much of one of my primary reporting focus areas — the science of crime and violence.”
Added McCullom, “My time as a KSJ fellow was crucial to help develop a stronger understanding of the history of AI, technology, and technology policy. I’m really glad to have developed those skill sets during the fellowship, and, to use those skills to report on AI-surveillance and policing technologies.”
Mico Tatalovic (’18) has produced a new toolbox for journalists reporting on astrobiology. The guide looks specifically at reporting on the search for and possible discovery of life on other planets. It was prepared during his residency at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge in the UK, as part of the Maria Leptin/EMBO science journalism fellowship.
The guide includes insights from academic literature, discussion at The Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe, and input from journalists and press officers. It was inspired and helped by an upcoming white paper in the Astrobiology journal, co-authored by Danilo Albergaria from the University of Leiden.
The new guide is freely available on the European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations website. Said Tatalovic, “I hope it will open up this field to more reporters — and allow us all to better consider the various nuances of reporting on this fascinating but tricky topic.”
What We’re Writing
The following compendium includes a sample of recent alumni stories curated by Federico Kukso (‘16):
Kai Kupferschmidt (’24): “Scientists play catch-up to startling Ebola outbreak,” Science.
Jessica Hamzelou (’23): “The Enhanced Games fit right in with the rest of 2026’s longevity vibes,” MIT Technology Review.
Melanie Kaplan (’22): “Would you adopt a lab animal?” National Geographic.
Richard Fisher (’20): “Stargazing really is good for the soul,” Psyche.
Tim De Chant (’19): “Nuclear startup Deep Fission says it’s going public, again, and I have questions,” TechCrunch.
Jason Dearen (’19): “Georgia officials knew chemicals from carpet mills were polluting local water. The people did not,” The Associated Press (with Nelly Ontiveros Cervantes).
Rachel E. Gross (’19): “Could At-Home Brain Stimulation Reduce Psychiatry’s Reliance on S.S.R.I.s?,” The New York Times.
Teresa Carr (’18): “The Complicated Reality of Treating Osteoporosis,” MedShadow.
Giovana Girardi (’15): “In the World Cup, the toughest opponent will be the heat,” Agência Pública (in Portuguese).
Yves Sciama (’14): “Mysterious ice cores are puzzling climatologists,” Mediapart (in French).
Amanda Gefter (’13): “Why Do We Tell Ourselves Scary Stories About AI?,” Quanta Magazine.
Konstantin Kakaes (‘10): “Two Researchers Are Rebuilding Mathematics From the Ground Up,” Quanta Magazine.
Teresa Firmino (’09): “Fabiola Gianotti: ‘CERN has become a laboratory that is bringing the whole world together,’” Público (in Portuguese).
Sascha Karberg (’09): “Are you also a magnet for mosquitoes? What makes people more and less attractive to the bloodsuckers,” Der Tagesspiegel (in German).
Herton Escobar (’07): “Advanced bioluminescence system is inspired by the larva of a Brazilian beetle,” Agência FAPESP (in Portuguese).
Richard Friebe (’07): “If there’s one thing you really shouldn’t do, it’s this: Psychologist Patricia Lannen on toddlers in front of the screen,” Der Tagesspiegel (in German).
Valeria Román (’05): “The deep roots and fragile future of biodiversity,” Knowable Magazine.
Jeff Tollefson (’05): “Can the clean-energy revolution save us from climate catastrophe?” Nature.
Annalee Newitz (‘03): “The future of robot armies is here – and it’s not what you think,” New Scientist.
Barbara Moran (’02): “Feds predict ‘below normal’ Atlantic hurricane season for 2026,” WBUR.
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