DCSWA 2024 Holiday Party

On Saturday, December 14th from 7pm-10pm, join us at Busboys and Poets 14th and V for a fun evening of food and drinks with your fellow science communicators. Mingle and meet friends new and old!

Your ticket gets you two (2) drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available), lots of tasty food, and three hours of serious merriment. DCSWA members, guests, and science enthusiasts are welcome.

Where: Busboys and Poets 14th and V (2021 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009)

When: Saturday, December 14th, 2024, 7:00 – 10:00 pm

Cost:

$45 for DCSWA members, ($85 for members plus a guest)

$35 for DCSWA student members, ($65 for student members plus a guest)

$55 for non-members

REGISTER AT https://dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5962985

Questions: president@dcswa.org

Pizza Social at Sonny’s in DC

Who doesn’t like free pizza? *

On Thursday, October 10, starting at 6:30 pm, come grab a slice – on us – with fellow DCSWAns
and bring along friends who are considering joining!

Sonny’s Pizza is at 3120 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20010,
just 4 blocks from the Columbia Heights metro stop.

RSVP at https://dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5885528 so that we will have enough pizza to meet demand!

* lactose intolerant people — don’t worry we’ll order some sans cheese

Tour of the School of Engineering at the University of Maryland College Park

*** REGISTRATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24! ***

Engineers at Maryland are designing, building, 3D printing and commercializing new technology solutions that take on society’s grand challenges.

Join Clark School of Engineering researchers and fellow DCSWA members at UMD’s College Park campus for:

· A science cafe-style coffee chat with a bioengineering professor.

· A facility tour of UMD’s nuclear reactor, a small, low-power training reactor that uses an inherently safe fuel called TRIGA.

· A facility tour of UMD’s 367,000-gallon neutral buoyancy tank—one of only two in the U.S. designed to mimic the zero-gravity environment of space, and the only one in the world on a college campus.

Please note:

The tour is limited to the first 22 DCSWA members and guests (limit 1 per member) who register before 11:59 p.m. EDT on October 24 (NEW DEADLINE!).

There is no fee for the tour; however, on-campus parking is $3 per hour ($15 daily maximum). For visitor parking information, go to: https://transportation.umd.edu/parking/visitors

Portions of the tour are not accessible. Stairs are required.

To register, go to https://dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5875961

In addition, EACH attendee MUST complete the visitor and safety acknowledgement before 11:59 p.m. EDT on October 24: https://go.umd.edu/dcswa

For more information on Maryland Engineering, go to https://eng.umd.edu

Tour of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

*** SORRY, REGISTRATION CLOSED 8/22/2024 ***

*** LIMIT OF 20 ATTENDEES REACHED ***

Where was that beautiful gold mirror on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope assembled? Where is mission control for the remarkable achievements of the Hubble Space Telescope? Tour NASA’s legendary Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and go behind the scenes with the scientists and engineers who make the magic happen.

Exact tour stops will depend on mission operation activities.

Kudos to DCSWA Vice President Liz Landau (who serves as Multimedia Lead for Astrophysics at NASA Headquarters) for organizing this fantastic tour!

Attendance is free, but is limited to the first 20 who register (DCSWA members only).

Registration ends at midnight EDT on Thursday, August 22, per NASA requirements.

Successful registrants must send the following information in an email to president@dcswa.org by that date and time in order to attend:

Full legal name (first, middle and last names)
Citizenship status (U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents)
Name of employer
Phone number
Email address

Directions and tour details will be sent to registrants prior to the event

DCSWA Happy Hour

Thursday, August 15, 2024
6:00 – 8:00 PM Eastern Time

Lulu’s Winegarden
1940 11th St NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
A 3-minute walk from the U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo Metro Station

No registration necessary; just come and have fun!

What Every Reporter in DC Should Know About AI

What: A briefing and information session for journalists offered by Johns Hopkins University

When: 9 a.m. to noon, Friday, Aug. 9, a half-day session with breakfast. No streaming option.

