Fellowships & Awards
2016-2017 - Knight Science Journalism Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
May 2016 - Woods Hole Fellow, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory
May/June 2015 - Logan Science Journalism Biomedical Fellowship Recipient, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, Logan Science Journalism Program, Woods Hole, MA
Summer 1999 - Education Associate Fellowship in Science Writing/History, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA - Various writing & research projects dealing with NASA history
Magazine Articles, Etc.
2024
2023
"Scientists Move Closer to Long-Theorized Ultraprecise Nuclear Clock" - Argonne National Laboratory, November 16, 2023
"Going With the (Micro)Flow: The World of Microfluidics" - Photonics Focus, November/December 2023
"Begun, the Drone Wars Have" - ASME Mechanical Engineering magazine, August/September 2023
"Probing the Quantum Earth" - Photonics Focus, May/June 2023
"A Journey into Space Policy" - Slice of MIT, March 21, 2023
"A Journey into Space Policy" - MIT Technology Review, February 21, 2023
2022
"Book Review: Starry-Eyed Dreams of a Lunar Homecoming" - Undark magazine, December 23, 2022
"Book Review: A Timely History of Nuclear Catastrophes" - Undark magazine, May 27, 2022
"Problem Solving in Hollywood" - Slice of MIT, May 4, 2022
"Catching the Uncatchable: Cosmic Rays" - StarDate magazine, May/June 2022
"Let There Be Smart Light" - Photonics Focus, March 2022
"Hybrid Powertrain Could Replace Dirty Diesels" - ASME Mechanical Engineering magazine, January 12, 2022
"Energy From the Earth, For the Earth" - Slice of MIT, January 10, 2022
2021
"Energy From the Earth, For the Earth" - MIT Technology Review, December 17, 2021
"Where Are All the Holograms?" - Photonics Focus, November/December 2021
"The Dark Stars of Marietta Blau" - Distillations, August 2021
"Photons Go to Extremes" - Photonics Focus, May/June 2021
"From MIT Math Major to Encryptor of Elections" - Slice of MIT, May 2021
"The Outer Bounds of Big Questions" - Slice of MIT, May 19, 2021
"Augmenting Air Combat Training" - ASME Mechanical Engineering magazine, May 17, 2021
"Book Review: The Next Frontier of Warfare is Online" - Undark magazine, April 30, 2021
"Portable Docking for Underwater Vehicles" - ASME Mechanical Engineering magazine, March 16, 2021
2020
2019
"What Termites Can Teach Engineers" - Mechanical Engineering magazine, December 2019
"An MIT Engineer's Rediscovered Role in Lunar Landing History" - Slice of MIT, November 6, 2019
"How the First American Science Writer Found (Then Lost) God in the Cosmic Ray" - Distillations magazine, Science History Institute, October 8, 2019
"Has Science Let Radiation Scare Us to Death? Of Science, Fear, and Nuclear Radiation" - Undark magazine, September 13, 2019
"Power Forward: MIT Energy Initiative Plans for Low Carbon Future" - MIT Spectrum, Summer 2019
"Flying for MIT: Test Pilot Thomas Washington" - Slice of MIT, July 12, 2019
"Contesting the High Ground" - Mechanical Engineering magazine, July 2019
"Apollo 11 and the Path to Tranquility Base" - Undark magazine, June 7, 2019
"'Ticked Off' by a Wrench, MIT Engineer Fixed His Place in Tool History" - Slice of MIT, April 18, 2019
"The Brave New World of Sex Robots" - Undark magazine, March 29, 2019
"Science as a Cold War Propaganda Tool" - Undark magazine, March 1, 2019
2018
"On Humanity's Tenuous Future: Five Questions for Martin Rees" - Undark magazine, December 28, 2018
"The Uneasy Alliance Between Astrophysics and Warfare" - Undark magazine, November 23, 2018
"Armageddon's Fingerprints" - Distillations magazine, Science History Institute, Fall 2018/Winter 2019
"IMAGE Recovery: An Amateur Satellite Tracker Finds a NASA Spacecraft That Vanished More Than a Decade Ago" - StarDate magazine, September/October 2018
"The General Is a Robot: Artificial Intelligence Goes to War" - Undark magazine, August 10, 2018
"For '2001: A Space Odyssey,' the Liftoff Was Anything But Smooth" - Undark magazine, June 8, 2018
"New Life for Metals: Cem Tasan aims to invent repairable, reusable alloys" - MIT Spectrum, Spring 2018
"The Final Yard: The International Policy Lab helps faculty ideas take those last critical steps into the corridors of power" - MIT Spectrum, Winter 2018
"Seminar XXI: Educating US National Security Leaders" - MIT Spectrum, Winter 2018
"When Russia Won the Space Race: A Cold War History, in Pictures" - Undark magazine, March 30, 2018
"To Venus, If You Can Find It" - Air & Space Smithsonian, March 2018
"Dismantling Doomsday: Daniel Ellsberg on the Risk of Nuclear Apocalypse" - Undark magazine, January 19, 2018
