Sharon Begley Fellowship Archives - Knight Science Journalism @MIT

by Knight Science Journalism / July 10th 2024 / Announcements

KSJ and STAT Name 2024-25 Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellow

MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Program and STAT, the nation’s must-read health, science, and medicine publication, have announced Anil Oza is the 2024-2025 recipient of the Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellowship.

Named in honor of Sharon Begley, an award-winning science writer for STAT who died in January 2021, the one-year fellowship was established with the goal of diversifying the ranks of science and health journalists and fostering better coverage of science that is relevant to all people.

Oza was selected from a pool of nearly two dozen impressive candidates around the country. He earned a bachelor’s degree in science from Cornell University where he reported for the Cornell Daily Sun, the campus newspaper. Oza has interned at Nature, Science News, and NPR’s “Short Wave.” He also spent the summer of 2023 at STAT as an intern, helping produce the health-equity-focused podcast, “Color Code.”

“The passion and creativity Anil brought to his work on ‘Color Code’ showed us his potential. We’re confident that a full year of experience at STAT, combined with the opportunity to study science more deeply through KSJ, will set him on a course to become a first-rate health and science journalist,” said Gideon Gil, a managing editor at STAT.

The fellowship prepares early-career U.S. journalists from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the profession for a successful career in science journalism. It combines a paid reporting position at STAT with an educational component provided through the Knight Science Journalism program. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has provided funding for the program since its start in 2021.

Oza, who starts Sept. 3, will be the fifth Sharon Begley Fellow. Former fellows Isabella Cueto and Brittany Trang were hired by STAT after completing their fellowships. Former fellow Ambar Castillo works as a community health reporter for Epicenter-NYC, a hyperlocal newsroom that covers New York City. The current fellow, Deborah Balthazar, will finish her tenure in mid-July.

Begley, STAT’s senior science writer, was one of the nation’s finest science journalists and was known for her enthusiasm for mentoring and teaching the next generation. She was especially eager to help other women advance in a profession that, when she began as a researcher at Newsweek in 1977, was unwelcoming. She later worked at The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, before joining STAT at its founding in 2015. Her legacy includes her powerful advocacy for people of color, exemplified by a series she wrote in 2016 and 2017 about the neglect by scientists, government funders, drugmakers, and hospitals of patients with sickle cell disease, who in the U.S. are predominantly Black. This fellowship pays tribute to her outstanding career while paving the way for the next generation of science journalists.

by Knight Science Journalism / March 18th 2024 / Announcements

Sharon Begley Fellowship Accepting Applications

The Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and STAT, the leading health and science news publication, are accepting applications for the Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellowship. The fellowship aims to diversify the ranks of science and health journalists and fostering better coverage of science that is relevant to all people. It combines a paid reporting position at STAT with an educational component through the prestigious Knight Science Journalism (KSJ) program.

The one-year fellowship is intended for early-career U.S. journalists from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the profession and will prepare them for a successful career in science journalism. We will be hiring one fellow this year, who will start in mid-July 2024 and work through mid-July 2025.

Fellows will be based at STAT’s Boston office and report and write articles. At the same time, they will participate in KSJ training seminars and fellowship community events, have access to MIT libraries, and be able to audit classes at MIT and Harvard.

An applicant must be residing in the U.S. (STAT and MIT are unable to sponsor a work visa for this fellowship) and live in, or be willing to relocate to, the Boston area. Applicants must have some previous journalism experience; between six months and five years is desirable. Previous work as a science writer is not required.

We know that there are strong candidates who may not fit precisely into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

Fellows will be paid $75,000 and receive health insurance through MIT and dental and vision benefits through STAT. They will receive 10 days of vacation and get standard holidays off.

Applications will be accepted online from March 18 to April 26, 2024 at 5 p.m. ET.

If you have any questions about the fellowship or the application process, please contact STAT Equity and Health Tech Editor Lison Joseph at lison.joseph@statnews.com.

by Knight Science Journalism, STAT / July 14th 2023 / Announcements

KSJ and STAT Name 2023-24 Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellow

MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Program and STAT, the nation’s must-read health, science, and medicine publication, have announced Deborah Balthazar as the 2023-2024 recipient of the Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellowship. Named in honor of Sharon Begley, an award-winning science writer for STAT who died in January 2021 from complications of lung cancer, the one-year fellowship was established with the goal of diversifying the ranks of science and health journalists and fostering better coverage of science that is relevant to all people.

