SMASH18 fellows will convene in Boston from September 25-27 for an opportunity to attend three days of fascinating sessions highlighting recent discoveries in science as well as trends in science media production and distribution, and special pre-conference workshops. Fellows will be able to take advantage of networking opportunities with leading scientists and innovative science communicators from around the world.
SMASH18 Fellows are supported by NSF and the Rita Allen Foundation.
SMASH18 Fellows are supported by NSF and the Rita Allen Foundation.
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Angeli Gabriel
Angeli Gabriel is a producer and host at National Geographic. She creates explainer videos for a variety of digital platforms, making science and history topics accessible to any and all curious minds. She has a master's degree in Film and Video from American University and a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. When she's not producing videos, she enjoys reading, watching action/sci-fi movies and television shows, and making costumes of her favorite sci-fi characters.
Angeli Gabriel is a producer and host at National Geographic. She creates explainer videos for a variety of digital platforms, making science and history topics accessible to any and all curious minds. She has a master's degree in Film and Video from American University and a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. When she's not producing videos, she enjoys reading, watching action/sci-fi movies and television shows, and making costumes of her favorite sci-fi characters.
Christina Sauer
Christina Sauer is a graduate student at Montana State University studying Science and Natural History Filmmaking. She holds a M.S. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Brown University. An environmental scientist turned filmmaker, she is passionate about science communication and education through visual media. Each summer she organizes the Communicating Science Conference, ComSciCon, through Harvard University and MIT to train science graduate students to translate their research into engaging content. Christina hopes to become a producer of children’s science educational television for PBS or The Jim Henson Company.
Christina Sauer is a graduate student at Montana State University studying Science and Natural History Filmmaking. She holds a M.S. from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Brown University. An environmental scientist turned filmmaker, she is passionate about science communication and education through visual media. Each summer she organizes the Communicating Science Conference, ComSciCon, through Harvard University and MIT to train science graduate students to translate their research into engaging content. Christina hopes to become a producer of children’s science educational television for PBS or The Jim Henson Company.
Conor Purcell
Conor is a science journalist and editor with a PhD in Earth Science. He is a regular contributor of science at The Irish Times, and has also written for New Scientist, Cosmos, The Ecologist, Ars Technica,The Daily Beast, Horizon and The Sunday Times, amongst others. He writes mostly on Earth science – particularly oceanography and climate – but has increasingly involved himself in writing about physics, mathematics and space. During his career as a researcher he co-authored on a scientific paper published in Nature.
Conor is a science journalist and editor with a PhD in Earth Science. He is a regular contributor of science at The Irish Times, and has also written for New Scientist, Cosmos, The Ecologist, Ars Technica,The Daily Beast, Horizon and The Sunday Times, amongst others. He writes mostly on Earth science – particularly oceanography and climate – but has increasingly involved himself in writing about physics, mathematics and space. During his career as a researcher he co-authored on a scientific paper published in Nature.
Daniel Kinka
Equal parts ecologist and communicator, Daniel Kinka is the Wildlife Restoration Manager for American Prairie Reserve and a Research Associate with the Smithsonian Institute for Conservation Biology. Before working to restore large mammals to their homes on the North American prairie, Daniel was completing a Ph.D. inEcology at Utah State University and working as an award-winning science reporter for Utah Public Radio. As a scientist, he is fascinated by research that integrates ecology , sociology, and economics to address applied issues of restoration and human-wildlife conflict . As a science communicator he tries to mix wonder with levity to make the complicated accessible and the sciences approachable.
Equal parts ecologist and communicator, Daniel Kinka is the Wildlife Restoration Manager for American Prairie Reserve and a Research Associate with the Smithsonian Institute for Conservation Biology. Before working to restore large mammals to their homes on the North American prairie, Daniel was completing a Ph.D. inEcology at Utah State University and working as an award-winning science reporter for Utah Public Radio. As a scientist, he is fascinated by research that integrates ecology , sociology, and economics to address applied issues of restoration and human-wildlife conflict . As a science communicator he tries to mix wonder with levity to make the complicated accessible and the sciences approachable.
