On March 31, 2014, Nature correspondent and author Alexandra Witze ’92 joined the MIT Alumni Association for a Twitter chat. After earning a degree in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences from MIT, Witze decided to pursue a career in science writing. She recently published a book entitled Island on Fire, about the 1783 eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Laki.
During the hour-long chat, Witze offered advice to budding science journalists, shared her thoughts on Twitter as a journalism tool, and talked volcanoes. Following are a few highlights: (read the entire recap here)
.@MIT_alumni Budding science journos can check out orgs like @ScienceWriters which have resources on training in the field. #MITalum
— Alexandra Witze (@alexwitze) March 31, 2014
.@MIT_alumni I'm a big believer in vocational training (internships etc) & working in the trenches of possible career paths. #MITalum
— Alexandra Witze (@alexwitze) March 31, 2014
.@MIT_alumni Best thing about training at @MIT in science was the ability to converse with sources in language they understand. #MITalum
— Alexandra Witze (@alexwitze) March 31, 2014
.@tsdegroff You're on. SoCal is not a subduction zone. Farther north, Cascadia, is, & that's why Cascades volcanoes exist. #MITalum
— Alexandra Witze (@alexwitze) March 31, 2014
Read the full recap on Storify.
Witze spoke with Spectrum earlier this year about her path from the lab bench to the news desk.