Balthazar earned a master’s degree from New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program and studied biology as an undergraduate. She worked as an intern at Science News, as well as Scholastic’s SuperScience and Science World, and reported for a local news site in her hometown in New Jersey.

“Deborah impressed us with her passion for journalism and, to quote one of her professors, ‘old-fashioned grit,’” said Gideon Gil, a managing editor at STAT. ”Local reporting jobs don’t pay nearly enough but that didn’t deter Deborah, who took on a second job as a substitute teacher so she could continue pursuing journalism. We look forward to helping her grow as a health and science journalist and continue Sharon’s extraordinary legacy.”

The fellowship prepares early-career U.S. journalists from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the profession for a successful career in science journalism. It combines a paid reporting position at STAT with an educational component provided through the Knight Science Journalism program. The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative has provided funding for the program since its start in 2021.

“It’s a pleasure to be a partner in this important fellowship,” said Ashley Smart, associate director of the Knight Science Journalism Program. “We believe that by helping to support the work and visibility of smart journalists from underrepresented backgrounds, we help to fundamentally improve science journalism itself. We’re looking forward to welcoming Deborah to the program.”

Balthazar, who starts July 11, will be the fourth Sharon Begley Fellow. The inaugural fellow, Isabella Cueto, was hired by STAT to report on chronic diseases after completing her fellowship. The current fellows, Ambar Castillo and Brittany Trang, will finish their tenures in August.

by Knight Science Journalism / March 22nd 2023 / Announcements

Sharon Begley Fellowship Accepting Applications

The Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT and STAT, the leading health and science news publication, are accepting applications for the Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellowship, which has the goal of diversifying the ranks of science and health journalists and fostering better coverage of science that is relevant to all people. It combines a paid reporting position at STAT with an educational component through MIT’s prestigious Knight Science Journalism (KSJ) program.

An applicant must be residing in the U.S. and live in, or be willing to relocate to, the Boston area. Applicants must have some previous journalism experience; between six months and five years is desirable. Previous work as a science writer is not required.

Fellows will be paid $75,000 and receive health insurance through MIT and dental and vision benefits through STAT. They will receive 10 days of vacation and get standard holidays off.

How to Apply

Applications will be accepted online from March 22 to May 1, 2023 at 5 p.m. ET. Please submit:

A personal statement of up to 1,000 words describing yourself, your goals for the fellowship, and how your background, experiences, and career path influenced your decision to pursue this opportunity.
A resume.
Links to 3-5 published articles that showcase your reporting and writing skills.
A letter of recommendation from an individual familiar with your work who can comment on your abilities, your commitment to journalism, and your suitability for this fellowship.

Apply now

Vaccination Statement

MIT requires Covid-19 vaccination for all MIT employees, including fellows, who work in the United States. New employees must receive all doses in the primary series of the Covid-19 vaccine plus one booster (when eligible) before their date of hire. Individuals may request exemption from the vaccine requirement for medical or religious reasons. More information may be found at: https://now.mit.edu.

Boston Globe Media Partners, STAT’s parent company, requires that all employees be vaccinated from COVID-19, unless an exemption from this policy has been granted as an accommodation or otherwise. All BGMP employees, regardless of vaccination status or work location, must provide proof of vaccination status as instructed by the employee’s designated Human Resources contact. Employees may request a reasonable accommodation or other exemption from this policy by contacting their designated Human Resources contact. Failure to comply with or enforce any part of this policy, or misrepresentation of compliance with this policy, may result in discipline, up to and including termination of employment, subject to reasonable accommodation and other requirements of applicable federal, state, and local law.

by Knight Science Journalism / July 27th 2022 / Fellowship Life, KSJ News & Events

KSJ Welcomes Seven Journalists to Cambridge, Marking Return of In-Person Fellowships

Over the coming weeks, a cadre of elite science journalists will converge on Cambridge to embark on a year of learning, research, and project work as fellows in MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Program. Their arrival marks the highly anticipated return of KSJ’s in-person fellowships, after a two-year hiatus during which the program offered only remote project fellowships due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Five mid-career journalists — Mary-Rose Abraham, Laura Bliss, Wojtek Brzezinski, Sébastien Malo, and Kelly Servick — will spend the year at MIT pursuing in-depth journalism projects, taking courses at local universities, and participating in seminars, workshops, and science-related field trips. They’ll be joined by early career journalists Ambar Castillo and Brittany Trang — this year’s Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellows — who will take part in KSJ programming while also serving apprenticeships at STAT, the award-winning Boston-based biomedical magazine.

