2009–2010 Knight Fellows

The 27th class of Knight Science Journalism Fellows consists of twelve journalists from seven countries.

All are mid-career journalists who work for general interest news media and have an interest in advancing the public's understanding of science. They will take a sabbatical year from their jobs to improve their own knowledge of science by taking courses at MIT and Harvard, interviewing scientists and attending various seminars during the 2009–2010 academic year.

The new Knights are:

Michael Barnes Michael Barnes, a native of the UK, is a television producer and writer whose work has appeared on public television’s NOVA and other American and British broadcasters. His works include documentaries on topics from archeology to aeronautics. His most notable work is the use of “experimental archeology”—the technique of rebuilding, while filming, ancient buildings and machines to understand what went into them. During his fellowship year, he will study new media and technology for developing nations.
Daniela Hirschfeld Daniela Hirschfeld is the Editor of Galeria Magazine, a part of the Busqueda Newsweekly, in Montevideo, Uruguay. She is also a frequent contributor to and regional consultant of SciDev.net, an online news service covering issues in science and international development. In 2007, she won the Rodolfo Talice Prize for her outstanding science journalism in Uruguay. She will study the history of science and cognitive studies, among other topics.
Marcin Jamkowski Marcin Jamkowski has been Editor-in-Chief of the Polish edition of National Geographic magazine, and is now a freelancer writer, photographer, and video producer for such organizations as Newsweek, National Geographic, Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, and Focus magazine. He has done stories and pictures on topics from the underwater caves of Easter Island, to the wreck of the Nazi ship Steuben in the Baltic Sea and black pharaohs archaeology in Sudan. At MIT he will study ocean sciences, new media, human evolution and Middle Eastern studies.
Konstantin Kakaes Konstantin Kakaes is a writer for The Economist, covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Before that assignment, he wrote for the Science and Technology section of The Economist. He has written about the poverty divide between northern and southern Mexico, the history of the Unix operating system and a layman’s guide to Einstein’s work. At MIT, he will study the history of information theory.
Chris Mooney Chris Mooney is a blogger at blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/ and author of three books, including Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future. He has written extensively about science and politics, climate change and evolution, among other topics. Chris will study energy issues, bioethics and cognitive science while at MIT.
Susan Moran Susan Moran is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to The New York Times and The Economist. She is also co-host of How on Earth, a weekly radio program on KGNU in Boulder, Colorado. She has written extensively about energy and environmental issues. At MIT she will study the links between energy development and water resources as well as environmental epidemiology.
Onche Odeh Onche Odeh is a science writer for the Daily Independent in Lagos, Nigeria. He has written about a variety of topics, from energy technologies, to avian flu and HIV. In 2008 he won the Best Story competition in the SJCOOP program of the World Federation of Science Journalists. He will study medical technology and information systems in the coming academic year.
Mary Otto Mary Otto has been a reporter for The Washington Post and for Knight Ridder Newspapers, and editor of the newspaper, Street Sense. She has written extensively about issues in health care—from dental care to poverty and the uninsured. At MIT, she will continue her work on health care issues, especially the impact on the poor of the failures in the American health care system.
Rowan Philp Rowan Philp is Chief Reporter for the Sunday Times, South Africa’s largest newspaper. He has covered topics from the Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe to the separatist war in the Philippines, and won South Africa's highest journalism prize, the Vodacom South African Journalist of the Year 2005. He will study the application of science and technology to developing nations, and space science, among other topics.
Eugenie Samuel Reich Eugenie Samuel Reich is a freelance writer and contributor to New Scientist magazine and the Boston Globe. She has covered a wide variety of topics in science, from dark matter and geology to toxic shock syndrome and fraud in science; she has specialized in investigative reporting. In the coming year, she will study energy issues, astronomy and scientific ethics.
Craig Simons Craig Simons was the Asia Bureau Chief for Cox Newspapers from 2005 until 2009 and has covered China for over a decade. Before Cox, he reported on western China for Newsweek and worked for Reuters in Singapore. As a foreign correspondent, he covered a wide range of stories, from the Olympics to bird flu. At MIT, he will study environmental issues, with an eye to returning to China to cover the broad story of development and the environment there.
Xiaojian Zhao Xiaojian Zhao is a reporter for the Beijing bureau of Southern Weekly, the most respected weekly newspaper with the largest circulation in China. Xiaojian has covered avian flu, environmental pollution, the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, and reported on SARS for Caijing, China’s leading financial magazine. Throughout her 10-year journalism career she has closely followed China’s health care reform. In the coming academic year she will study public health issues and health reform strategies.

           

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