Vishva Nalamalapu
Vishva Nalamalapu, a science writer at Grinnell College and a new addition to the NASW community, shares #WhySciWri in this short Q&A.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself.
A: I’m an early-career science writer, specializing in an interdisciplinary and inclusive perspective on the environment. I studied ecology at Grinnell College, and I’m now working in their communications office, writing stories about research across a range of sciences as well as other non-science stories. I live in Des Moines, Iowa, where I love to run, read, cook, and dream about distant mountains.
Q: How did you get interested in science writing?
A: One summer, I researched what made drought-vulnerable plants more likely to survive droughts because I was excited about the potential it had for making plant conservation more targeted. I realized my findings would not automatically reach people beyond those in the field, so I shifted my focus to extending that reach through science writing.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I’m working on a story about how stalagmites, the long forms growing from the bottom of caves, can help us discover our climate history and predict our climate future.
Q: If you could write about any scientific event/breakthrough/topic (past, present or future) what would it be and why?
A: I'd want to write a sweeping history of what has and hasn't been considered "science," both in terms of fields and ways of knowing. As a science writer, these are questions I often think about and will likely never arrive at the answers to, but I'd love to explore them more.
Q: Why did you join NASW and what kinds of professional connections/opportunities are you seeking?
A: I joined NASW to learn from and with a community of science writers. I’d love to speak with more institutional science writers as well as to hear about opportunities for early-career science writers to do immersive environmental reporting.
Follow Vishva on Twitter @scivish
