University of California, Santa Cruz Science Writing Program

“The best academic training ground in the U.S. for science journalists.”
    New Scientist


the track record
If you read major science magazines, go to science museums and aquaria, or listen to NPR, you’ve seen and heard the work of our alumni.

We launch new careers in science writing. How have we done so far, in 27 years?

Check this list of our graduates' careers to find out.



recent writings
of UC Santa Cruz graduates


"Canadian Crude May Fuel S.D. Boom" (parts 1, 2, 3) by Ben Shouse '01 (Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, Dec. 2-4, 2007)

"To Sleep, Perchance to Dream" by Jessica Marshall '05 (Zoogoer, Nov./Dec. 2007)

"Bad Vibrations" by Mason Inman '04 (Science News, Nov. 24, 2007)

"Shadow World" by Davide Castelvecchi '04 (Science News, Nov. 17, 2007)

"4 Robots That Are Saving the World" by Brittany Grayson '07 (Discover.com, Sept. 7, 2007)

more…

more info  



  what will i learn?



  who’ll teach me?



  what do i need?



  what’s the cost?



  how do i apply?



  other faqs



  how do i find you?

Science Communication Program
University of California, Santa Cruz
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
(831) 459-4475

scicom (at) ucsc.edu
Do you enjoy explaining your work, and science in general, to non-scientist friends and relatives more than you like working in the lab?
    The women and men who popularize science enjoy a career that never loses its zing. They stay in close touch with cutting-edge science and with the world's leading scientists, often by visiting them in their labs or in the field. Science writers choose from many career options: newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, public information, and educational writing for federal agencies, national labs, universities, aquaria, and zoos.
    The science writing program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has produced professionally trained science writers since 1981. The program is one academic year long, plus a summer internship. It's the only graduate science writing program in the nation that requires significant previous science training.
    Program graduates work at National Public Radio and the San Francisco Exploratorium, at science magazines in New York City and Washington, D.C., at the National Institutes of Health and Caltech, and at newspapers from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to Bend, Oregon — to name a few sites. About half of our alumni freelance, mainly to live where they want and to cover the science that captivates them.  [TELL ME MORE….]



ScienceNotes
Science Notes
Science Notes is an annual magazine of feature stories and illustrations by students in the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication program.




notable writing
"Numbers Can Lie" by Andreas von Bubnoff '05, from the Sept. 17, 2007 Los Angeles Times, will appear in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2008.


national awards
Betsy Mason '01 received the American Geophysical Union's 2007 David Perlman Award for excellence in news reporting for articles in the Contra Costa Times.


application deadline
April 1

Science Communication Program / Kresge College Annex A / University of California, Santa Cruz / 1156 High Street / Santa Cruz, CA 95064
phone: (831) 459-4475 / email:
scicom@ucsc.edu / how to get here / map