The fellowship year officially kicks off in August, with a week of tours, talks, and get-to-know-you events, including a welcome reception and a behind-the-scenes tour of the new MIT Museum. The fellows will have a brief break before the start of fall classes, and KSJ’s seminar series will launch on September 13th with a visit from Mark Abrahams, originator of the annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremonies and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research. (Many, though not all, of the KSJ seminars are open to interested members of the public; contact learning and events coordinator Claire Sadar for more info If you would like to attend a specific lecture.)

This year’s fellows hail from the U.S., India, Poland, and Canada. While in Cambridge, they will delve into topics ranging from the diagnosis of mental disorders, to climate change’s impacts on soil and farming, to how machine learning algorithms are affecting communication. Read below to learn more about the fellows and their interests:

2022-23 KSJ Fellows

Mary-Rose Abraham is an independent multimedia journalist based in Bangalore, India. Her stories have been featured in BBC News, National Geographic, The Guardian, Deutsche Welle, Earth Island Journal, and Vice. She is the co-creator and co-host of “Scrolls & Leaves,” a world history, science and cultures podcast that has been featured by Spotify. Before moving to India, she was a staff producer at ABC News in New York, reported and produced for NPR, and was a researcher at NBC News. Abraham grew up in Los Angeles and has an undergraduate degree in Biology from UCLA and master’s degree (with honors) in Journalism from Columbia University.

Laura Bliss is a writer, reporter and editor based in San Francisco. On staff at Bloomberg CityLab, she writes about local policy and politics for a national audience, including transportation, housing and environmental issues. She is the editor of the new book, “The Quarantine Atlas,” a collection of 65 maps and essays revealing pandemic life around the world, drawn from a global audience engagement project she co-led at Bloomberg CityLab. She also writes the MapLab newsletter, and is the host of the podcast “Bedrock, USA,” a podcast about political extremism, small town life and the fight for democracy. Her reporting and writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Los Angeles magazine, Sierra magazine, and many other outlets.

Wojtek Brzezinski is a freelance science journalist based in Warsaw, and the former creator and host of Poland’s first weekly sci-tech TV news show, “Horyzont Zdarzen.” His recent work focuses on the effects that digital systems have on society and includes co-authoring the book “Strefy Cyberwojny” (“Cyber Warzones”) with Agata Kazmierska. His stories have been published by Tygodnik Powszechny, Poland’s oldest weekly, leading broadcasters like TVN and Polsat News, the Interia.pl news portal, and many other outlets. Brzezinski has won several national and European awards for his work, including the 2006 Prix CIRCOM for Europe’s best regional TV news story.

Sébastien Malo is a climate and environment reporter in New York for Reuters. He was a climate correspondent with the Thomson Reuters Foundation from 2015 to 2019. He has reported on climate change from the corridors of the United Nations to the farmlands of Niger and U.S. courts. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and a master’s degree in journalism with honors from Columbia University. He’s previously worked for Lebanon’s The Daily Star and investigative news website The New York World.

Kelly Servick is a staff reporter and editor at Science Magazine, where she has covered biomedical research and biotechnology, drug development, and most recently, neuroscience. Her work has also appeared in Scientific American, Wired, and other outlets. Her story on the use of lab-engineered mosquitoes to control insect-borne diseases in Brazil was a finalist for the U.S. National Association of Science Writers Science in Society award. She has a B.A. in cognitive science and is a graduate of the Science Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

2022-23 Sharon Begley Fellows

Ambar Castillo was most recently a Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellow at the Washington City Paper. She earned her B.A. in Latin American Studies at Boston University and an M.A. in Spanish-language journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, where she concentrated on health/science reporting. A Fulbright India research scholar, she researched complex human relationships, worked with StoryCorps, and at hyperlocal newspapers in the Bronx. Castillo has also worked with international communities in the health, education, and theater spheres from Brooklyn to Boston.

