STJR Graduate Oversees Digital Aspect of ‘Science News’

For Kate Travis (née Arnold), the decision to pursue a career in science journalism came as an epiphany while attending a science journalism lecture by Texas A&M University professor Barbara Gastel in a general journalism course. “This [science journalism] was a way I wouldn’t have to pick any one of the sciences,” she says. “I could write about all of them, and that sounded really cool.”

Shortly after receiving her bachelor’s degree in journalism, she joined the STJR program in 1997, as part of the second entering class. Today, Travis is the digital director of the magazine Science News.

Travis has written and edited materials in various scientific disciplines. She attributes her ability to understand a broad range of science topics to the elective courses she took as an STJR student. She says she found the graduate-level courses she took especially useful.

Travis says her internship during the STJR program gave her valuable on-the-job experience. As a health communications intern at the National Cancer Institute, she not only wrote press releases but also interacted with reporters from major national and international outlets.

Since graduating from the STJR program, Travis has written and edited for multiple publications, including the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and Science Careers. She held a variety of positions at Science News before ascending last year to the post of digital director.


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