As a writer, teacher, and editor, I forge, strengthen, and refine science writing—from fiction to non-fiction and across all registers of writing. Diplomatic and honest science communication helps us recognize and throw out scientific dross.
I teach science writing in the MA Science Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University; I also teach astronomy at the Universidad Americana de Managua.
Before this I was a science editor for seven years, acting as managing editor for the Brussels-based NGO Atomium Culture and as a proofreader of graduate-level textbooks on engineering, computer programming, optics, mathematics, statistics, and astrophysics for CRC Press (a member of the Taylor & Francis Group). I also taught science writing and astronomy at the Pierre and Marie Curie School in Managua, Nicaragua. I am currently working on a novel and a series of science essays.
I teach science writing in the MA Science Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University; I also teach astronomy at the Universidad Americana de Managua.
Before this I was a science editor for seven years, acting as managing editor for the Brussels-based NGO Atomium Culture and as a proofreader of graduate-level textbooks on engineering, computer programming, optics, mathematics, statistics, and astrophysics for CRC Press (a member of the Taylor & Francis Group). I also taught science writing and astronomy at the Pierre and Marie Curie School in Managua, Nicaragua. I am currently working on a novel and a series of science essays.
News
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3/16/18 Publication of essay "Makeup of a Monster" is now available in Creative Nonfiction #66: "Dangerous Creations." It explores how beauty cosmetics parallel Boris Karloff's cosmetics in the movie Frankenstein—and what I see happening in my beautiful home state of Utah, one of the top consumers of cosmetic surgery in the nation. www.creativenonfiction.org/issue/66
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3/8/18 At AWP Conference in Tampa, Florida, on duty at the JHU Booth. More information about the MA in Science Writing Program can be found here. Great to see Bennington College friends and other familiar faces too.
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3/3/18 Invited to attend moon ceremony of indigenous people of Nicaragua in Jinotega. Camping with them as well as Sandinista freedom fighters under the shadow of the sacred mountain Yuca Puca was quite the experience.
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2/16/18 Accompanied students to Humberto Solorzano's organic farm Tonantzin in La Trinidad, Nicaragua, where we learned about sustainable farming in the dry tropical zone. Humberto also built me an astronomy tower! Observation nights in the works for astronomy students.
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2/13/18 "On the Revolution of Revolutions: Nicaraguan Women After War" published for CONSEQUENCE Magazine's 10th anniversary issue. http://www.consequencemagazine.org/volumes/volume-10-anniversary-issue-spring-2018/
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2/12/18 First day teaching astronomy at Universidad Americana de Managua, Nicaragua.
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2/9/18 Flash nonfiction "Walking by Dogs on a Marshallese Morning" accepted for Brevity's One-Minute Memoir issue. March publication date.
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2/06/18 Checked in with Pierre and Marie Curie School. The Science Literature Library we started is still going strong!
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12/28/17 "Makeup of a Monster" accepted for publication at Creative Nonfiction Magazine. Will be published March 2018.
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10/13/17 Magazine event launch at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the publication of a collaborative Science & Religion issue. "Shuddering Before the Beautiful" essay won the $5,000 runner-up prize and can be found in both Creative Nonfiction Magazine and Issues in Science & Technology.
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Photo by Matthew G. Bisanz.
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9/16/17 "On the Revolution of Revolutions: Nicaraguan Women After War" accepted for publication for a special 10-year anniversary issue at CONSEQUENCE Magazine. Forthcoming January 2018.
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8/28/17 Started teaching the Prizewinners course at Johns Hopkins University. Find more information on the Science Writing Master's Program at JHU here. Will be teaching the Science-Medical Writing Workshop Spring 2018 semester.
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7/3/17 Creative Nonfiction Magazine and Issues in Science & Technology will publish essay "'Shuddering Before the Beautiful': Trains of Thought Across the Mormon Cosmos" this October as part of a special issue on science & religion.
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5/30/17 Accepted position to teach science writing to MA students at Johns Hopkins University.
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5/25/17 Spoke with Sandra Cisneros during her visit to Nicaragua. Her message to Nicaraguan girls: 1) make your own money, 2) control your own fertility, 3) learn to enjoy being alone.
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5/8/17 Interviewed Comandante Dora María Téllez. Essay forthcoming in CONSEQUENCE Magazine.
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5/7/17 Took Pierre and Marie Curie students to see the movie Hidden Figures--free tickets and special viewing courtesy of the U.S. Embassy.
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4/30/17 Judged NASA's SpaceApps Challenge at Universidad Americana de Managua.
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3/9/17 Assembly at Pierre and Marie Curie School with Dr. Jaime Incer Barquero to award my students for analyzing images from the Pan-STARRS observatory in Hawaii and preliminarily discovering 10 new asteroids through the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).
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1/26/16 Fully armed and operational astronomical station at Pierre and Marie Curie School, Managua, Nicaragua.
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10/24/16 "Landscape with Broken Fire Hydrant: An Interview with Jamie Zvirzdin" published by MFA Day Job.
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9/6/16 "Observations of a Science Editor: If Romantic Scientists Pilfered Fiction's Toolbox, So Can You" published by The Kenyon Review as part of a special discussion on "The Poetics of Science." Responses to the essay from scientists, writers, and editors will be posted throughout September and October.
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9/1/16 Fresh Courage Take nominated for Best Anthology by the John Whitmer Historical Association.
3/5/16 Fresh Courage Take finalist for the 2015 Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters, Creative Non-fiction. |
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