Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop

1996 to 2022

Dear sciwrite alumni,

After 25 successful workshops, drawing approximately 1,000 people from around the world, we have decided to call it a wrap. When we began in 1996, we hardly imagined that the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop would go on to attract such an interesting and talented crowd, and we thank you all for being part of this. We have also been honored to include among our instructors more than 60 science journalists from the top tiers of our profession.

Though we don't know what the future will hold, we are talking to a couple of colleagues who might decide to take up the reins. If that happens it won't be soon enough for a 2023 workshop, but we will keep you posted at sciwrite.org. And maybe, not too long from now, we will plan a grand reunion of everyone who came together to make this endeavor possible.

Meanwhile, two former participants, Kerry Bennett (Class of '17, '19 and '22) and Gillian Dohrn (Class of '22), have volunteered to contact as many of you as possible with the aim of starting an informal alumni network. In a herculean effort they have compiled an initial mailing list. Please stay tuned for a message from them, which will describe how you can sign up for future emails and begin what we all hope will be a rewarding collaboration.

George Johnson and Sandra Blakeslee

photo by Terry Asher

The Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop was founded and directed by

Sandra Blakeslee, longtime science writer for the New York Times and co-author of Sleights of Mind, The Body Has a Mind of its Own, Phantoms in the Brain, and other books, and

and George Johnson, two time winner of the AAAS Science Journalism Award for his work in the New York Times and author of The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments, The Cancer Chronicles, Miss Leavitt's Stars and other books.

photo by David Fanning

Follow @SantaFeSciwrite

Latest updates. ←

2022 class list. ←

2022 daily schedule. ←

(Last year's daily schedule and class list.)

The movie.

Photos from the past.

More photos.

Previous workshops have attracted students from all over the country (and from India, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, Spain, Germany, China, France, Israel, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Kenya). Some were science writers who wanted to hone their skills and meet new colleagues or work on a book proposal. Some were writers from other fields hoping to make the switch to science writing. Some were public information specialists from universities and government laboratories. And some were scientists who wondered if they might like writing more than research.

Past instructors have included

Katie Hafner, a long-time writer for the New York Times, Steve Paulson, Anne Strainchamps, Denise Grady, Christie Aschwanden, Henry Fountain, climate reporter for the New York Times and author of The Great Quake; Cornelia Dean, former Science Editor of The New York Times and author of Making Sense of Science and Against the Tide, Robert Lee Hotz, Pulitzer-prize-winning science journalist for The Wall Street Journal, Donald G. McNeil Jr., science and health reporter for the New York Times; Chris Mooney, energy and environment writer for the Washington Post; Alexandra Witze, correspondent for the journal Nature; Michael Specter, staff writer for The New Yorker; Rhitu Chatterjee, a contributing correspondent for Public Radio International; David Corcoran, editor of Science Times; Pam Belluck, Pulitzer Prize-winning medical writer for the New York Times; Alan Boyle, science editor for NBC News Digital; Joel Achenbach, staff writer for the Washington Post; Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post reporter and veteran magazine writer for National Geographic and other publications; Michelle Nijhuis, co-editor of The Science Writers' Handbook and an environmental writer for High Country News and National Geographic; Paul Raeburn, chief media critic for the Knight Science Journalism Tracker; Robert Lee Hotz, the science columnist for the Wall Street Journal and an award-winning science writer for the Los Angeles Times; Tim Appenzeller, the magazine editor of Nature; David Dobbs, who writes about science and other matters for Wired, the Atlantic, National Geographic, and other publications; Maryn McKenna, a journalist and author specializing in infectious disease, public health, global health and food policy; Gareth Cook, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the editor of the Ideas section of the Boston Sunday Globe; Cornelia Dean, senior writer for the New York Times specializing in environmental issues and science policy and the paper's former science editor; Adam Rogers, senior editor for Wired magazine; Daniel Engber, science writer and editor for Slate; Jamie Shreeve, a senior editor for National Geographic Magazine; Frank Clifford, former environment editor for the Los Angeles Times; Benedict Carey, psychology and cognitive science reporter for the New York Times; Erika Check Hayden, senior reporter for Nature; Jennifer Ouellette, author of Black Bodies and Quantum Cats and director of The Science & Entertainment Exchange; Laura Helmuth, senior science editor for Smithsonian magazine; David Kestenbaum, a science correspondent for National Public Radio; Kenneth R. Weiss, an environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times and winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting; John Horgan, the director of the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology and the author of The End of Science and The Undiscovered Mind; Charles Petit, a former science writer for the San Francisco Chronicle and U.S. News and World Report; Peter Lewis, whose many positions have included senior editor and technology columnist for Fortune magazine and assistant science editor for the New York Times; Tim Appenzeller, science editor for National Geographic; Shankar Vedantam, a national correspondent writing about science and human behavior for the Washington Post; Judy Foreman, a nationally syndicated health columnist whose work appears in the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and other newspapers; Denise Grady, health and medicine reporter for the New York Times; Michael Lemonick, senior science writer for Time magazine and author of The Light at the Edge of the Universe; Joe Palca, senior science correspondent for National Public Radio; Laura Chang, science editor of the New York Times; Kenneth Chang, a science reporter for the New York Times, covering chemistry, geology, solid state physics, nanotechnology, and other topics; Glennda Chui, science writer for the San Jose Mercury News; Peter Petre, senior editor-at-large for Fortune magazine, overseeing coverage of infotech, biotech, medicine, industrial technology, and science; Keay Davidson, science writer for The San Francisco Chronicle and author of Carl Sagan: A Life; Erica Goode, behavioral science writer for The New York Times; Margaret Wertheim,author of The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace and a freelance science writer for numerous publications like New Scientist, Salon, and The Sciences; Robin Marantz Henig, a freelance magazine writer specializing in the life sciences and the author of The Monk in the Garden; Rosie Mestel, a medical writer and columnist for The Los Angeles Times; Andrew Revkin, environmental writer for The New York Times and author of The Burning Season; Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer and University of Wisconsin journalism professor; Shannon Brownlee, a former senior writer at U.S. News & World Report; Philip Elmer-DeWitt, assistant managing editor in charge of science, medicine, and technology coverage for Time magazine; Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, chief medical correspondent for The New York Times; K.C. Cole of The Los Angeles Times; Pulitzer-prize-winner John Noble Wilford of the The New York Times; Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer-prize-winning reporter for Newsday; Richard Harris, Peabody-Award-winning science reporter for National Public Radio; Dennis Overbye, deputy science editor for The New York Times and author of Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos; Rick Weiss, science writer for The Washington Post; Natalie Angier, science correspondent for The New York Times and winner of the Pulitzer prize; Jon Franklin, two-time Pulitzer prize winner and professor of creative writing at the University of Oregon; Paul Hoffman, former editor-in-chief of Discover magazine; Cornelia Dean, science editor of The New York Times; and Timothy Ferris, author of The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe(s) Report and Coming of Age in the Milky Way.

Please burrow into our Web site and see what we did in 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, and 1996. Ghost Ranch Santa Fe and The Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop are nonprofit organizations.

photo by Mitzi Baker