Rick Borchelt

OUR GANG

by Rick Borchelt

Ya Gotta Have Heart-PJ Skerrett is the new editor of the Harvard Heart Letter. He tells us that covering all the assorted ills of the human heart has helped him focus on taking the advice he and coauthor Walter C. Willett set out in their new book, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating (Simon and Schuster, August 2001). PJ lives and works in the Boston area, where he can be reached at pjskerrett@hms.harvard.edu.

Raining Pennies from Heaven-Stephen Hart regaled CASW-goers with tales of the Southwestern desert when we visited Arizona in November; he's been the science writer in residence at the Tucson campus of the University of Arizona. But he returns to the cool, wet climes of Port Angeles, Wash., this December to continue freelancing. Reach him at hart@nasw.org.

Starry, Starry Night-I suspect a lot of us were out watching (or peering sullenly through fog and cloud to try to see) 2001's Leonid Meteor Shower. Larry Krumenaker did us one better by trooping out 50 students from Agnes Scott College in Decatur (where he teaches astronomy) and Emory University. Larry's excellent adventure with the kids was chronicled in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story the next day. You can snag the link from him at larrykga@mindspring.com.

Hail to the Chief-Kelli Whitlock at Ohio University in Athens is president-elect of the University Research Magazine Association. She'll assume the office and (gasp! Do they KNOW what they're doing?!) the checkbook at the group's next annual meeting in October 2002.

Britannia, Ruling-David Bradley, freelance from Cambridge (no, the OTHER Cambridge, in England) tells ScienceWriters that he might not have picked the best year to join NASW-despite copious attempts at poaching in the American market these days, he's finding only mixed success. He opines that the recession that is so plaguing news organizations here in the States hasn't had as much of an impact-yet-on the UK market, and suggests that U.S. freelancers might want to look at some of the British publications for a change of editorial pace. David's happy to share market tips at davidbradley@nasw.org.

Britannia, Ruling Part 2-David Lindley, fresh from a stint as writer-in-residence in Madison, Wis., recently snagged a book contract with the National Academies' Joseph Henry Press to do a biography of Victorian science poo-bah Lord Kelvin (a.k.a. William Thompson). He's been doing the England-to-Arlington, Va., commute this year and hopes to wrap up the book in 2002. When he's not racking up frequent-flyer points he's at dlindley@nasw.org.

California Dreamin' (for another newsroom hire)-Becky Oskin finished up her internship at DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory last year, and was recently tapped by the Pasadena Star-News as the science/health/Los Angeles/La Canada/Flintridge/Altadena/Sierra Madre/San Gabriel reporter-at least until they find another warm body for the newsroom so she can return to focusing on science and medicine with fewer distractions. Sympathy notes to becky.oskin@sgvn.com. Also on the INEEL front, Mary Beckman left employment at the lab but stayed in the area to freelance from Idaho. Catch her on her NASW e-mail at mbeckman@nasw.org.

California Dreamin' Part 2-Susan Turner Lowe, head of the news operation at the National Academies since 1995, has stepped down to move to Pasadena, too. She continues to serve the Academies as special adviser for strategic alliances to help identify programmatic support for the organization's projects. E-mail will still reach her at STurnerL@nas.edu.

Mountain Roads, Take Her Home-Not to West Virginia, but to Asheville, N.C.-Zoe Hoyle recently left the University of Tennessee, where she was a science writer (in the middle of a great football season, really bad timing) to become technical editor/science writer for the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station in Asheville. She'll be replaced at UT by veteran AP correspondent Bill Dockery. Zoe has a new e-mail address, zhoyle@green.gov.

Texas Two-Step-Lia Unrau, one of our hospitable hosts at CASW's 2000 meeting at Rice University, is leaving the science beat but staying in the Rice Media Relations Office. Science beat will be covered by (NASW prospective member) B.J. Almond.

She May Be a Jolly Good Fellow-Freelance Rebecca Skloot is a finalist for the 2002 Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship. By the time you read this, she'll know whether she received one; ask her at rebecca@rebeccaskloot.com. Meantime, she's working on a book for Times Books (a division of Henry Holt), titled HeLa: The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks.

Old Cape Cod- And yours truly takes a new post in Boston. Starting in February, Rick Borchelt will be the new director of communications and public affairs at The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research on the MIT campus. He'll be manager of the Whitehead's media, education, and public policy programs. Keep reaching him at rborchelt@nasw.org.

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Until the end of January, Rick Borchelt is director of communications for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. You can continue to send hot NASW-related gossip to Rick at rborchelt@nasw.org.