Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:13:28 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Michael Fischer <mfischer>Subject: Re: [Sci-tech-public] New director, Knight Science Journalism FellowshipsCc: Bcc: X-Attachments:Congratulations. This sounds like a really great appointment.Hello,As director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, it gives me great pleasure to announce the new director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships, Philip Hilts. More detail is provided below, but let me say that Philip impressed us all with his intellect, the range and depth of his journalistic commitments, and his vision for the future of the program. We are tremendously excited to have Philip join our community and continue the wonderful work of Boyce Rensberger, who retires this summer, and Victor McElheny in building up the Knight fellowship program, which will celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary next month. Thanks to Dean Deborah Fitzgerald for chairing the search committee and running a broad and timely search. Thanks also to the other members of the committee - Kathy Boisvert (Knight fellows), Rob Kanigel (MIT, Science Writing), Penny Chisholm (MIT, Civil and Environmental Engineering), Paul Schechter (MIT, Physics), Robert Weinberg (MIT Cancer Center, Whitehead Institute), Christine Russell (Harvard, Belfer Center), and Deborah Blum (University of Wisconsin, School of Journalism). Congratulations again to Philip and best wishes to Boyce on his upcoming retirement.David Mindell Director, Program in Science, Technology, and Society Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing Professor of Engineering Systems Housemaster, MIT Edgerton House Philip Hilts named new Director of the Knight Science Journalism FellowshipsPhilip J. Hilts, photograph by Marc JonesPhilip J. Hilts, the author of six books, and a prize-winning health and science reporter for The New York Times and The Washington Post, has been named the third director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships. He will succeed Boyce Rensberger, who retires this summer after ten years in the job. Hilts, whose journalism career began in 1968, was the Times reporter who broke the story of the tobacco industry's 40-year coverup of its own research showing that tobacco was harmful and addictive. His most recent book, Rx for Survival: Why We Must Rise to the Global Health Challenge, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. A long-time teacher of science journalism at Boston University, Hilts will also take over Rensberger's teaching role in MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing.Hilts said he was thrilled to have the chance to lead the program."This is the best program of its kind anywhere, and has for decades been the source of enthusiasm and high standards that science journalists look to," he said. "Now the program has even more to do, helping journalists launch themselves into the electronic future, again with enthusiasm while maintaining high standards. What a great opportunity! "I'm delighted that Phil Hilts will be coming to MIT and using his extraordinary experience and energy to guide the advancement of the science journalists who come here each year," said Deborah Fitzgerald, who chaired the search committee. "The Fellowships is a major part of MIT's effort to improve the public understanding of science and technology, and I'm confident that Phil will lead the program to new heights."Rensberger echoed Fitzgerald's sentiments."This is an excellent choice," he said. "Phil and I worked together for about five years at the Washington Post, and I developed enormous respect for his scientific interests and investigative acumen." Hilts has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, twice a fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, and serves as a commentator on health and science issues for National Public Radio. The Knight Science Journalism Fellowships, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in February, is the nation's leading program for advanced education in science for mid-career journalists. Funded chiefly by an endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Fellowships is a component of the Science, Technology and Society Program in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. It began in 1983 as the Vannevar Bush Fellowships in the Public Understanding of Technology and Science, founded by Victor K. McElheny, who retired in 1998.For more information, visit <http://web.mit.edu/knight-science/>http://web.mit.edu/knight-science/ _______________________________________________ Sci-tech-public mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/sci-tech-public
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