For each of the past five years, IEEE-USA has sponsored an engineering student in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellows Program. The program is designed to strengthen the connections among scientists, engineers and journalists by placing advanced science and engineering students in newsrooms across the country. The program, now in its 32nd year, has placed more than 400 fellows with news magazines, newspapers, TV networks and local organizations.

The Program

IEEE-USA Mass Media Fellows work for 10 weeks in the summer as reporters, researchers and production assistants in mass media organizations nationwide. Fellows collaborate with media professionals to enhance coverage of science- and engineering- related issues in the media in order to improve public understanding and appreciation of science and technology. 

Through the program, fellows observe and participate in the process by which events and ideas become news; improve their communication skills by learning to describe complex technical subjects in a manner understandable to the lay public; and increase their understanding of editorial decision making and the way in which information is effectively disseminated. Fellowship applicants must be U.S. members of the IEEE and must be enrolled college or university juniors or seniors or graduate or post-graduate students in the natural, physical, health, engineering or social sciences. IEEE-USA underwrites the expenses for the IEEE-USA fellow.

IEEE-USA's Mass Media Fellows

IEEE Member Joy Ku was IEEE-USA's fourth Mass Media Fellow. In 2003, she worked on science, engineering and technology (SET) related stories at WNBC-TV in New York City. Ku is currently a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering at Stanford University, where she is researching image processing and visualization of medical images, as well as 3-D ultrasound. Ku received her BSEE from U.C. Berkeley before receiving her MSEE from Stanford.

In 2002, IEEE-USA's third Mass Media fellow, IEEE Member Robert Barnett, spent 10 weeks in New York City at Popular Science, the world’s largest science and technology magazine, while working on his MSEE at Clemson University. Barnett, who also received his BSEE in electrical engineering from Clemson, formerly served as managing editor of the university’s newspaper The Tiger. His unique blend of engineering and editorial experience made him particularly well suited for the job. Read some of Rob's writing in Popular Science online. (Sample 1) (Sample 2)

In 2001, Mariama Orange, a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering at Howard University, in Washington, D.C., was IEEE-USA's second Mass Media fellow. Mariama completed a 10-week assignment with Scientific American in New York City, where she worked as a news intern "trolling" for stories, checking facts, researching and compiling datapoints, and writing occasional briefs and stories.

IEEE-USA's first Mass Media Fellow, Elan Ruskin, was a Junior at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in computer science engineering when he completed his 10-week assignment at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. As a cub reporter, Ruskin wrote news briefs and feature stories covering a broad range of science and technology issues. After receiving his BSEE from Penn, Ruskin earned a Master of Entertainment from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center.

How to Apply

For information on becoming an IEEE-USA Mass Media Fellow, contact AAAS at +1 202 326 6670 or IEEE-USA Communications Director Pender M. McCarter at +1 202 785 0017.

Last Update: 20 November 2007

 © 2004 IEEE.