TAYLOR/BLAKESLEE FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED FOR GRADUATE STUDIES

The Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW) has announced the award of this year's Rennie Taylor/Alton Blakeslee Graduate Studies Fellowships. The fellowships offer up to $2,000 to both professional journalists and students of outstanding ability who have been accepted into graduate-level programs in science writing.

Two recipients will attend the UC Santa Cruz science-writing program. They are Kristen L. Cobb, a graduate of Stanford University; and Kendall S. Powell, a UC San Diego graduate, ARCS Fellow, AAAS Mass Media Fellow and intern at Los Angeles Times.

Cordelia (Corie) Lok, a graduate of the University of Guelph and an editorial intern at Nature magazine in Washington, DC, has been accepted into a graduate program Boston University; and Rachel Rabkin, from the University of Michigan and a freelance writer for Family Circle, Healthy Living, will be attending Columbia University.

Support for the fellowships derive largely from a special bequest made to CASW by the American Tentative Society (ATS), which, for three decades, played an important role in promoting public understanding of science and the scientific process. The fellowships honor the memory of Rennie Taylor, a science writer for the Associated Press, who estate provided funds for the establishment of ATS, and Alton Blakeslee, AP science editor, who served as long-president of ATS.

Applications for next year's fellowships will be accepted until July 1, 2002. Journalists with at least two years of mass-media experience will receive preferential treatment in the selection process. Students must have undergraduate degrees in science or journalism and must convince the CASW selection committee of their ability to pursue a career in science writing for the general public. For more information contact Diane McGurgan at diane@nasw.org.

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