AMS Mass Media Fellowship

The American Mathematical Society (AMS) sponsors a Mass Media Fellow each summer through the Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellowship program organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This program is designed to improve public understanding of science and technology by placing advanced science, mathematics and engineering students in newsrooms nationwide.

Applicants must be a) enrolled as students (upper level undergraduate or graduate); b) be a postdoctoral trainee; or c) apply within one year of the completion of a) or b). Applicants must be in the life, physical, health, engineering, computer or social sciences or mathematics and related fields with outstanding written and oral communication skills and a strong interest in learning about the media. In its 45-year history, the program has supported over 700 fellows.

Fellows receive a stipend of US$8,000 for the summer, plus travel expenses to and from AAAS and media outlets, to work for ten weeks during the summer months as reporters, researchers, and production assistants in media organizations. They observe and participate in the process by which events and ideas become news, improve their ability to communicate about complex technical subjects in a manner understandable to the public, and increase their understanding of editorial decision making and of how information is effectively disseminated.

Next Application Deadline: January 1, 2024

(Applications will open in Summer 2023)

Eligible candidates should review information on the application procedures and submit their application by the January 1st deadline.

I believe that math is something anyone can enjoy, and I love sharing new concepts with people. I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to be an AMS-AAAS Mass Media Fellow!

Previous AMS Mass Media Fellows

2022: Anuraag Bukkuri, University of Florida and Moffit Cancer Center. Assigned to the Miami Herald. See article "Math and Writing: Two Sides of the Same Coin?" Notices of the AMS, January 2023.
2021: Tamar Lichter Blanks, Rutgers University. Assigned to The Conversation. See article "My Summer at The Conversation." Notices of the AMS, February 2022.
2020: Scott Hershberger, Washington University in St. Louis. Assigned to Scientific American. See article "Putting the People in Science: Beginning My Career as a Science Communicator."
2019: Leila Sloman, Stanford University. Assigned to Scientific American. See article "My Summer as a Science Journalist." Notices of the AMS, January 2020. See some of her articles here, here and here.
2018: Yen Duong, University of Illinois at Chicago. Assigned to Raleigh News & Observer. See article "Making an Impact: Transitioning from Math PhD to Journalist." Notices of the AMS, December 2018.
2017: Benjamin Thompson, Boston University. Assigned to Voice of America.
2016: Kelsey Houston-Edwards, Cornell University. Assigned to NOVA. Learn about her hosting the Infinite Series for PBS Digital Studios.
2015: Rachel Crowell, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Assigned to the Oregonian.

Previous AMS Mass Media Fellows

2014: Joshua Batson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Assigned to WIRED magazine. See article "My summer at WIRED Magazine." Notices of the AMS, January 2015.
2013: Anna Haensch,Wesleyan University. Assigned to National Public Radio. See article "My summer at NPR." Notices of the AMS, December 2013
2012: Evelyn Lamb, Rice University. Assigned to Scientific American. See article "My Summer at Scientific American."Notices of the AMS, January 2013
2011: Melanie DeVries, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Assigned to KUNC-FM Radio in Greeley, CO.
2010: Benjamin Pittman-Polleta, University of Arizona. Assigned to the Oregonian. See article "My Summer at the Oregonian." Notices of the AMS, January 2011.
2009: Baldur Hedinsson, Boston University. Assigned to Milwuakee Journal Sentinel.
2007: Adriana Salerno, University of Texas at Austin. Assigned to Voice of America. See article "My Summer at the Voice of America." Notices of the AMS, February 2008.
2006: Brie Finegold, University of California at Santa Barbara. Assigned to the Scientific American. See article "My Summer at Scientific American." Notices of the AMS, January 2007.
2005: Brent Deschamp, University of Wyoming. Assigned to WOSU-AM in Columbus, OH. See article "My Summer at National Public Radio." Notices of the AMS, January 2006.
2004: Lisa DeKeukelaere, Brown University. Assigned to the Scientific American. See article "My Summer at Scientific American," Notices of the AMS, January 2005.
2003: Claudia Clark, Northeastern University. Assigned to the Voice of America. See article "A Summer at Voice of America," Notices of the AMS, April 2004.
2002: Kathy Paur, Harvard University. Assigned to the Chicago Tribune.
2001: Rafe Jones, Brown University. Assigned to Discovery Channel Online. See article "A Summer at Discovery.com," Notices of the AMS, June/July 2002.
2000: Kathryn Leonard, Brown University. Assigned to Popular Science. See article "A Summer at Popular Science Magazine", Notices of the AMS, September 2001. Mary Ann Saadi, University of Rhode Island. Assigned to Business Week.
1999: Brian Allen, Purdue University. Assigned to TIME Magazine's Washington DC bureau. See article, "A Summer at Time Magazine", Notices of the AMS, October 2000.
1998: Edouard Servan-Schreiber, University of California, Berkeley, spent the summer at National Geographic Television, Washington DC.Elizabeth Veomett, Oregon State University, spent her fellowship at Business Week, New York. See article "Experiences of AMS-AAAS Media Fellows", Liz Veomett and Ben Stein, Notices of the AMS, January 1998.
1997: Benjamin Stein, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, spent the summer at National Geographic Television, Washington DC.

Several Mass Media Fellows contribute summaries of media coverage of mathematics in the monthly Math in the Media Digests.

For more information, contact AMS Government Relations