Sarah R. Akaaboune is a writer from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan, where she studied neuroscience and English. In the lab, she studied the impacts of Golgi fragmentation on lysosomal protein biogenesis and the development of neurological disorders. Outside of the lab, she served as a writer and editor for her student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, where she covered a variety of topics, most notably medical malpractice and its impact on survivors. 

Sarah has also explored science communication and data accessibility as a community leadership fellow at her local health department and as a student correspondent for Teen Vogue, where she covered the 2024 presidential election cycle in Michigan.

When she isn’t writing, Sarah can be found in the lab, listening to old episodes of This American Life, or spending time with her cat. 

Anika Jane Beamer is a Midwesterner and a writer with a background in the biological sciences. She’s spent years researching and thinking about life’s little guys—viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Now, she’s interested in writing about how manmade changes to the environment are transforming microscopic life, for better and worse.

Anika Jane has spent the last two years as the science writer for Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. There, she shared stories about research, faculty, and students in fields as far-flung as robotics, galaxy formation, water geochemistry, and lung cancer. She sees herself as a translator, deconstructing the “language of science” to ensure that the hard-to-see, and harder-to-fathom, can be understood by a wide audience. Whether hiking, painting, birdwatching, or playing soccer, she’s often thinking about her place in nature and the science that surrounds her.

Jessica Chomik-Morales was raised in South Florida, where from an early age she wondered why people act the way they do. She holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and since graduation, has worked in a cognitive neuroscience lab at MIT, where she uses fMRI to explore abstract thought in humans.

As a daughter of immigrant parents from Paraguay, Jessica is fiercely proud of her heritage and uses her privileged position as a bilingual scientist to bridge the gap between a predominantly English-speaking academic world and the Spanish-speaking public. She hosts and produces Mi Última Neurona, a neuroscience podcast in Spanish, to ignite curiosity, spark conversations, and empower her community.

At MIT, Jessica is excited to expand her communication abilities while serving the Spanish-speaking community, weaving together population-relevant narratives to foster understanding and inclusivity within the scientific landscape.

Nanticha Ocharoenchai, or Lyn, first started journaling when she left her hometown of Bangkok to go on a year-long exchange in Italy. When she found hiking and backpacking, these hobbies and adventures sparked her love of environmental journalism and activism.

Just before graduating in communications from Chulalongkorn University in 2019, Lyn organized what grew into Thailand’s first youth climate movement. Since then, she has written and produced short films for WWF, Greenpeace, Mongabay, The Pulitzer Center, and more, covering topics from wildlife conservation and sustainable design, to Indigenous knowledge and land rights. In a search for practical—and fun!—environmental solutions, Lyn is furiously learning about natural science and conservation technology and is excited to explore more at MIT.

Pratik Pawar is a science journalist who covers stories about global health, medicine, and science policy. He is particularly interested in covering neglected health issues in the Global South and in understanding the role of inequity and socio-political realities in furthering health crises. His work has been published in The Atlantic, Nature, Science, and Undark, among other outlets.

At MIT, Pratik aims to learn new skills in data and investigative journalism to help him tell nuanced and substantive stories about global health. When he’s not at his desk, you can find Pratik noodling on his guitar, reading personal essays, or out in nature.

Paula Rowińska is a writer from Warsaw, Poland, and is the author of Mapmatics: A Mathematician’s Guide to Navigating the World, a popular science book about the mathematics of maps.

While pursuing her Ph.D. in mathematics and statistics at Imperial College London, Paula discovered that she prefers science communication to research. She has shared her passion for math by contributing to newspaper articles, radio shows, and TV programs. Since graduation, she has been creating interactive math and data science content for Brilliant, an educational company.

At MIT, Paula will continue exploring the role of mathematics in our daily lives while also covering topics like mental health and environmental issues. In her free time, she reads more books than she cares to admit, loves learning foreign languages, and has a soft spot for musicals.

Mackenzie White is a writer and planetary scientist from Austin, Texas. Her journey into science writing began at the University of Texas at Austin, where she received liberal arts and science degrees.

Driven by curiosity about other worlds, she earned a Ph.D. in geophysics, specializing in temperatures on the Moon and Mars. During graduate school, she worked on NASA missions, which fueled her enthusiasm for sharing discoveries with the public. She has contributed to outlets like Google Arts & Culture and Eos and was a 2022 AAAS Mass Media Fellow at Science Friday.

At MIT, Mackenzie aims to strengthen the connection between humans and the natural world through storytelling. When she’s not writing about space rocks, you can find her along the rivers of central Texas with her dogs, Rocky and Maggie.

Celina Zhao is pumped to be staying in Cambridge for another year after studying writing and biology as an undergraduate at MIT.

Celina’s work with Science, NOVA, and Cell Press has led her to explore scientific topics ranging from telescope cyberattacks to controversial fossils to microbes that travel through wildfire smoke. She’s fascinated by the relationship between culture, technology, and the natural world, and is excited to work on long-form projects that explore the evolution of this intersection in the coming year.

Outside the classroom, you can find Celina running along the Charles, drinking too much matcha, and challenging herself to try something new every day.