Award-winning magazine American Scientist is an illustrated bi-monthly publication about science, engineering and technology. It has been published by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society since 1913.
Each issue is filled with feature articles written by prominent scientists and engineers who review important work in fields ranging from molecular biology to computer engineering. Also included is the Scientists' Nightstand that reviews a vast range of science-related books and novels.
Full access to the site is provided without additional charge to Sigma Xi members and institutional subscribers, who arrange site licenses. Individual subscribers can choose between print and digital versions, or a combination of both. More information about subscriptions can be found here: americanscientist.org/subscribe.
American Scientist Staff
Publisher
John Nemeth
Subsequent to a very successful environmental consulting career, John Nemeth was at Georgia Tech for 15 years, within the Georgia Tech Research Institute where he 1) Directed the Environmental Science and Technology Laboratory with research emphasis on detection and management of toxic materials and prevention of environmental and occupational exposures; 2) served on the senior staff of the GTRI $100 million per year enterprise responsible for strategic planning, business development, institute operations; and he managed the GTRI state appropriations process; and 3) was also jointly appointed as professor in three Schools teaching and serving on graduate committees.
In 1998, John became the vice president of Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), the largest science- and technology-based university consortium in the US. He developed ORAU’s University Partnerships enterprise into a consortium consisting of 122 campuses, including 99 major research institutions, over fifty of which had medical schools and health-related centers. He worked routinely with presidents, vice presidents for research and academic affairs, deans, and most importantly young faculty, and became quite experienced in a broad array of public and private university administrative and business development processes. He retired from ORAU in 2009.
John vows that his efforts will center on attracting young members, invigorating the more mature membership, promoting the growth and activity of all our Chapters, and helping to assure long-lived relevance of Sigma XI, THE Scientific Research Society. He holds a PhD and MS from North Carolina State University and a BS from Appalachian State University.
Editor-in-Chief
Jamie L. Vernon
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Jamie Vernon is director of science communications and publications at Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society and editor-in-chief of American Scientist magazine. An award-winning science educator, he began communicating science to the public as an independent blogger and public speaker. He went on to become a regular contributor to The Intersection, a Discover magazine blog about science and policy. He subsequently worked at the U.S. Department of Energy as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow and an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow, where he developed strategies to measure and communicate the economic impacts of the Department’s annual investment in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies. In 2012, he served as co-chair of digital communications for the Interagency Communication and Education Team at the United States Global Change Research Program.
Earlier, Jamie spent more than a decade conducting molecular biology discovery research with an emphasis on HIV vaccines and genetic engineering technologies. He holds a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Texas at Austin, a M.S. in biotechnology from East Carolina University, and a B.S. in zoology from North Carolina State University.
Twitter: @JLVernonPhD
Senior Consulting Editor
Corey S. Powell
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Corey S. Powell is a contributing editor of American Scientist magazine, published by the Sigma Xi society. He is also Editor at Large at DISCOVER magazine and a freelance contributor to Slate, Popular Science, and Nautilus. Corey spent 15 years on staff at DISCOVER, including five years as editor in chief. Before that he served eight years on the Board of Editors at Scientific American.
Corey has coordinated partnerships with the National Science Foundation and National Science Teachers Association, and has taught in NYU’s SHERP science journalism program, where he is currently a Visiting Scholar. He is the author of God in the Equation (Free Press), an exploration of the spiritual impulse in modern cosmology. As a producer, Corey has worked on “Last Days on Earth,” a 20/20 special, for ABC News, and the "Joe Genius" video series for the online network Revision3. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, CBS News, the Sci-Fi Channel, and Science Friday, and is a frequent science commentator on Fox News. In an earlier life, he worked for NASA helping to test gamma-ray telescopes.
Corey lives with his wife and two daughters in Brooklyn, where he manages to glimpse the occasional star with the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York.