Where: The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20001

REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Please register by Aug. 2 and feel free to share this invitation with share will colleagues who might like to attend: https://washingtondc.jhu.edu/events/what-every-reporter-in-d-c-should-know-about-ai/

Possibilities for artificial intelligence are thrilling, terrifying, and unavoidable. At this free session, Johns Hopkins researchers will get to the heart of the elements of AI that matter most to a DC media audience. In other words, we’ll focus on the intersection of science and policy, and explore topics including:

What’s on the horizon for AI in health care
Implications for the power grids and emissions, and what can be done about it
Inherent risks of AI: What could go wrong and why is it so hard to regulate
New inequities AI will cause
What the federal government can learn from the most forward-thinking states and cities
How the federal government can best support AI

Speakers will include:

Beth Blauer, who led JHU’s Coronavirus Research Center and advises governments in technology innovation
Computer vision pioneer Rama Challapa, who is interim co-director of JHU’s Data Science and AI Institute
Cybersecurity expert Anton Dahbura, who is executive director of the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute
Mark Dredze, interim deputy director of JHU’s Data Science and AI Institute known for his work mining big language data to pioneer new applications in public health
Yury Dvorkin, who studies challenges posed by emerging smart grid technologies
Suchi Saria,, who uses AI to individualize patient care and save lives

CONTACT: Jill Rosen

Cell: 443-547-8805/jrosen@jhu.edu

jhunews@jhu.edu

Theodore Roosevelt Island Midsummer Microbiota

NOTE: DCSWA is posting the announcement of this science-themed event as a courtesy. DCSWA is not responsible for the content of the event.

On Thursday, July 18, 2024 from 6:00 pm – 8:00 p.m. EDT, Nature Forward (https://natureforward.org/) invites you to join naturalist Rita Peralta for an adventure at Theodore Roosevelt Island, where she will introduce you to Foldscopes and explore the microbes in the soil and water that populate the world as we know it. Expect a mixture of paved and natural surface trails; depending on rainfall, some muddy and puddly terrain may be possible.

Nature Forward Members: $33; nonmembers $46

For more information and to register, go to https://natureforward.org/events-calendar/

Film Viewing: “Listen to the Universe”

To honor the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory’s mission, NASA senior communications specialist and DCSWA Board member Liz Landau will present her new film, “Listen to the Universe” at a special showing on Friday, June 21, from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. EDT at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Ave. SW and 7th St SW, Washington, D.C. (a 4-minute walk from L’Enfant Plaza metro station).

The 27-minute film takes viewers behind the scenes with the team that creates “sonifications,” translations of Chandra’s data into sound, and shows how meaningful they are to people who are blind or have low vision. Liz and Chandra astronomer Dr. Kimberly Arcand will answer questions after the showing.

There is no fee for the viewing, but registration is strongly recommended for a ticket to ensure your seat.

More information at https://hirshhorn.si.edu/event/film-listen-to-the-universe/

Tour of National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center

Take to the skies and explore outer space with your fellow DCSWA members during a guided tour of the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (14390 Air and Space Museum Pkwy, Chantilly, VA 20151) on Saturday, July 13th, starting at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

The center displays thousands of aviation and space artifacts, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Gemini 4 spacecraft (from which astronaut Ed White took the first U.S. spacewalk), the Gossamer Albatross (the first man-powered aircraft to fly across the English Channel), an SR-71 Blackbird (the fastest airbreathing manned aircraft), and a Concorde supersonic airliner.

We’ll also be able to watch any ongoing restoration and preservation work going on in the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar from the glassed-in mezzanine viewing area.

The tour is limited to the first 30 DCSWA members and guests (limit of 1 per member) who register by 11:59 p.m. EDT on July 11. There is no fee for the tour; however, parking is $15 per car.

