EVA EMERSON ("Fear and Self-Loathing in Yosemite")
I received my B.A. in biology from UCSC before I was sure what I wanted to do with it. By chance or fate I became an intern in a plant molecular biology lab. Interested in genetics, I took another internship in molecular biology and eventually became a research associate at UCSF, working on a gene-cloning project. After accidentally aspirating my week's work down the drain on one especially bad day, I decided to pursue my true love: writing. I'm interning as a science reporter at the San Francisco bureau of United Press International, having spent three months in the Washington, D.C., bureau of UPI.
SUE GOETINCK ("Dino Breath")
I received my B.A. in biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985. After taking a year off to play and coach volleyball in Paris, I began a Ph.D. program in molecular genetics at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. There, I did research on algae and nematodes. I finished my thesis in 1993, eager for a change of pace. I joined the Science Communication Program hoping to find new ways to enjoy science. I'm interning as a science reporter for the "Discoveries" section of the Dallas Morning News. To forget about everything else, I like to run and play ultimate frisbee.
DAVID HILL ("Lessons from Doc")
I earned a B.S. in atmospheric sciences at UC Davis and an M.S. in meteorology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then spent six years squeezing fish in the name of limnological research. I published technical papers about storm genesis and how global warming might affect lake ecosystems. After years of denial, I have finally acknowledged my distaste for research, and now want to write about science for a general audience. I'm interning at the news office of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and I'll be starting a second internship, at United Press International, in January 1995. Although I'm much happier writing than doing research, I'm happiest when hip deep in a trout stream.
"MATTY" NEMATOLLAHI ("Is Time Necessary?")
A transplant from Austin, Texas, I took root in northern California in the mid-1980s with no plan for the future beyond the conviction that Texas wasn't going to be a part of it. I received an A.S. in electronics (1987) from Santa Rosa Junior College and a B.S. in chemistry from UC Berkeley (1990). I went on to work as a senior research associate with the Indoor Environment Program at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Frustration with the excruciatingly slow and repetitive nature of my lab work and its remoteness from vital public policy issues brings me to the science writing program. Wherever I employ my research and writing skills, I hope to continue working to protect the environment.
ALISA ZAPP ("Sick Again")
Born in California, I was soon transported to Massachusetts. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1989 with a B.S. in biochemistry and the desire to make some big scientific discovery, I spent a summer inventing radical new breakfast cereals for the Kellogg Company. I again moved westward, earned an M.S. in biochemistry in 1993 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and unwittingly became the central contact person and molecular model specialist for an international, multi-editor textbook project. While interning in the news office of Stanford Medical Center I was offered a job in the news office of the National Institute for General Medical Science. I accepted, and I look forward to a career as a public information science writer.
NIK WALTER ("The Numbers of Life")
Before I came to Santa Cruz, I had spent my entire life in Zurich, Switzerland, from birth through postdoctoral work. It was time to fly away. Fly away from fruit flies, too, since I focused on those tiny animals for five years while earning my doctorate. Fly toward new horizons, in both the geographic and abstract meaning of the word. Fly into the storms of a big challenge in a new field and a foreign language. Is it not true that flying is like having a mobile mind?
Nevertheless, the time comes when everyone has to land. I'm working temporarily at San Francisco's Exploratorium, a fascinating place full of creative people. Next, I'll land in Munich, where I'll freelance to newspapers and magazines in English and German.
HEATHER ROCK WOODS ("California Seasons")
In 1989 I worked in a biochemistry lab at Stanford University Medical Center. Two summers later I worked at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center as a laser operator. In 1992 I researched barriers to implementing energy efficiency at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. My major? Integrative biology, in which I received a BA from UC Berkeley in 1992.
After finishing the Program I interned as a science reporter for the Oakland Tribune, then found a general assignment reporter job at the Tri-Valley Herald, in Livermore, where I back up the staff science reporter when I can. I hope to have time again someday to drink mochas and read the Sunday paper at a good cafe.
Illustrators
YEHUDIT SHERMAN ("Fear and Self-Loathing" and "Sick Again")
Born and raised in Berkeley, Yehudit graduated from UCSC in environmental studies in 1991. After graduating, she spent two years studying wildlife in the Galapagos, Australia and Canada. Having finished the illustration program in 1994, she wants to use her illustration to bridge the gaps that separate cultures and to help foster sustainable living internationally. What does she like best about illustrating science? "Learning."
KEELIN SABEL ("Dino Breath" and "California Seasons")
Keelin came to science illustration by way of an art major after deciding she wanted to draw what she saw rather than what she felt. Although she started her journey through higher education at the California College of Arts and Crafts, she detoured through several years of traveling, cabinet making, sign painting and stained glass restoration before returning to school. An unusually versatile renderer who says, "I like drawing everything," she graduated from UCSC in art in 1993 and finished the illustration program in 1994.
HEATHER WEYERS (cover, "The Numbers of Life")
Heather is nothing if not eclectic. She's a math major (UCSC '93), Power Mac adept and composer of folk rock music, which she plans to make available through the Internet Underground Music Archives. As a science illustrator ('94), Heather has drawn plants, animals, people, molecules and abstract mathematical concepts, as well as her favorite subject, insects. Since graduating she has worked for the Habitat Restoration Group, the Dynamic Software Group and other clients.
Marni Fylling ("Lessons from Doc")
In addition to being a freelance illustrator and part-time collector of plant and animal specimens, Marni instructs students in biology laboratory techniques at nearby Cabrillo College. She earned her B.A. in zoology with a minor in English at UC Davis in 1989 and her graduate certificate in science illustration in 1992. Her recent clients range from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, MD, to Molera State Park in Big Sur, to San Francisco's Exploratorium.