GSA Science Communication Fellowship

Current Fellow

Sarah Derouin
2018-2019 GSA
Science Communication Fellow

Sarah Derouin earned a PhD in Geology from the University of Cincinnati. She spent six years working as a geologist for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation identifying and assessing geologic hazards in the western U.S. and Puerto Rico and has experience working as a consulting geologist, an instructor, a GIS contractor, and as a Geoscientists-in-the-Parks program participant.

Sarah is also a graduate of the University of California- Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) Science Communication program, where she honed her writing and multimedia skills. As an intern at the Stanford News office, and later as a contractor for the Stanford Woods Institute, she wrote press releases on a range of topics from flexible electronics, to soil health after fires, to seeing how close domestic water supplies are to natural gas wells. Since graduating from the UC Santa Cruz program, Sarah has worked as a freelance science writer and editor with a number of publications and news outlets, including Eos, Scientific American and Science.  Her writing formats have included news, features and longer form informational pieces, as well as profiles. Most recently, Sarah served as an acting associate editor at EARTH Magazine.

She is excited to serve as the 2018-2019 GSA Science Communication Fellow, and is eager to practice her skills as a science translator working with GSA. Sarah is passionate about communicating the value of geoscience to society and showcasing the awesome research that geoscientists do every day.  She lives in San Jose, California, and is active in the Northern California Science Writers Association, the National Association of Science Writers, and the Earth Science Women’s Network.  More information and a comprehensive list of Sarah’s articles may be found on her website:  www.sarahderouin.com.

GSA’s Science Communication Fellowship is an opportunity for a science writer, journalist or scientist with a passion for communicating to spend 10 months gaining experience and professional contacts, working in concert with GSA communications and member leaders.

The goal of the Fellowship is to help improve communication of geoscience knowledge between the members of GSA and the non-scientific community. Candidates should understand how to interview authors to capture the significance of their work for non-scientific audiences, and translate technical research papers into well-developed and compelling press releases for general media outlets with lay readership.  The Fellow will write a minimum of 12 press releases throughout the Fellowship term, selected from the Society’s top-rated, peer-reviewed geoscience journals and from abstracts submitted by scientists to the extensive technical program for the GSA Annual Meeting.

The Fellow will also help staff the onsite Newsroom at the GSA Annual Meeting, assist members of the media covering the meeting, pitch stories to local and national media outlets, and mentor student interns considering a career in science communication.