ght Fit‌Keep Your Head Up First Stop, Science Writing
My journey started with exposure to the writing and communications sector. I have always loved writing, and though I find the format of scientific journal and grant writing quite restricting, I thought that perhaps writing about science for a non-scientific audience would be a great way to write about science with a little more panache. Fortunately, the Atlanta BEST program provided an excellent opportunity to get exposure to the scientific writing field through the National Academies Keck Futures Institute (NAKFI). NAFKI provides opportunities in the form of a science writing scholars program that allows graduate students interested or majoring in scientific writing to gain exposure by being official science writing scholars during their annual conference. I covered specific focus groups of scientists and the options they brainstormed throughout the meeting. I was able to meet amazing people and even get published with the National Academies. While I really enjoyed writing and interacting with the writing mentors and other journalists, this experience reinforced my desire to work on the cutting edge of scientific research.
The Futures Initiative is designed to enable scientists from different disciplines to focus on new questions, upon which they can base entirely new research, and to encourage and reward outstanding communication between scientists as well as between the scientific enterprise and the public. http://www.keckfutures.org/
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