Are you a graduate or undergraduate student interested in science writing, but unable to participate in a summer internship or other opportunities this summer because of COVID-19? Are you looking for guidance on how to establish a career in science writing? Are you curious about how senior science writers do their jobs?
Sign up for the NASW Virtual Mentoring Program. Graduate and undergraduate students who have demonstrated a serious interest in science writing will be paired with virtual mentors, attend three professional development seminars, and have the opportunity to write and publish a short science news story or broadcast piece on NASW.org or other media outlet.
Mentors and students will meet virtually three times over the summer for professional development discussions and to work on the assignment. Students are expected to attend all sessions.
Session 1: Friday, May 29 1:00-2:15 PM ET
Session 2: Friday, June 12 1:00-2:15 PM ET
Session 3: Friday, June 26 1:00-2:15 PM ET
The first session will be SciWri101: Tips from Rob Irion, director emeritus of the UC Santa Cruz SciCom program. Subsequent sessions will cover professional development topics like fact checking and misinformation and street reporting without the street. Each session will include time in virtual breakout rooms for discussion and mentoring.
Editing and revising will continue via email until July 24.
To be paired with a mentor, complete the application by 11:59 p.m. Pacific, Friday, May 15, 2020. You will meet your mentor during the first session on May 29. We aim to pair mentors and students who have similar areas of interest, but matches may not be exact.
Participants need to be members of NASW to be eligible for the program. If you are not already a student member, we are offering an inroductory rate of $20 for the remainder of 2020. Please visit www.nasw.org/join to apply for student membership. (Note that signing up to view content on nasw.org as a guest is not the same as joining NASW.) Contact the NASW Education Committee at education@nasw.org if you have questions about membership.
Want to volunteer as a mentor? Please fill out this Google form. And thank you!