Twitter: @coreyspowell
Managing Editor
Fenella Saunders
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Fenella Saunders is the managing editor of American Scientist, where she has been on staff since 2005. She was previously a science writer/editor for New York University School of Medicine's publications office and associate editor of their magazine, NYU Physician. Additionally, she spent eight years at DISCOVER magazine, where she was an associate editor and online editor. A coauthor of Popular Science's Space 2100: To Mars and Beyond in the Century to Come (Time Inc., 2003), she has also freelanced for Popular Mechanics, Scholastic, The Learning Channel, and The Discovery Channel. She received an AB degree in computer science from Duke University and a Master's degree in psychology and animal behavior from Hunter College of the City University of New York. She was selected as a fellow for the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship's "Nano: The Newest Technologies" workshop at MIT in 2009 and for their multimedia bootcamp at UC Berkeley's School of Journalism in 2010. She has been a Sigma Xi member since 2004 and is the vice president of the RTP chapter. Besides her skills in print writing and editing, she is proficient in audio and video editing and has a deep understanding of social media, new media, and publishing in the digital age.
Twitter: @FenellaSaunders
Digital Features Editor
Katie L. Burke
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Katie L. Burke has worked as an editor at American Scientist since 2012 and is currently digital features editor. She studied biology for her PhD, and her dissertation research focused on conservation biology and the ecology of forests and plant diseases. She blogs at The UnderStory.
Twitter: @_klburke
Editorial Associate
Mia Evans
Mia B. Evans is the coordinator of editorial operations, editorial assistant, and cartoon editor of American Scientist. She has been on staff since January 2001 and began as the administrative assistant in human resources. Mia transitioned into the coordinator of editorial operations position in April 2003. She handles permission requests, foreign usage contracts, author honoraria, royalties, PDFs for online usage, and the American Scientist copyright with the Library of Congress. She also composes correspondence for outgoing notification of copyright violations and maintains the entire American Scientist database of author and contributor information. Before Sigma Xi, she spent five years as a lead processor for the FFELP program with North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority. She was the liaison to NCSEAA section personnel (Accounting, Computer Services, Administration, and Attorney General’s Office) on behalf of FFELP Information Services. Before her departure she designed and composed the training manual for the processing assistant position while working in the Nurse Scholars Program.
Art Director
Barbara Aulicino
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Barbara Aulicino joined the staff of American Scientist as a graphic artist in 2000 and became the art director in 2004. Previously, she was a document designer at the American Board of Pediatrics where she also worked on multimedia projects. She has worked as a graphic artist in New York and in North Carolina. She studied art at Pratt Institute, and received a BA degree in fine art from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She attended a 2013 Interactive Designer Workshop at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and she looks forward to being involved in interactive design projects for Sigma Xi and American Scientist. A love of nature has led her to attend botanical illustration classes at North Carolina Botanical Garden, and she studies painting with a local artist. She also enjoys training dogs in obedience and agility and competing in AKC and UKC agility trials with her Golden Retrievers.
Scientists' Nightstand Editor
Dianne Timblin
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Dianne Timblin is the book review editor for American Scientist's Scientists' Nightstand and author of the poetry chapbook A History of Fire (Three Count Pour, 2013). Her ongoing series of lo-fi collages may be found at The Art of Salvage.
Twitter: @DianneTimblin
Digital Managing Editor
Robert Frederick
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Robert Frederick is the digital managing editor of American Scientist. Most recently, he freelanced for a wide variety of outlets, gaining credits from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NPR, and The Discovery Channel, among many others. He also contributed a chapter on multimedia freelancing to The Science Writers’ Handbook (Da Capo, 2013).
Previously, he was associate online editor and later web editor at Science magazine, where he also hosted and produced the weekly podcast, created videos, and contributed to team multimedia projects. Robert also served as the inaugural science reporter at St. Louis Public Radio. His educational background includes a triple-AB from The University of Chicago in mathematics, philosophy, and statistics, and a masters degree in applied mathematics from the University of Michigan.
His professional background also includes experiences as an information technology consultant, mathematics textbook editor, high school math and philosophy teacher, singer, and mathematics lecturer. Winning a Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science gave Robert the opportunity to spend a summer as a science reporter at Community Radio for Northern Colorado, an experience that launched his science journalism career. He serves on the board of the National Association of Science Writers and is the voting representative of NASW to the Authors Coalition of America. He podcasts at The Conjectural.
