We are excited to introduce our newest early-career fellows, Lucila Pinto, William von Herff, and Skyler Ware. With generous support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Lucila, William, and Skyler will each spend the next year working with individual mentors and the TON editorial team to report and write articles on the craft of science journalism for The Open Notebook.
Over the past nine years, our fellows have written more than 135 stories for TON, which have been read by tens of thousands of people in almost every country in the world; you can read stories by previous fellows here. The science writing community will get to know Lucila, William, and Skyler in the coming months, but for now, here’s a little bit about each of them:
Lucila Pinto is a journalist from Argentina. She writes about AI, trust in science, biodiversity, and public policy, among other topics. Her work has appeared in Science, Rest of World, Columbia Journalism Review, La Nación, and other outlets. She began her career in Buenos Aires, where she worked in magazines and newspapers for over a decade. She was an intern at Clarín, a staff writer at Para Ti, and a regular contributor and columnist at La Nación. She has also led projects on the ethical integration of artificial intelligence in newsrooms and was a fellow in the JournalismAI program at the London School of Economics (LSE). In 2023, she moved to New York to pursue a Master of Arts in Science Journalism at Columbia University. She is currently based between Canada and Argentina, working as a freelance journalist. Find her on X or at lucilapinto.com.
William von Herff can’t remember a time when he wasn’t fascinated by the natural world. He received his B.S. in biology from McGill University and his M.Sc in science writing from the Graduate Program in Science Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since graduating, he has been reporting on local science on outer Cape Cod at the Provincetown Independent, a locally-owned newspaper. His freelance work has appeared in The Atlantic, WIRED, Smithsonian, Hakai, and Popular Science, among others. His writing focuses on conservation, the environment, natural history, and the politics of science. When he’s not writing, he can typically be found tromping through a forest or gazing out at the nearest body of water in search of birds. You can find him on X and Bluesky or at williamvonherff.com.
Fellowship Mentors
We’re also thrilled to welcome three new mentors to our fellowship community. Mentors meet weekly with fellows for the duration of their fellowship, providing advice and guidance as the fellows plan, report, and write their fellowship stories and offering other career-development support and comradeship.
Carmen Drahl will be Lucila’s mentor. Carmen is a Washington, DC-based editor, journalist, and project manager. She has edited reporters on five continents for clients including National Public Radio’s Goats and Soda, Science, Science News, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her own science coverage has appeared in Knowable, Forbes, Scientific American, and elsewhere. Before becoming a freelancer, she reported for Chemical & Engineering News. She also managed English and Spanish content at the company led by Michelin-starred chef and humanitarian José Andrés. She has a PhD in bioorganic chemistry from Princeton University. Find her on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Sarah Gilman will be Skyler’s mentor. Sarah is a Washington state-based writer, illustrator, and editor who covers the environment, natural history, and place. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Audubon, High Country News, Sierra, Adventure Journal Quarterly, The Washington Post, Smithsonian, and others, and she wrote the quarterly column Terra Affirma for YES! Magazine. You can also find her words in the Best American Science and Nature Writing, Best Women’s Travel Writing, and Water Bodies anthologies, and her drawings on the covers and pages of several non-fiction books. Follow her @sarahmgilman.bsky.social or check out her art at Hidden Drawer Designs on Etsy.
Victoria Jaggard is the Executive Editor at Science News. She has been a science journalist for more than two decades, with specialties in astronomy, paleontology and biomedicine. Her work has brought her to Florida to chronicle the last space shuttle launch, to Mexico’s coastal wetlands to investigate bird evolution and to a golf course in Uganda to better understand the extreme biology of bats. She previously worked as deputy editor for health and science at The Washington Post, executive editor for science at National Geographic, and an editor and reporter covering science for Smithsonian magazine, New Scientist, and Chemical & Engineering News. Jaggard holds a BA in Journalism/Science Writing from Lehigh University, as well as a deep appreciation for Star Trek, anime, and karaoke.
We’re proud to be working with this talented group of journalists. Please join us in welcoming them all to the TON team!