Resume

Hugh Powell
Science Writer and Editor
Ithaca, NY 14850
aphriza at gmail dot com

Education:
2005 Graduate certificate in Science Communication. University of California, Santa Cruz.
2000 M.Sc. Avian ecology. University of Montana, Missoula.
1990 B.A. Biology. Huntingdon College, Montgomery, AL. Math minor.

Expertise:
Science writing for the general public; ornithology and birding; ocean science, ecology, evolution; conceptual design of documents; conceptual editing, line editing, copyediting.

Video Slideshow
Earth Wind and Fire in Antarctica: Field Research at the Bottom of the Earth. Oceanus online, Summer 2008.

Reporting from the Field
Polar Discovery Expedition 3: Penguins and lava flows. Daily reports from Antarctica. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Winter 2007.

Web Outreach
All About Birds. Major website redesign. URL forthcoming mid-April 2009.

Selected Clips
Scrubland Survivors. Living Bird magazine, Autumn 2008.
Antarctic Andrea. Oceanus magazine, Summer 2008.
Earth, Wind and Fire in Antarctica. Oceanus magazine, Summer 2008.
Fertilizing the Ocean with Iron. Oceanus magazine, Winter 2007.
Swept Away. New Scientist 194(2610), 30 June 2007.
Measuring Raindrops in the Ocean. Oceanus magazine, Summer 2007.
Current Events off Antarctica. (profile) Oceanus magazine, Summer 2007.
The Accidental Reaper. California Wild, Summer 2005.

Outreach
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology Right Whale Listening Network.
University of California, Santa Cruz public information office.
MARS: The Monterey Accelerated Research System.
Woods Hole Ocean Instruments website.

Brochures
ORION: Revolutionizing Earth and Ocean Science.
OceanSITES: Taking the Pulse of the Global Ocean.

Editing
Bio-Rad Laboratories (technical editing).
Inkling magazine.
Condor, Vol. 103–106 (2001–2004).

Blogging
Round Robin. (Cornell Lab of Ornithology blog)
The Gist. (Smithsonian Magazine online)
Polar Discovery: Live from the Poles. (daily updates from Antarctica through December 2007)

Work History:

Present: Staff Science Writer, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

2006-2008: Freelance Science Writer and Editor. Clients include the Joint Oceanographic Institutions ORION observatory program (brochures), Oceanus magazine, Kavli Foundation (articles), Bio-Rad Laboratories and Inkling magazine (editing).

Summer 2006: Science Writer (Intern), Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Designed general-audience Web pages and poster about MARS, a major oceanographic research outpost in Monterey Bay.

July 2005 to June 2006: Visiting Investigator (Science Writer), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Wrote Web pages about ocean instruments and concepts. Conceived and wrote a brochure supporting an international array of ocean-observing buoys. Pioneered WHOI’s practice of blogging from major oceanography meetings. Researched and wrote an animation explaining air-sea interactions. Wrote features for Oceanus magazine. Compiled Web resources on red tide, pollution, erosion, and other coastal topics.
2004 to 2005: Graduate Science Writing Student, UC Santa Cruz. Wrote newspaper, magazine, and Web stories as an intern at Stanford University, Salinas Californian, and California Academy of Sciences.

2000 to 2004: Managing Editor, The Condor. Edited scientific manuscripts through three stages from initial copyedit to proofreading, and oversaw layout and publication process. The Condor is a 110-year-old academic journal about wild birds, issued quarterly to scientists and libraries in over 15 countries.

2000: Writer/Editor, Montana Partners in Ecology Project. Designed, wrote, and edited a schoolyard nature guide now in use at 100 Montana grade schools. The guide illustrates basic concepts and guides inquiry into the region’s natural history. Taught elementary school children on field trips.

1997 to 2000: Graduate Student, University of Montana, Missoula. Studied woodpeckers, beetles, and forest fires in Montana and Idaho. Presented results to scientists and the general public.

1993 to 1997 Field Biologist, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Ecological fieldwork amid small parasites, brightly colored birds, and large snakes in Panamanian forests and coffee plantations.

Office skills:
Excellent writer, researcher, and reporter. Always meets deadlines.
Diplomatic editor. Absolutely ruthless eye for errors in copy.
Master’s degree and extensive field experience in conservation biology.
Creative approach to explaining complex scientific issues.
Fully computer-literate 21st century human being.

Professional memberships:
National Association of Science Writers
Society for Conservation Biology
Surfrider Foundation
Cooper Ornithological Society

Personal:
I enjoy surfing, birdwatching, backpacking, and looking at whales and pelicans. At one time or another, I’ve also been an avid telemark skier, whitewater kayaker, soccer nut and cat-sailor. In the right situations I enjoy mountain biking, paddling flatwater, eating wild berries, mangling a few basic chords on the guitar, and speaking Spanish.

Full list of recent articles:
Journalism
New Scientist
Swept Away. New Scientist 194(2610), 30 June 2007.

Kavli Foundation (in press)
Do Not Disturb: We Learn While We Sleep
Scouring Ancient DNA for Millennia-Old Snapshots of Evolution
Will Biometrics Work? The Promises and Pitfalls of Computerizing Our Identities
Avoiding the Fate of the Akkadians: Learning to Live with a Temperamental Climate
Looking for the Origins of Human Experience through the Eyes of our Closest Relatives

Oceanus Magazine
Measuring Raindrops in the Ocean. March 2007.
Current Events off Antarctica. (profile) March 2007.
Legions of Legionella Bacteria. August 2006.
New Eyes Size Up Scallop Populations. August 2006.
A Mysterious Disease Is Infecting Northeast Clam Beds. December 2005.