"Counting Down to the Apocalypse: Lisa Vox's 'Existential Threats'" - Undark magazine, January 5, 2018
"Prevention at the Point of Pain: Addressing the Opioid Crisis at its Source" - Penn Medicine Magazine, Fall 2017
"How Can We Measure Damage? Quantifying Radiation Damage in Materials" - MIT Spectrum, Fall 2017
2017
2016
"A Plea to the Victors: In Defeated Japan, a Scientist Bet on His Institution's Future" - World War II Magazine, March/April 2016
2015
"Fracking and Public Health: Finding the Best Balance" - Penn Medicine Magazine, Fall 2015
"How International Monitors Spot Nukes and Other Rumblings" - MIT Technology Review, September 10, 2015
"Photon Torpedo: The Quest To Fly Around the World Powered Only By The Sun" - WIRED, January 2015
2014
"Evolving Together in the Same Direction: Penn's 'Evolution Cluster'" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Summer 2014
"Flying at an Oblique Angle - NASA's AD-1" - Aviation History, March 2014
“The Bergdoll Flyer - Philadelphia's Franklin Institute has displayed a rare 1911 Wright Model B for almost 80 years" - Aviation History, January 2014
2013
"Growing Up in a Green World" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Fall/Winter 2013
"Augmenting Reality" - Trajectory, Official Magazine of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, Issue #4 2013"
"Chasing Slumber: Why You'll Never Know How Tired You Are" - Psychology Today, September/October 2013
"Air Man - Hap Arnold and the Air Force" - World War II Magazine, September/October 2013
"Inevitable: The Way We Think About Cancer Must Evolve" - WIRED, June 2013
"Beating the Blackout" - Air & Space Smithsonian, July 2013
"Living By the Clock: The Science of Chronobiology" - Penn Medicine Magazine, Spring 2013
"Restless Pioneer" - Penn SAS Frontiers, April 2013
"'I Am Destiny' - Science Reporter William Laurence and the Manhattan Project" - World War II Magazine, March/April 2013
"Probing Into Proteins" - Penn SAS Frontiers, March 2013
2012
"Sleeping By Starlight: David Dinges Studies How Humans Rest and Work in Space" - Penn Medicine Magazine, Fall 2012
"Library of the Mind: Michael Kahana Explains Why We Remember" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Fall/Winter 2012
"From Theory to the Real World: Charles Kane Discusses Theoretical Physics in Easy Terms" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Fall/Winter 2012
"A More Global Perspective on Feminism" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Fall/Winter 2012
"A Pathway to Better Sleep?" - Penn SAS Frontiers, October 2012
"The Original Men in Black?" - Air & Space Smithsonian, August 2012
"The World Under Light" - Penn SAS Frontiers, August 2012
"What Exactly is Dark Matter?" - Bryn Mawr College Alumnae Bulletin, May 2012
"BLAST Blasts Off Again" - Penn SAS Frontiers, May 2012
"How Birds Sing" - Penn SAS Frontiers, May 2012
"Recycling Water - And Attitudes" - Penn SAS Frontiers, April 2012
"Cancelled: SeaMonsters of the Navy: Martin P6M SeaMaster" - Air & Space Smithsonian, March 2012
"Project Tip-Tow" - Aviation History, January 2012
"Zeroing In On the Higgs" - Penn SAS Frontiers, January 2012
2011"Top Secret Rosies" - American Heritage, Summer/Fall 2011 "When Civvies Scrambled Fighters: The Ground Observer Corps" - Air & Space Smithsonian, July 2011 "A Flying Car in Every Garage?" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Winter 2011 2010"Thinking About Thinking: Sharon Thompson-Schill's Brain Work on the Working Brain" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Fall/Winter 2010 "Penn Astronomer Opens New Window on the Universe's Past" - Penn News, December 2010"SETI at 50" - American Heritage's Invention & Technology, Fall 2010"The Science of Decisions" - Penn SAS Frontiers, October 2010"Drive-Thru Detection" - Popular Science, September 2010"New Pathways: Recent Studies at Temple Provide Clues to a Piece of the HIV Puzzle" - Temple Review, Fall 2010"A Solution for Almost Everything: 50 Years of the Laser" - American Heritage's Invention & Technology, Summer 2010"Biologist at the Blackboard: Joshua Plotkin at Play With the Impossible Puzzle of Life" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Spring/Summer 2010"A Database for All" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Spring/Summer 2010"How To Win Enemies and Influence Policy: The Air Force Chief Scientist" - Air & Space Smithsonian, September 2010"Valkyrie's Little Brother: The F-108" - Aviation History, September 2010"Piece of the Puzzle: Grad Student Identifies New Species of