Devi Lockwood
Devi Lockwood is a 2018 National Geographic Explorer for a project recording stories with ArtCirq, an indigenous Arctic circus in Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada. She is also a graduate student at MIT's M.S. program in Science Writing, class of 2019. Devi comes to science media from poetry, folklore, and long-distance cycling. For the last four years she has been traveling in 19 countries (the first two years by bicycle) on a mission to document 1,001 human voices on water and climate change. To date she has recorded nearly 800 audio interviews on these themes. Devi is working to create a map on a website where you can click on a point and listen to a water / climate change story from that place, and will be launching a podcast with co-producer Samia Bouzid in 2019. The podcast-in-development will be published for broadcast through PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.
Devi Lockwood is a 2018 National Geographic Explorer for a project recording stories with ArtCirq, an indigenous Arctic circus in Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada. She is also a graduate student at MIT's M.S. program in Science Writing, class of 2019. Devi comes to science media from poetry, folklore, and long-distance cycling. For the last four years she has been traveling in 19 countries (the first two years by bicycle) on a mission to document 1,001 human voices on water and climate change. To date she has recorded nearly 800 audio interviews on these themes. Devi is working to create a map on a website where you can click on a point and listen to a water / climate change story from that place, and will be launching a podcast with co-producer Samia Bouzid in 2019. The podcast-in-development will be published for broadcast through PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.
Hasreet Gill
Hasreet graduated from Drexel University with a BS in Biological Sciences in 2014. During college, she worked in a lab at the University of Pennsylvania, where she used a nematode model to ask how single-celled tubes are made. She also performed live comedy weekly at the Philly Improv Theater as part of a house team. She went on to create and co-produce her own science-themed live comedy show called “Science Thrill with Lali Gill!” which featured improvised characters, sketches, stop-motion animations, hand-made props, and interviews with scientists. She is now a second-year PhD student in Cliff Tabin's lab at Harvard University, where she studies how the gut tube forms its internal shapes during development.
Hasreet graduated from Drexel University with a BS in Biological Sciences in 2014. During college, she worked in a lab at the University of Pennsylvania, where she used a nematode model to ask how single-celled tubes are made. She also performed live comedy weekly at the Philly Improv Theater as part of a house team. She went on to create and co-produce her own science-themed live comedy show called “Science Thrill with Lali Gill!” which featured improvised characters, sketches, stop-motion animations, hand-made props, and interviews with scientists. She is now a second-year PhD student in Cliff Tabin's lab at Harvard University, where she studies how the gut tube forms its internal shapes during development.
Jane Zelikova
Jane Zelikova is an ecologist interested in the impacts of environmental change on natural and managed ecosystems. She is a research scientist in the University of Wyoming and currently works at the Center for Carbon Removal, a start-up non profit that champions climate change mitigation. To find innovating ways to expand the role of science in tackling global issues, Jane has taken up filmmaking, helping tell science's story in ways that connect across ideological divides. She co-founded Hey Girl Productions (co-producer of the End of Snow), LUCA Media Collective, and 500 Women Scientists, a grassroots organization promoting open, inclusive, and accessible science.
Jane Zelikova is an ecologist interested in the impacts of environmental change on natural and managed ecosystems. She is a research scientist in the University of Wyoming and currently works at the Center for Carbon Removal, a start-up non profit that champions climate change mitigation. To find innovating ways to expand the role of science in tackling global issues, Jane has taken up filmmaking, helping tell science's story in ways that connect across ideological divides. She co-founded Hey Girl Productions (co-producer of the End of Snow), LUCA Media Collective, and 500 Women Scientists, a grassroots organization promoting open, inclusive, and accessible science.