Science Creative Quarterly
Malcolm Gladwell Writes the Introduction to a New Edition of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. February 2007.

California Wild
The Accidental Reaper. Summer 2005.
New Homes for the Academy’s Bones. Fall 2005.
Rare Bird, by Maria Mudd Ruth (book review). Spring 2006.

Science Notes – University of California – Santa Cruz
Solving for Glide. Summer 2005.

10,000 Earth & Ocean Scientists. Five Days.
Twice-daily news updates from the American Geophysical Union meeting, Fall 2005
Small Island. Big Ocean. Daily Dispatches.
Twice-daily news updates from the ASLO Ocean Sciences meeting, Spring 2006

UC Santa Cruz Press Office (2007)
Theoretical physicist says polymers in a vacuum may yield valuable data
Undergraduates tailor UCSC Genome Browser to aid malaria research
Small-scale fishing in Mexico rivals industrial fisheries in accidental turtle deaths
Avant-garde video-game blog earns art exhibition at UC Irvine’s Beall Center
Discovery of retinal cell type ends four-decade search
Francis Nimmo receives Urey Prize in Planetary Science
Three-way mating game of North American lizard found in distant European relative
Extra gene copies were enough to make early humans’ mouths water
Chemical Screening Center will search for new drugs
UCSC receives $120,000 HP Technology for Teaching leadership grant
Major gift supports crucial piece of Automated Planet Finder
New light-sensing ability discovered in disease-causing bacteria
New program color-codes text in Wikipedia entries to indicate trustworthiness
It’s summer school, with robots and pizza
Wobbly polarity is key to preventing magnetic avalanches on disk drives
Silicon chip beams light through a liquid-core waveguide to detect one particle at a time
UCSC earns high ranking for conservation biology research
UCSC astronomer Sandra Faber and chemist Jin Zhang elected 2007 AAAS Fellows
Chemistry Professor Anthony Fink wins Outstanding Faculty Award

Web Outreach
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
MARS: The Monterey Accelerated Research System. General-audience website about the MARS cabled observatory and five major instruments to be deployed there.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Ocean Instruments website. In-depth descriptions of oceanographic tools written for the general public:
Alvin
ABE: High-resolution mapping and searching by robotic vehicle
ALACE, PALACE, and SOLO floats
ASIMET: Air-Sea Interaction Meteorology sensors
BIOMAPER II: Counting zooplankton with video and sonar
Jason and Medea
Nootka buoy: A wireless hotspot in the deep ocean
MOCNESS: Remote-controlled nets for catching zooplankton
Ocean-bottom seismometer
Sediment trap: Catching marine snow on its long fall to the sea floor
Current Topics in the Coastal Ocean Extensive web and print resources on 12 pressing coastal issues, for general readers.

Brochures, posters, and animations
ORION: Revolutionizing Earth and Ocean Science. Joint Oceanographic Institutions. December 2006.

OceanSITES: Taking the Pulse of the Global Ocean. Brochure supporting an international program of ocean-observing buoys with participants in more than 20 nations and 60 institutions. (Brochure PDF can be found here.)

MARS Cabled Observatory poster. July 2006.

OceanSITES poster. ORION Design and Implementation Workshop, Salt Lake City, Utah. March 2006.

Air-sea flux and the ASIMET system. A 3-minute QuickTime animation.

Scientific publications
Saab, V. A., and H. D. W. Powell [eds.]. 2005. Fire and avian ecology in North America. Studies in Avian Biology No. 30. Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas.

Saab, V. A., and H. D. W. Powell. 2005. Fire and avian ecology in North America: process influencing pattern. Studies in Avian Biology 30:1-13.

Saab, V. A., H. D. W. Powell, N. B. Kotliar, and K. R. Newlon. 2005. Variation in fire regimes of the Rocky Mountains: implications for avian communities and fire management. Studies in Avian Biology 30:76-96.

Powell, H. D. W., S. J. Hejl, and D. L. Six. 2002. Measuring woodpecker food: a simple method for comparing wood-boring beetle abundance in fire-killed trees. Journal of Field Ornithology 73:130-140.

Powell, H. D. W. 2000. The influence of prey density on post-fire habitat use of the black-backed woodpecker. M.Sc. thesis, University of Montana, Missoula.

Presentations
Connecting the public to MARS: The observatory’s ninth link. Presented at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute annual intern symposium. August 17, 2006. Moss Landing, California.

A seafloor observatory that links deep sea to desktop. Poster presented to the general public at MBARI open house. July 15, 2006. Moss Landing, California.

Critical peer review of the OceanSITES brochure. Presented to the OceanSITES steering committee at the ASLO Ocean Sciences meeting. February 17, 2006. Waikiki, Hawaii.

Bringing topical information to the WHOI website. Step I: the coastal ocean. Presented to the trustees of the Coastal Ocean Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. October 27, 2005. Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Using prey density to understand foraging behavior and habitat use in the black-backed woodpecker. Presented at the Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting. June 28, 2000. Missoula, Montana.

Foraging behavior of the black-backed woodpecker in the northern Rocky Mountains. Presented at the Cooper Ornithological Society annual meeting. May 2000. Riverside, California. (Winner of student paper award.)