To register, go to https://dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5746263

For more information on the Udvar-Hazy Center, go to https://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center.

Winners Announced for 15th Annual DCSWA Newsbrief Award

For Immediate Release
March 15, 2024

Contact: newsbriefaward@gmail.com

Winners Announced for 15th Annual DCSWA Newsbrief Award

Washington, D.C.—A story about the contribution of a racing heart to the emotion of anxiety won the 15th annual D.C. Science Writers Association’s Newsbrief Award.

Longform journalism often gets the field’s accolades, but short pieces are the true workhorses of science communication. In the spirit of recognizing these unsung works of excellence, DCSWA has been offering the Newsbrief Awards since 2009.

For the 2023 Newsbrief Award, a panel of science writers judged all entries within a single category, which honors short science writing in any medium and at any outlet.

As this year’s winner, the judges named Bethany Brookshire for her article in Science News, “In mice, anxiety isn’t all in the head. It can start in the heart.”

Brookshire is an award-winning freelance science journalist and author of the 2022 book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. She has a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology. Brookshire writes on human-animal conflict, ecology, environmental science, and neuroscience. She is fascinated by the way humans perceive the environment and their place in it. Her work has appeared in Science News, Science News Explores, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, The Guardian, The Atlantic and other outlets. She is based in Washington, D.C.

“Superb,” said one judge. “Well explained, good reporting, great flow, interesting topic, even some history. It’s one of those pieces that feels much more expansive than its 500 words.”

The judges also awarded two honorable mentions. Chris Gorski took one for his article in Chemical and Engineering News, “Beep-Beep.Flash.Save!.”

Gorski is a news editor at Chemical and Engineering News. His writing explores how science influences and explains what happens in the world — from the big questions about the universe to sports performance and food science. His stories have appeared in C&EN, as well as Knowable Magazine, Science News, Popular Mechanics, Inside Science, and others.

One judge praised the story for being “well written, super interesting, [and] very engaging.” Another “appreciated the unexpected second source and the personal touch at the end.”

A second honorable mention was awarded to Bob Hirshon for his Science Update video, “Soft Robot Brain Implant.”

Hirshon heads up Springtail Media, specializing in science media and digital entertainment. He produces video, podcasts, and other media for SciStarter, a hub for citizen science resources. He was recently Principal Investigator for the NSF-supported National Park Science Challenge, for which he created and implemented the augmented reality adventure Wild Spot. Hirshon headed up the Kinetic City family of science projects, including the Peabody Award-winning children’s radio drama Kinetic City Super Crew, McGraw-Hill book series and Codie Award winning website and education program. Hirshon can occasionally be heard on XM/Sirius Radio’s Kids Place Live as “Bob the Science Slob,” sharing science news and answering children’s questions.

“Very witty and potentially important,” said one judge of Hirshon’s entry. “Or, as the author says, maybe not.”

DCSWA will celebrate the awardees in a ceremony at the DCSWA Professional Development Day on May 4. The winner will be presented with $300 and a framed certificate; those awarded honorable mentions will receive framed certificates.

This year’s judging panel consisted of Jag Bhalla, Miriam Fauzia, David Frey, Judy Lavelle, and Ben Stein.

DCSWA members were eligible to submit entries in any medium and at any outlet published between January 1 and December 31, 2023. The D.C. Science Writers Association is an organization of more than 300 science reporters, editors, authors, and public information officers based in the national capital area. Details on how to enter the 2024 Newsbrief Award will appear on the DCSWA website by the end of the year.

Photos of the winners are available upon request.

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The D.C. Science Writers Association is a group of journalists, writers, public information officers (PIOs), and audio and video producers who cover breaking research, science and technology. Our events bring together science writers for socializing, networking, science-based tours and events, and professional development workshops. The D.C. Science Writers Association is dedicated to providing a safe and welcoming experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, national origin, or religion. DCSWA does not tolerate harassment of members in any form.