LOU BERGERON ("Mystery Mountain")
Born and raised in the Midwest, Lou earned a B.S. in geology from the University of Illinois. He enrolled in the UCSC earth sciences graduate program in 1984. He pursued an M.S. on the decelerated plan, preferring field endeavors to the laboratory. He worked as a consulting engineering geologist for several years investigating faulting, slope (in)stability, coastal erosion, and karst topography. The onset of the 1991 recession provided a golden opportunity to resume schooling; he finished his master's in 1992. He is interested in science writing as a means of informing and influencing the public, and in exploring areas of science both within and beyond his area of specialty.
ALICE CASBORBI ("Saturn in a Jug")
Alice was born in Baltimore and has been moving slowly westward ever since. Raised in Cleveland, she moved to Minnesota to attend Carleton College. Graduating in 1988 with a biology B.A. (and natural history concentration), she tested hemoglobin in a hospital, burned prairies for the Nature Conservancy, and extracted oat DNA for the University of Minnesota. During this time, publication of opinion pieces and a short story brought writing into focus as a possible career path.
PHILIP COHEN ("Bullwinkle's Hat")
Phil was born in the great white northern city of Toronto. At the earliest opportunity, he left for Elsewhere, but years later found himself in California with a B.S. in biology from MIT, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from University of California, Berkeley. I write a little poetry and fiction and indulge in windsurfing and snowboarding--when time, finances and weather permit. Last summer he was trapped in Hotlanta, Georgia, reporting on science for the Atlanta Journal/Constitution as a Mass Media Fellow of the AAAS, and pining for cool California breezes and the smell of the ocean.
PAM DONEGAN ("Tropical Punch")
Originally from Washington, D.C., Pam came to California in 1989 to pursue a master's degree in zoology. She finally caught up to it this year when she finished her research on the foraging behavior of bobcats. Previous to her westward migration, she earned a BS in biology from the College of William and Mary, and then spent the next six years in endeavors ranging from analyzing pesticide residues in birds to curating meteorites. It occurred to her quite recently that she still craves that kind of scientific eclecticism. That's when she decided that science writing was the vocation for her.
BONNIE WALLACE ("Stop Twinkling, Little Star")
It took Bonnie only two years of study to learn that she wasn't enough of a theoretical physicist to become an astronomer. Confused, she graduated from Caltech in 1992 with a B.S.--in literature. A year later, a Santa Cruz alumna told her about the Science Communication Program, and she knew right away where she wanted to be. After Program director John Wilkes introduced her to his internship and job network, in the autumn of 1993, she worked as an intern for "Report on Science," the radio division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, interviewing researchers, writing scripts, and learning on the job.
Corinna received a B.A. with a major in chemistry from Swarthmore College (1992) and an M.S. in materials science and engineering from Stanford University (1994). She spent two summers at the NASA--Johnson Space Center, doing experiments on Shuttle tile waterproofing material and reading aerospace magazines between data points. Her reluctance to specialize in a field steered her out of engineering and toward UCSC's science writing program. She hopes to have a career in print or broadcast journalism. When she needs to do something completely different, she enjoys ice skating, photography, and contemplating paintings at modern art museums.
MOLLY BROWN ("Tropical Punch")
Molly has always had a passion for ecology, art, and education. She grew up in Connecticut and moved west to earn her B.A. in environmental studies from UCSC. Since then, she has traveled in Asia and lived in San Francisco, where she taught ecology and environmental issues. She has always loved drawing nature in its many different forms, and she's eagerly looking forward to using her illustration skills in connection with earning her living.
KIRSTEN CARLSON ("Mystery Mountain")
Kirsten received a B.S. in biology from the University of Missouri, and is halfway through a marine science master's program at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Her undergraduate and graduate experiences in the biological sciences have increased her awareness of the importance of public education in the field of science. After completing two summer courses in this program she realized that illustration is an ideal career that combines her interests in science and art, and increases scientific literacy in our society. She looks forward to improving her skills as a scientist and artist, and creating new ways of communicating through illustration.
ANNE FAUST ("Bullwinkle's Hat")
All her life, Ann has felt like a turkey's wishbone--pulled in two directions at once. She's attracted to both the arts and the sciences. She has an academic background in the fine arts but has spent the last 13 years in electronics. Most of that time she spent as an electronics technician testing and repairing frequency counters--and trying to stay sane. She completed her B.A. in art at San Francisco State University in 1976 and has continually taken evening classes over the years in art to balance out her day job.
BRIDGET KEIMEL ("Stop Twinkling, Little Star")
Before starting the science illustration program, Bridget was a field biologist for six years. During those years, she had the opportunity to work in some rather far-flung and beautiful places studying seabirds, shorebirds, reptiles and amphibians. While her first love is biology, she has always been interested in art and has always done drawings and sketches for her own pleasure. Until now she's never allowed herself to pursue her interest in art seriously. She's looking forward to spending this next year joining her interests in art and the natural sciences, learning new techniques and improving her illustration skills.
Art was only Hila's hobby, even though her talent was encouraged by her teachers after she designed a children's book in high school. She received her diploma from the University of Cologne, Germany, in biology. During her studies she was able to travel to various countries, where she began to combine art and science. She made illustrations of birds of the Colombian rain forest and of amphibians in India. She earned a scholarship to the University of Lisbon, Portugal. There she took classes in scientific illustration from Pedro Salgado, who studied illustration in the Program in 1988-89 as a Fulbright Fellow and went on to earn world recognition as an illustrator of marine life. Hila's experience studying with Salgado strengthened her wish to further pursue this career at UCSC.
SCOTT LANDRY("Saturn in a Jug")
Scott received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He enjoyed studying reproductive strategies in Panamanian tamarins and ethnobotany with Ecuadorian Quichua--but only if he could supplement this work with whale-watching or coastal studies. He is fascinated with questions such as: how are the relationships between people and the environment formed? How do they change? He believes science illustration will provide a powerful tool for understanding these problems by giving him numerous angles from which to question them.
RANDY SCHMIEDER ("Dangerous Journey")
Randy has always liked bugs, frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, and road kill. His contemporary interests include conservation biology, herpetology, entomology, speed metal guitar, hiking, camping, doodling, constructive projects, photography and, recently, teaching. He graduated from UCSC in the summer of 1992 with a B.A. in biology and environmental studies, taking a few of the science illustration courses along the way. He was a major contributor of illustrations to Life on the Edge (1994), a widely and enthusiastically reviewed encyclopedia of endangered animals of California, and his research on the California red-legged frog was highlighted in a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal (April 19, 1995) on the political conflict over the Endangered Species Act.