ChemSemBlog

The seminar that was held on November 5, 2009 was really unique and interesting compared to any other seminar that we had. The seminar was an experimental online video presentation which was really successful. Even though the speaker was in San Francisco and speaking through the web camera, it did not bother me at all. The guest speaker, Jyllian Kemsley, currently works at the Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) as an associate editor and also helps with the publication of the American Chemical Society. As she received BA in chemistry and completed her PhD in chemistry, she developed an interest in scientific writing.

Through this seminar, I learned a lot of interesting and new things on scientific writers. As a biochemistry student, I only thought about being involved as a health professional. However, she gave me a chance to think about other fields of career opportunities as a science major. A typical week for scientific writers involves reading scientific papers, staying on top of local or national news, talking to scientists or other sources, writing, revising and attending conferences.  I was surprised that even professional writers, like her, get their paper revised from at least five other people. Also, I learned that becoming a scientific writer requires some challenges, such as being comfortable with unfamiliar territory and being creative on demand.

Not only that, but she also talked about what characteristics make a good scientific writer. She said that a good writer has to have a talent for writing clearly, accurately, and with an interesting flair. There are also other various fields of career such as online, newspaper, radio, government agencies, science journal and freelancer.

I thought the presentation was really successful and interesting. I had really good time learning about and experiencing new technology during the seminar. I also got to know about the different territories of scientific career. If I have to sum up this seminar to one sentence, it would be “How to be a good scientific writer?”

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On November 5, 2009 the speaker came to us through a new form of chemistry seminar speaking.  The speaker was Jyllian Kemsley and she spoke to us via video conferencing, it was a very exciting event because this was the first time that Andrews University has conducted this type of a seminar.  The event went on without a hitch, Jyllian Kemsley is currently an Associate Editor at Chemical and Engineering News.  She started her career at Amherst College as a chemistry major and then spent 2 years as an analytical chemist at Merck.  From here she transitioned to Stanford Grad School and then went to the University of California Santa Cruz where she took, as she described it, a one year boot camp in Science Writing.  Following her time at the University of California Santa Cruz she spent some time as a freelance writer and finally got a call in 2007 to work for Chemical and Engineering News, where she works today.

Jyllian Kemsley gave us some information on what a weekly news magazine does exactly, they generally write short stories that take about a day or two to write.  There is not a whole lot other than short stories that takes place.  As a science writer she spends a lot of time visiting scientists and talking to them about what is new in there science research and watching the local and national news to get leads on things that are going on in the world.  As easy as this job seems to be there are a few challenges and these challenges vary from being comfortable enough with going into unfamiliar areas of science and finding information about a topic you have not clue about.  It is also asking the “dumb” questions sometimes and juggling multiple stories at one time.  There are many rewards to the job, some examples would be the intellectual freedom and the abilities for high creativity and flexibility in your schedule.

She gave us a few tips at how to be a good science writer.  A person needs to be skilled and interested in Science, it would be great to have a good talent for writing and to remain calm when under pressure.  She said that it takes having thick skin to do well, mainly because people will criticize your writing and you need to be able to handle the criticism. There are many different areas that a science writer can work and most people understand where this is, they are primarily the media and news papers and science journals.  However, other places that science writers can be found is at hospitals and research institutions.  The best way to become a science writer is to write your own blogs and to help write for the school news papers and magazines to get your feet wet and to have a good understanding of writing styles for different medias.

Jyllian Kemsley spoke very well and was extremely polite and friendly.  She stayed within the time restraints and was just an amazing speaker. It was a very interesting talk and gave  good incite into what goes on to create some of these science publications.  She spoke very clearly and made sure to speak loud enough that everyone could hear.  She answered all her questions with ease and pride.  It was an amazing Seminar and the best presentation by far all year.

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This edition of ChemSem brought the never before tried teleconference technology to the presentation amphitheater. Joining us from California was Jyllian Kemsley, a writer for the online and print magazine Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN). She was initially trained as a chemist, and received her Ph.D. in that field before determining that she was interested in pursuing science writing as a career. Though there was not much chemistry to be offered from this presentation, there were several things that we did learn which were interesting and potentially beneficial in terms of understanding and possibly pursuing a career in that field.

Among the valuable suggestions offered by Kemsley was the fact that there were many facets to the opportunities offered by science writing. Online news, newspapers, and other elements of news media are always in need of scientists who can read, understand, and translate works of science into colloquial and interesting language for the average reader. Beyond this, one of the valuable elements is the fact that science writers have the opportunity to gain a broad understanding of the fields of science without actually having to study or research a specific and focused element of the field. In doing so, she admits, science writers do need to have a willingness to “ask the stupid questions.” Given that the interviewee is well versed in the material they are being interviewed about, the writer must be willing, and have the confidence, to get them to break down the information into smaller and more manageable chunks, even if in doing so, the writer seems lacking in understanding. Finally, though there was not a lot of specific information, Kemsley did suggest that an interested individual should endeavor to get some form of science writing experience as an undergraduate in whatever newspaper or periodical for a university they could.

Though I personally don’t find myself drawn to the field of science writing, I do enjoy reading the material and learning about discoveries other people have made. I did find it valuable that Kemsley pointed out the volatility of the field and the fact that quite a few science writers were recently laid off. I appreciated her honesty and her discussion of the topic as a valuable resource in spreading knowledge and understanding regarding chemistry and science in general.

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