Jennifer Berglund
Jennifer Berglund is a science communicator, as well as a mentor for future science communicators. An active science journalist since 2009, her perpetual quest to tell great stories about science and nature has taken her around the globe to all seven continents, from the depths of the Amazon Rainforest to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, even to the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Her award-winning photos, films and articles have been featured both nationally and internationally in film festivals and major publications. In addition to this work, she also works closely with world-renowned scientists and scholars at Harvard University to develop exhibits for the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, a consortium of four museums spanning the disciplines of natural history, archaeology, anthropology, and the history of science.
Jennifer Berglund is a science communicator, as well as a mentor for future science communicators. An active science journalist since 2009, her perpetual quest to tell great stories about science and nature has taken her around the globe to all seven continents, from the depths of the Amazon Rainforest to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, even to the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Her award-winning photos, films and articles have been featured both nationally and internationally in film festivals and major publications. In addition to this work, she also works closely with world-renowned scientists and scholars at Harvard University to develop exhibits for the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, a consortium of four museums spanning the disciplines of natural history, archaeology, anthropology, and the history of science.
Kathayoon Khalil
Kathayoon Khalil, PhD is the Principal Evaluator for the Seattle Aquarium. Prior to joining the Aquarium, Kathayoon was the Director of Evaluation at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. She received her PhD in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University, studying the use of social network analysis to understand how innovation spreads among the zoo and aquarium community.
Kathayoon Khalil, PhD is the Principal Evaluator for the Seattle Aquarium. Prior to joining the Aquarium, Kathayoon was the Director of Evaluation at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. She received her PhD in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University, studying the use of social network analysis to understand how innovation spreads among the zoo and aquarium community.
Kolawole Talabi
Kolawole Talabi is a Nigerian freelance science writer and a regular contributor to Mongabay.com for which he has published articles on wildlife conservation, urban biodiversity and species discovery. During the 2017/18 academic year, he conducted research as a Knight Science Journalism fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developing board games for engaging the public on the sustainability of sharks. As part of the fellowship, he participated in roundtable meetings at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, attended the 2018 Kavli Symposium on Science Journalism in Austin, Texas and moderated a panel of students and scholars at the University of Massachusetts Boston Sustainability Challenge Symposium. His erstwhile reportage on the environment has earned him honours including the 2016 Next Generation of Science Journalists award, given by the World Health Summit in Germany. He is currently a member of the New England Aquarium and a life fellow of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. He also supports charities working on universal healthcare and cancer treatment.
Kolawole Talabi is a Nigerian freelance science writer and a regular contributor to Mongabay.com for which he has published articles on wildlife conservation, urban biodiversity and species discovery. During the 2017/18 academic year, he conducted research as a Knight Science Journalism fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developing board games for engaging the public on the sustainability of sharks. As part of the fellowship, he participated in roundtable meetings at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, attended the 2018 Kavli Symposium on Science Journalism in Austin, Texas and moderated a panel of students and scholars at the University of Massachusetts Boston Sustainability Challenge Symposium. His erstwhile reportage on the environment has earned him honours including the 2016 Next Generation of Science Journalists award, given by the World Health Summit in Germany. He is currently a member of the New England Aquarium and a life fellow of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. He also supports charities working on universal healthcare and cancer treatment.
Martha Cardona
Martha is passionate about engaging communities with science and nature, especially those that are still underrepresented in the sciences. As a wildlife biologist, she studied the biogeography of ringtails and was interested in animal behavior. She soon realized that there was a disconnect between science and the general public and became interested in building connections between these communities. While pursuing her Master's degree in Biology at Humboldt State University, she joined the California Environmental Legacy Project and switched the focus of her thesis work to the development and production of natural history films in both English and Spanish, becoming the first student in the department to do so. She produced many short films that have been presented in public events or live in online resources, which also include educational videos for The United States Geological Survey. Also being curious about technology, she is currently exploring and developing virtual reality storytelling techniques to create immersive experiences that would provide a portal to habitats around the worlds.
