Larson first recipient of Sea Grant

The Washington Sea Grant (WSG) announced this fall that it will be providing quarterly science writing fellowships for students to enhance the quality of their science reporting skills. The fellowship comes at a time when accurate science reporting is increasingly important in all forms of media.

"We all need to put more energy into education and informing the public on ocean issues," said David Gordon, a science writer at WSG. "We wanted something specific to help people. That includes really good writers who know the issues and know how to express them."

Ben Larson, the first recipient of the WSG fellowship, worked extensively with scientists to develop three articles in his two-month term as a science writer.

"I'm a scientist by training and a reporter by chance," Larson said. "It was definitely a worthwhile experience."

Gordon addressed the concept of "ocean literacy" when speaking about the fellowship. Ocean literacy generally means increasing public awareness about marine issues by becoming familiar with terms and theories surrounding them.

"Surveys always show that people always want to know about science, and issues raised by developments touch us all, and it's important to prepare people and raise the bar of science writing and inform decision making at all levels," said Deborah Illman, a science writing teacher at the UW.

Larson, an oceanography graduate student, previously worked for The Oregonian doing science reporting. He brought his experience to the WSG and aided in disseminating the sometimes complicated research of UW scientists for publication in WSG's newsletter Sea Star.

Larson found that talking to scientists about their research often involves dealing with difficult concepts. A crucial component of science writing is taking complex scientific data and reassembling it in a form that is digestible to the average reader in the community, he said.

The opportunity to involve students in the WSG originated from a long working relationship between Illman and Gordon. Illman had provided Gordon with student writers in the past, but the science writing fellowship represents the first time they have formalized that relationship.

"I've been recruiting some of her students to work for us as interns to help develop portfolios and help them grow a little bit," Gordon said. "We wanted this year to really have something more formal that was an obvious benefit for somebody."

The fellows receive a $1,000 stipend for their work with the WSG and also have the opportunity to follow in Larson's footsteps by publishing their work in WSG's quarterly newsletter.

"It's been a wonderful collaboration, and now we're looking forward to expanding on this pilot program in the future," Illman said.

The WSG is taking applications for the science writing fellowship for spring quarter. Applications are due Jan. 28, 2008.

"I really like working people who have the desire and energy to go somewhere with their writing," Gordon said.

[Reach reporter Andrew Doughman at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]