Siri Carpenter (Executive director and editor-in-chief) is a co-founder of The Open Notebook and is an award-winning science journalist and editor work has appeared in The New York Times, Science, Scientific American, and other publications. She is a past president of the National Association of Science Writers, serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication, and was the 2023 winner of the Online News Association’s Community Award. She has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Yale University and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Jane C. Hu (Chair) is a freelance journalist, a regular contributor to Slate, and a contributing editor at High Country News. Their work has appeared in publications like Science, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Outside, and Wired. They are also a former TON/BWF early-career fellow and AAAS Mass Media Fellow, as well as a former president of the Northwest Science Writers Association. They live in Seattle; on weekends, you’ll find them biking around town, climbing, or backpacking.
Sisi Wei (Vice Chair) is the Chief Impact Officer at CalMatters and The Markup, where she pioneers innovative strategies to empower readers, serve communities, and drive meaningful real-world change through journalism. Previously, Sisi served as editor-in-chief of The Markup, where she spearheaded a pivotal update to the organization’s mission: challenging technology to serve the public good. Under her tenure, The Markup won the prestigious ONA General Excellence award. Previously, Sisi served as co-executive director of OpenNews, and before that, assistant managing editor at ProPublica. In 2024, Sisi was honored with the Freedom of the Press Rising Star Award. In 2021, Sisi won the Gwen Ifill Award for her work supporting and elevating women of color in news media.
María Paula Rubiano A. (Secretary) is a freelance science and environmental journalist, and assistant editor at Environmental Health News. Her work has appeared in Grist, Science, Audubon, BBC Future, and Atlas Obscura, among others. She began her career as a science journalist six years ago, when she joined the science desk of El Espectador, one of the most respected newspapers in her native Colombia. In 2020, partially funded by New York University’s World Journalist fellowship, she graduated from the master’s program in Science, Environmental and Health Reporting. She is also a former TON/BWF early career fellow and a former fellow at Grist.
Shraddha Chakradhar (Treasurer) is deputy news editor, diversity at Science magazine, where she helps oversee coverage of issues at the intersection of science and race, gender, and inequity. Previously, she was deputy editor of Nieman Lab, prior to which she worked at STAT as the writer of its award-winning newsletter Morning Rounds. Her experience includes editor and reporter at Nature Medicine, and researcher and fact-checker for PBS’ science documentary show NOVA. She is also a lecturer in Johns Hopkins University’s graduate program in science writing. Her bylines have appeared in Scientific American, NOVA Next, and Nature. Shraddha also helped launch The Open Notebook‘s Diverse Voices in Science Journalism series in 2018.
Heidi Flood is a communications and fundraising strategist passionate about science, truth, and independent journalism’s essential role in a thriving democracy. As Director of Communications for Boston Globe Media, Heidi amplified the work of its award-winning newsrooms and developed fundraising strategies to expand reporting on education, health equity, climate change, and closing the racial wealth gap. Now, as Chief of Fund Development at the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, she drives investments in nonprofits and leaders who are building a more equitable Massachusetts. In warmer months, you’ll find her attached to her bike.
William Lager is a multi-disciplinary freelance journalist bridging the spaces between journalism, data, and the public. He does so through equitable collaborations, visual storytelling, audience engagement, product and design development as a consulting journalist, product developer, and multi-disciplinary editor for data, graphics and audience engagement. Recently, he worked with The Marshall Project to set up their St. Louis news team, and was adjunct faculty at Mizzou. Previously Lager worked with MPR News, the Racial Reckoning Project, and others.
Ashley Smart is the associate director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT and a senior editor at Undark magazine. He previously spent eight years as an editor and reporter at Physics Today magazine and co-founded the science news blog HBSciU. He was a 2015-16 Knight Science Journalism Fellow, and he holds a PhD in chemical and biological engineering from Northwestern University. Ashley also helped launch The Open Notebook‘s Diverse Voices series in 2018. He is a board member of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.
Alexandra Witze is a contributing correspondent for Nature. She writes news and features, primarily about the earth and space sciences, from her base in Boulder, Colorado. With her husband Jeff Kanipe, she is the author of Island on Fire, a book about the 18th-century eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki (Pegasus Books, 2015). Alex’s awards include top journalism prizes from the American Geophysical Union, the American Institute of Physics, and the National Association of Science Writers. Among other places her reporting has taken her to the North Pole, to an earthquake zone in China, and to Maya ruins in the Guatemalan jungle.
Emeritus Board Members
TON co-founder Jeanne Erdmann leads an advisory council made up of former members of The Open Notebook‘s board of directors. These valued colleagues continue to help shape our work.
Jeanne Erdmann is a co-founder of The Open Notebook and is an independent health and science journalist whose work has been recognized with fellowships and awards. She’s written for many publications including Prevention, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, Women’s Health, Family Circle, Nature, Nature Medicine, Science News, Discover, The Washington Post, and WebMD. She is a past executive board member of the Association of Health Care Journalists. She’s also an official with US Figure Skating. Jeanne lives in Wentzville, Missouri with her husband and their rescue dog, Milly.
Ann Finkbeiner is a freelance science writer who writes mostly about astronomy, sometimes about the science of national security, sometimes about women-in-astro, sometimes about the psychology of grief; and otherwise whatever she can get paid to write about. She lives in Baltimore.
Julie Rehmeyer is an award-winning math and science journalist and the author of Through the Shadowlands: A Science Writer’s Odyssey into an Illness Science Doesn’t Understand. She has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, Discover, Science News, and many other publications. She writes a newsletter, The Weighing, on the clean energy transition in New Mexico and severe chronic illness.