Martha is passionate about engaging communities with science and nature, especially those that are still underrepresented in the sciences. As a wildlife biologist, she studied the biogeography of ringtails and was interested in animal behavior. She soon realized that there was a disconnect between science and the general public and became interested in building connections between these communities. While pursuing her Master's degree in Biology at Humboldt State University, she joined the California Environmental Legacy Project and switched the focus of her thesis work to the development and production of natural history films in both English and Spanish, becoming the first student in the department to do so. She produced many short films that have been presented in public events or live in online resources, which also include educational videos for The United States Geological Survey. Also being curious about technology, she is currently exploring and developing virtual reality storytelling techniques to create immersive experiences that would provide a portal to habitats around the worlds.
Matthew Shribman
Matthew has given talks for the likes of TEDx London, UN Ops, London Science Museum, sold out solo science shows in London, and performed at festivals like Womad and Bestival. He has over 25M video views across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, with a diverse audience spanning 13 year olds, PhD students and grandparents. His engagement stats demonstrate particularly strong appeal to individuals identifying as not liking science. With a 1st Class MChem from the University of Oxford, and years of teaching experience, Matthew is proving that science can be communicated in a way that’s fascinating for everyone, making it funnier, catchier and more relatable.
Matthew has given talks for the likes of TEDx London, UN Ops, London Science Museum, sold out solo science shows in London, and performed at festivals like Womad and Bestival. He has over 25M video views across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, with a diverse audience spanning 13 year olds, PhD students and grandparents. His engagement stats demonstrate particularly strong appeal to individuals identifying as not liking science. With a 1st Class MChem from the University of Oxford, and years of teaching experience, Matthew is proving that science can be communicated in a way that’s fascinating for everyone, making it funnier, catchier and more relatable.
Meradith Hoddinott
Meradith Hoddinott is producer and sound designer for Jetty - the podcast network for Al Jazeera. She has produced stories for 99% Invisible, California Sunday Magazine, and PRI's The World. Meradith got started in audio at Heritage Radio Network where she produced stories about food, science, and the environment. She worked at Nordic Food Lab in Copenhagen to launch their podcast Nordic Food Lab Radio. Last year, she was the the lead producer and engineer for OZY Media and their premier podcast The Thread with OZY. Meradith has a B.A. in chemistry and english from Smith College and was an organic chemist at a pharmaceutical company - though she definitely prefers experimenting in the kitchen.
Meradith Hoddinott is producer and sound designer for Jetty - the podcast network for Al Jazeera. She has produced stories for 99% Invisible, California Sunday Magazine, and PRI's The World. Meradith got started in audio at Heritage Radio Network where she produced stories about food, science, and the environment. She worked at Nordic Food Lab in Copenhagen to launch their podcast Nordic Food Lab Radio. Last year, she was the the lead producer and engineer for OZY Media and their premier podcast The Thread with OZY. Meradith has a B.A. in chemistry and english from Smith College and was an organic chemist at a pharmaceutical company - though she definitely prefers experimenting in the kitchen.
Roy Cohen
Roy Cohen is a documentary filmmaker who produced and directed Machine of Human Dreams (2016), a FranceTélévisions-yesDocu co-production about Ben Goertzel, a tech guru who pitches the Hong Kong government that he would build the first human-like toy robot. The film premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest, CPH:DOX and DOC NYC, won the Best Documentary award from Russia's Polytechnic Museum and was sold to TV stations around the world. Currently, Roy is obtaining a Master's at Cornell Tech, where he focuses on machine learning and media products. In collaboration with Oath, Roy delivered BitNews, a service that summarizes articles and publishes them in a visual form to Instagram. Roy lives in New York and is directing a new documentary about a peace camp for Middle Easterners in Maine.