Twitter: @TheConjectural
Contributing Editors
Marla Broadfoot
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Marla Vacek Broadfoot is a freelance science writer and editor who has published over 250 articles about biomedical research. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a board member of the Science Communicators of North Carolina. Marla is the author of A Place at the Bench: Women in Biomedical Research, a publication of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund that explores the unique challenges faced by women in science. Her work has been published by the Raleigh News & Observer and Charlotte Observer, American Scientist, Science News, the Mayo Clinic, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Science’s Next Wave, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. From 2006 to 2007, she served as a senior public relations specialist at the Duke University Medical Center News Office, covering topics ranging from blind fungus to lung cancer diagnostics. Before becoming a writer, Marla was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute and was awarded board certification in clinical molecular genetics by the American College of Medical Genetics in 2005. She received her PhD in genetics and molecular biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003.
Twitter: @MvBroadfoot
Sandra J. Ackerman
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Sandra Ackerman is the senior editor of American Scientist. This is her second round of employment on the editorial staff; earlier, she worked on the magazine for 10 years in its New Haven, Connecticut, office, the last five of those as managing editor. In the intervening years, as a freelance writer, she published more than 125 news articles, features, book reviews, and columns about scientific and medical research and the people who carry it out.
Although she earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale College, Yale University, with a combined major in French and Russian literature, the scientific bent she inherited from both parents began to appear almost immediately afterwards: she attended a program on neuroscience for journalists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and later was awarded a fellowship from the Rosalynn Carter Program in Mental Health Journalism. Clients for her writing have included the AAAS, Archaeology, BrainWork, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bulletin, Nature, New Scientist, Science, and Thirteen/WNET New York.
In addition, she has written two books on neuroscience and related topics: Discovering the Brain (National Academy Press, 1992) and Hard Science, Hard Choices: Facts, Ethics, and Policies Guiding Brain Science Today (The Dana Press, 2006).
Twitter: @sj_ackerman
Contributing Editors (Not Pictured)
Anna Lena Phillips
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Anna, a contributing editor of American Scientist, is editor of Ecotone, the award-winning literary magazine that seeks to re-imagine place, and of its sister imprint, Lookout Books. She teaches in the creative writing department at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and is the author of A Pocket Book of Forms, a travel-sized, fine-press guide to poetic forms. Her writing appears or is forthcoming in venues including Open Letters Monthly, Redux, International Poetry Review, the Southern Poetry Anthology, and the Journal of Chemical and Engineering News. She has been selected for residencies at the Rensing Center, Penland School of Crafts, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Before joining UNCW in 2013, she served as senior editor and book review editor at American Scientist. Her work can be found at todointhenewyear.net.
David Schoonmaker
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David Schoonmaker, a former editor of American Scientist, is a freelance writer and editor.
Michael Szpir
View a list of Michael's work
Michael is a contributing editor to the magazine.
Laura Poole
Laura is a contributing editor to the magazine.
Senior Contributing Writer
Brian Hayes
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Brian Hayes wrote the "Computing Science" column in American Scientist from 1993-2015. Earlier he wrote columns on similar themes for Scientific American, Computer Language, and The Sciences. His work has appeared in a number of other publications, including The American Scholar, Discover, Natural History, and The New York Times Book Review, as well as anthologies such as The Norton Reader,The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and The Best Writing on Mathematics. His book Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape was published in 2005 by W. W. Norton. A selection of his columns, titled Group Theory in the Bedroom, and Other Mathematical Diversions, was published by Hill and Wang in 2008. He also writes about mathematics and computation at his web site: bit-player.org.
Hayes was an editor at Scientific American in the 1970s and 80s, and from 1990 to 1992 he served as editor of American Scientist. He has been journalist in residence at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, and has made extended visits to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. Since 2010 he has been an associate of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University.
Twitter: @bit_player