Dinosaur" - Penn SAS Frontiers, August 2010"On a Wing and a...Sail" - American Heritage's Invention & Technology, Spring 2010"Moving in Circles: Path Cells Show the Way" - Penn SAS Frontiers, April 2010"Scopes On a Plane! SOFIA" - Popular Science, March 2010"Faster, Lighter Space Engines" - Popular Mechanics, March 2010"A Bomber's First and Last Mission" - Aviation History, March 2010"The Miracle of Digital Imaging" - American Heritage's Invention & Technology, Winter 20102009"That Airbus Landing on the Hudson: Not so seat-of-the-pants after all" - Broad Street Review (online), December 2009"William C. Ocker: A Pioneer of Instrument Flight" - The Yellow Sheet, the Magazine of Marine Aviation, Winter 2009/10 (reprint)"Piercing the Plasma: Ideas to Beat the Communications Blackout of Reentry" - Scientific American, December 2009 "Remembering the Other Explorers" - Sky & Telescope, December 2009"Smart Bomb Against Cancer" - Popular Mechanics, November 2009"The Instrumental Missionary: William C. Ocker" (reprint) - AirForce, Magazine of the Air Force Association of Canada, Fall 2009"The Father of Video Games" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Fall 2009"Tiltrotors for the Rest of Us" - Air & Space Smithsonian, September 2009"Into the Mushroom Cloud" - Air & Space Smithsonian, August 2009"Starquakes" - Air & Space Smithsonian, August 2009"From the Mind of R.T. Jones" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Summer 2009"Michael Mann's Public Enemies" - Broad Street Review (online), July 2009"Something Different: Ambient/Space Music" - Broad Street Review (online), July 2009"Frost/Nixon on DVD" - Broad Street Review (online), June 2009"Magnificent Obsession" - ICON Magazine, May 2009"KEPLER's Eye: Is Earth Unique? A New Spaceship is Seeking Planets Like Ours To Find Out" - Popular Mechanics, May 2009"Theatrical Readings and Where to Find Them" - Broad Street Review (online), March 2009"Guitarist John Williams at Perelman Theater" - Broad Street Review (online), March 2009"Oppenheimer and the 'Guilt-Ridden Scientist' Myth" - Broad Street Review (online), March 2009"KEPLER Launch Will Help Hubble Continue Golden Age" - Popular Mechanics (online), March 2009"Fighting on all Fronts: From pharmaceuticals to vaccination strategies, Temple alumni combat disease" - Temple Review, Winter 2009"War on Ice" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Winter 2009"Big Little Problem: Trying to figure out where each atom belongs in a nanostructure" - Scientific American, January 20092008"The Quiet Return of Supersonics" - Popular Mechanics, December 2008"The Hotline" - Geek Monthly, November 2008"The Father of Blind Flying" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Fall 2008“How Things Work: The Ouija Board” - Air & Space Smithsonian, October/November 2008“Pioneering Weirdness” - Air & Space Smithsonian, September 2008“The New Radio Sky: Digital upgrades for a radio astronomy renaissance” - Scientific American, September 2008“The Supersize Radio Telescope” - Scientific American, September 2008“The Guy Who Builds Stuff: Mark Devlin’s Photo Album of the History of the Universe” - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Spring/Summer 2008“New Spin on Nuclear Power” - Popular Mechanics, May 2008“Spin Cycle” - Air & Space Smithsonian, May 2008“Homebuilt Radiation Belt” - Air & Space Smithsonian, May 2008“Stirling in Deep Space: To cut back on radioisotope fuel, NASA goes back 200 years” - Scientific American, March 20082007"Scholar on the Street: Alexine Fleck Connects Scholarship and Activism" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Fall/Winter 2007“Muons for Peace: New way to spot hidden nukes gets ready to debut” - Scientific American, September 2007“Subatomic Help for Subterranean Threat” - Scientific American, September 2007"The G Machine" - Air & Space Smithsonian, May 2007"The DEW Line" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Spring 2007"Stretch Nerves After They Snap" - The Pennsylvania Gazette, January/February 2007"Secrets From the Seabed: Shipwrecks as Time Capsules From Antiquity" - Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine, Spring 20072006"Communicating With Farthest Space" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Spring 2006"No Trip Around the Block" - StarDate, March/April 20062004"Unfriendly Persuasion" - Air & Space Smithsonian, September 20042003"Spies vs. Breast Cancer" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Summer 2003 "Winged Atom" - American History, February 2003 Book Review - "Unlocking the Sky: Glenn Hammond