Roy Cohen is a documentary filmmaker who produced and directed Machine of Human Dreams (2016), a FranceTélévisions-yesDocu co-production about Ben Goertzel, a tech guru who pitches the Hong Kong government that he would build the first human-like toy robot. The film premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest, CPH:DOX and DOC NYC, won the Best Documentary award from Russia's Polytechnic Museum and was sold to TV stations around the world. Currently, Roy is obtaining a Master's at Cornell Tech, where he focuses on machine learning and media products. In collaboration with Oath, Roy delivered BitNews, a service that summarizes articles and publishes them in a visual form to Instagram. Roy lives in New York and is directing a new documentary about a peace camp for Middle Easterners in Maine.
Sofia Martinez-Villalpando
Sofia Martinez-Villalpando is a mexican biologist, entrepreneur, science communicator and influencer. She is the founder and creator of The Biologist Apprentice, a very unique, bilingual (English and Spanish) web page that features articles, videos and photography about the most interesting and peculiar facts about the natural world. In order to get some funding and support her own project Sofía started an small business online, designing hand printed t-shirts, under the concept “Wearing Biology”, to educate, create interest and awareness for nature and endangered species.
Sofia Martinez-Villalpando is a mexican biologist, entrepreneur, science communicator and influencer. She is the founder and creator of The Biologist Apprentice, a very unique, bilingual (English and Spanish) web page that features articles, videos and photography about the most interesting and peculiar facts about the natural world. In order to get some funding and support her own project Sofía started an small business online, designing hand printed t-shirts, under the concept “Wearing Biology”, to educate, create interest and awareness for nature and endangered species.
Tedi Asher
Tedi Asher, PhD, is the Neuroscience Researcher at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, MA, USA. She joined PEM in the spring of 2017 after completing her PhD in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Harvard Medical School. As the first neuroscientist on staff at an art museum, Asher helps to inform the exhibition design strategy by analyzing emerging neuroscientific findings and proposing recommendations to increase engagement and visitor impact. She has a long-standing interest in deciphering the mechanisms underlying human emotional experience, a pursuit she is actively engaged in at PEM.
Tedi Asher, PhD, is the Neuroscience Researcher at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, MA, USA. She joined PEM in the spring of 2017 after completing her PhD in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Harvard Medical School. As the first neuroscientist on staff at an art museum, Asher helps to inform the exhibition design strategy by analyzing emerging neuroscientific findings and proposing recommendations to increase engagement and visitor impact. She has a long-standing interest in deciphering the mechanisms underlying human emotional experience, a pursuit she is actively engaged in at PEM.
SMASH18 High School Scholar
Katherine Huang
Katherine Huang is the founder of Science & Us, a youth-led organization that aims to make science more approachable and teach middle and high school students about interdisciplinary careers in STEM. She serves as the co-director of MAHacks, an entrepreneurship-focused high school hackathon in Boston, and co-captain of FIRST Robotics Competition Team 5962. Katherine has completed research internships at Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and her work in computational biology and biotechnology has been recognized by the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair, and Journal of Emerging Investigators. She has received the National Center for Women and IT state-level Aspirations in Computing Award, strives to amplify unheard voices of community members as a founder of TEDxLowellHigh, and has attended the ComSciCon National Workshop as an invited guest. A rising high school senior from Lowell, MA, Katherine is excited about learning and pursuing creative projects and research at the intersection of science, media, and society.
Katherine Huang is the founder of Science & Us, a youth-led organization that aims to make science more approachable and teach middle and high school students about interdisciplinary careers in STEM. She serves as the co-director of MAHacks, an entrepreneurship-focused high school hackathon in Boston, and co-captain of FIRST Robotics Competition Team 5962. Katherine has completed research internships at Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and her work in computational biology and biotechnology has been recognized by the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair, and Journal of Emerging Investigators. She has received the National Center for Women and IT state-level Aspirations in Computing Award, strives to amplify unheard voices of community members as a founder of TEDxLowellHigh, and has attended the ComSciCon National Workshop as an invited guest. A rising high school senior from Lowell, MA, Katherine is excited about learning and pursuing creative projects and research at the intersection of science, media, and society.