Thanks to a generous grant from the William T. Golden Endowment Fund at AAAS, the NASW Mentoring Program can offer as many as 10 undergraduate students interested in science journalism up to $1000 in travel expenses to attend the 2008 AAAS meeting in Boston. The meeting will be held from February 14 to 18, 2008. NASW's education committee will select the students independently from AAAS and will pair each one with a veteran writer for a one-day mentorship program.
The world's largest general science society, AAAS holds an annual meeting in the United States that draws leading scientists from all disciplines and from all over the world. The conference invariably makes news as hundreds of American and international science writers from magazines, newspapers, radio, TV and web also cover the event. At AAAS, NASW has also traditionally held an internship fair for young science journalists.
Although AAAS or NASW will be happy to assist them, those selected will be expected to make their own travel arrangements to attend the Boston meeting and provide receipts for reimbursement. AAAS will reserve 5 conference hotel rooms with 2 beds each if the winners would like to defray costs by rooming with someone.
Only currently enrolled undergraduate students are eligible for these travel stipends.
Please copy the application below into an email and send it with the required writing sample (as an attachment) by midnight (EST) December 10, 2007, to mentor@nasw.org.
-----------------------------------------APPLICATION--------------------------------------------------------
Name:
Address:
Email:
Telephone number:
Birthdate:
School:
Major:
Minor (if any):
Anticipated Graduation Date:
Faculty reference (Please provide the name and contact information for a professor who is willing to discuss your qualifications if needed):
Describe any journalism experience you have outside of the classroom (school newspaper, internships, etc):
Please describe any of your classes or extracurricular activities that reflect an interest in science or communicating science:
The main component of your application will be a science writing sample, roughly 400-800 words in length. You may include a previously published clip (from a school newspaper, for example). However, we will also accept original, unpublished entries that meet the requirements below:
1) A profile of a researcher at your school. It should describe the person's research goals and methods, as well as why the scientist finds the work important or fascinating. While the profile can include the researcher's a background, a premium should be placed on clearly and accurately describing the science he or she is conducting. The style should be journalistic — imagine trying to place this story in the school newspaper or alumni magazine. (Please provide the researcher's contact information as well)
OR
2) A news account of a scientific lecture or presentation given by a university researcher or a visiting scientist. This is not intended to be a coverage of a class lecture — the talk covered should be one given to a wider audience, whether the full university or a specific department, and the story should place the researcher's latest work in context. Examples: A botany professor discussing new plant species her team found in the Amazon, or an astronomer describing how new observations of supernova provide an age for the universe. This story may require a post-talk interview with the researcher. (Please provide time and date of the talk and the researcher's contact information as well)
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