Curtis and the Race to Invent the Airplane" - American History, February 2003 2002"The Tube is Dead - Long Live the Tube" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Fall 2002 "SoloTrek Takes Flight" - Flight Journal, October 2002 "Oppenheimer Under Suspicion" - American History, August 2002 "30...and Counting: Pioneer 10" - StarDate, March/April 2002 2001 "The Airplane That Flew Into Space" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Summer 2001 Book Review - "Flight: My Life in Mission Control" - American History, August 2001 "The Spacecraft That Will Not Die" - American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Winter 2001 2000Book Review - "Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe" - Skeptical Inquirer, Nov./Dec. 2000 "Pathfinding the Rings" - Quest: History of Spaceflight Quarterly, Spring 2000 Selected Plays and Media ScriptsSeptember 2011 - "Pretending," "Greener Grass," "Exit the Narrator, Stage Left": The Gray Area, Ocelot on a Leash Theater Company, Philadelphia Fringe FestivalFebruary 2009 - present - Readings of various works, Bridal Salon Reading Series, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PAOctober 2005 – “The Shadow of the Light” and “Story of the Century” – One-act plays, Shubin Theatre, PhiladelphiaNovember 2000 - "Downwind" - Full-length play, Showcase Theatre, Exeter, PA (Nominee, Best Original Production, Northeastern Pennsylvania Theatrical Alliance Awards, 2001) See some photos from the production.June 1999 - "Machines in Love" - One-act play, Showcase Theatre, Exeter, PA 1998 - "Story of the Century" - Audio Play, Ziplow Productions, Hilton Head Island, SC October 1997 - "Downwind," Magnet Theatre Company, Trenton, NJ1994-2000 - "The Funnt File" Audio/Radio Series - Co-Creator, Chief Writer 1991-1993 - Various radio scripts for "The Iowa Radio Project," National Public Radio May 1993 - "Machines in Love," Stage Two Theatre, Waukegan, IL1986-2000 - Public readings of various works by the Playwrights Workshop of Theater Center Philadelphia and the Brick Playhouse, Philadelphia, PA April 1990 - "An Evening With Tony Bennett" - One-act play, First Stage, Los Angeles, CAMarch 1990 - "Sheltered" - One-act play, Theater Center Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA April 1988 - "Crabgrass and Dandelions" - Full-length play, Theater Center Philadelphia March 1987 - "Final Report," "Another Saturday Night," "Black Market" - One-act plays, Theater Center Philadelphia Short Fiction"One Potato, Two Potato" - Philadelphia Stories (online edition), Winter 2009/2010"Black Market" - Strong Coffee, Chicago, IL, May 1994; Pursuit Magazine, February 1997 "Fly On a Windshield" - Keen Science Fiction!, November 1996 "Love In The Silicon Age" - Aboriginal Science Fiction, Summer 1996 Other ProjectsSeptember 2013-14 - Research highlights for NASA International Space Station website
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 - Official biographies of Franklin Institute Award Recipients 2005-2016 - Various press releases and news articles for University of Pennsylvania, School of Arts and Sciences and Penn Medicine News
April 2, 2009 - Drexel University Department of Physics Colloquium: "Science Writers: Ink-Stained Wretches or Descendants of Prometheus?"Spring 2007– American Association for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, PAVarious press and conference materials.November 2005 - Director of Science Programming, Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference (Philcon)Spring 2003–present – Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, ILVarious research highlights for APS Annual Report and Argonne webpage. Summer 1999 - Education Associate Fellowship in Science Writing/History, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA - Various writing & research projects dealing with NASA history. As part of its 60th anniversary celebration in 1999, Ames instituted the Ames Hall of Fame to honor important individuals in Ames history. I researched and wrote the biographies of the first twelve inductees. Here are a few that are still available online: Smith DeFrance, Ames's first director Charlie Hall, Pioneer project director Dean Chapman, scientist George Cooper, test pilot Harold Klein, exobiologist Hans Mark, Ames director James Pollack, planetary scientist Clarence Syvertson, Ames directorI also contributed research to the official 60th Ames anniversary history book, Atmosphere of Freedom: Sixty Years at the NASA Ames Research Center by Dr. Glenn E. Bugos.
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