Brittany Trang, a scientist and writer, most recently was an American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Fellow at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Chemical & Engineering News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Chemistry World. Brittany has an undergraduate degree in chemistry and English from the Ohio State University and a chemistry Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where she developed PFAS remediation methods.

by Knight Science Journalism / June 21st 2022 / Announcements

2022-23 Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellows Announced

The Knight Science Journalism Program and STAT, the award-winning Boston-based biomedical magazine, have announced Ambar Castillo and Brittany Trang as the 2022-2023 recipients of the Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellowship. Named in honor of Sharon Begley, an award-winning science writer for STAT, who died in January 2021 at 64 from complications of lung cancer, the one-year fellowship was established last year with the goal of diversifying the ranks of science and health journalists and fostering better coverage of science that is relevant to all people.

Before winning the fellowship, Ambar Castillo was a Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellow at the Washington City Paper. She earned her B.A. in Latin American Studies at Boston University and an M.A. in Spanish-language journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, where she concentrated on health/science reporting. A Fulbright research scholar, she researched complex human relationships in India, worked with StoryCorps, and reported for hyperlocal newspapers in the Bronx. Castillo has also worked with international communities in the health, education, and theater spheres from Brooklyn to Boston.

Brittany Trang, a scientist and writer, most recently was an American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Fellow at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Chemical & Engineering News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Chemistry World. Trang has an undergraduate degree in chemistry and English from Ohio State University and before starting the fellowship, expects to complete her chemistry Ph.D. at Northwestern University, where she has developed PFAS remediation methods.

“Both Ms. Castillo and Ms. Trang bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the STAT newsroom,” said Gideon Gil, a managing editor at STAT. “We are incredibly excited to have such amazing talent join our team. We look forward to helping them grow as health and science journalists as they continue Sharon’s extraordinary legacy.”

At MIT, Castillo and Trang will join the five mid-career journalists who will make up the 2022-23 Knight Science Journalism Fellowship class: Mary-Rose Abraham, an independent multimedia journalist based in Bangalore, India; Laura Bliss, a reporter and editor for CityLab, a division of Bloomberg News; Wojtek Brzeziński, a freelance science journalist based in Warsaw; Sebastien Malo, a climate and environment reporter in New York for Reuters; and Kelly Servick, a staff reporter and editor at Science Magazine. The five fellows were originally selected to come to MIT during the 2020-21 academic year, but their appointments were deferred due to the pandemic. Other fellows selected for the 2020-21 class have opted to defer their appointments until the 2023-24 academic year.

The Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, founded in 1983, is the world’s premier fellowship program for science journalists; more than 300 reporters, from media outlets ranging from the BBC to the Los Angeles Times, have studied at MIT and Harvard while participating in this prestigious program. In addition, KSJ publishes the award-winning magazine, Undark, offers training in fact-checking and science editing (including a free, downloadable handbook for science editors available in three languages) and hosts the Victor K. McElheny Award in Science Journalism for small and regional media outlets.

About the Sharon Begley Fellowship

The Sharon Begley Fellowship prepares early-career U.S. journalists from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the profession for a successful career in science journalism. It combines a paid reporting position at STAT with an educational component provided through the Knight Science Journalism program. The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative provided funding for the first two years of the program and KSJ provides health insurance and other MIT resources to the fellows. After completing her fellowship, the inaugural Sharon Begley Fellow, Isabella Cueto, was hired by STAT to report on chronic diseases.

Begley, STAT’s senior science writer, was considered one of the nation’s finest science journalists and was known for her enthusiasm for mentoring and teaching the next generation. She was especially eager to help other women advance in a profession that, when she began as a researcher at Newsweek in 1977, was unwelcoming. She later worked at The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, before joining STAT at its founding in 2015. Her legacy includes her powerful advocacy for people of color, exemplified by a series she wrote in 2016 and 2017 about the neglect by scientists, government funders, drugmakers, and hospitals of patients with sickle cell disease, who in the U.S. are predominantly Black. This fellowship pays tribute to her outstanding career while paving the way for the next generation of science journalists.