Carmen Drahl

Developmental editing: news, features, Q&As. Manage quarterly magazine project: Commission and edit features and profiles, work with data scientists and graphic designers to make infographics, and collaborate with production teams to ensure smooth delivery. Reporting: News, Q&As, book reviews and special projects. Focus is the science behind medicine & health, plastic waste, space exploration, and food & wine. Fact checking: review technical documents and talk with interviewed sources to ensure clients' reporting is as accurate as possible.

Work with an early-career journalist to develop three features and one Q&A focused on the craft of science writing for The Open Notebook's Burroughs Wellcome Fund-supported fellowship. Brainstorm and refine pitch ideas with fellow, edit features and provide general career mentorship.

On a contract basis, I provide written and editorial support for the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Project. This project requires fluency in both speaking and writing about biomedical science and science policy in English and Spanish.

Editing: Responsible for editing as many as half of science/technology briefs and news stories. Support science team leadership in coordinating coverage for C&EN. Edit stories for clarity, structure, and accuracy. Journalism: Cover green chemistry and contribute to coverage of organic and medicinal chemistry. Innovation: Acted as editorial lead for developing a new Amazon Alexa voice product.

Building on my seven-plus years of science communication experience, I contribute regularly to the science section of Forbes.com (Alex Knapp, editor).

Projects include news and features, video scripts, and book reviews on topics spanning chemistry but also including kitchen science, restaurant reviews, neuroscience, energy, and space science.

Provided editorial, creative, strategic and organizational support for all original content, both written and video, in both English and Spanish language, published by ThinkFoodGroup, across multiple communications channels and for varying audiences. Work includes concept statements for restaurants, ghostwriting for chef and humanitarian José Andrés, drafting talking points. Updated and maintained JoseAndres.com website and affiliated email newsletter. Expanded Spanish-language content on the site and laid groundwork for its first Spanish-language email newsletter. Monitored Spanish-language coverage of ThinkFoodGroup and José Andrés, providing translation of Spanish content into English. Supported PR team both virtually and on-site with interview requests from Spanish-language media outlets. Collaborated with videographers to storyboard and direct video shoots for ThinkFoodGroup websites and social media channels, as well as for press inquiries. Bridged the ThinkFoodGroup Culinary R&D and Marketing/PR teams. Consulted with ThinkFoodGroup chefs to develop recipes and edit recipes for home cooks.

Reporting: Cover the science of chemistry for C&EN, the American Chemical Society's weekly magazine, circulation 160,000. Track new research findings daily, particularly in food science, forensic science, drug discovery, organic chemistry. Video: Doubled circulation to C&EN's YouTube channel in 2013. Scripted, narrated, edited footage. Managed a core team of 4 and collaborated with other reporters to produce 30 videos, some reproduced in The Atlantic, Scientific American, Eater National, The Daily Mail. Incepted, scripted, and co-hosted "Speaking of Chemistry", a monthly web show that summarizes top chemistry news for the busy scientist. Social Media: Developed magazine-wide best practices for YouTube videos and Twitter. Ran staff workshops about Storify, Slashdot, and Reddit. Hosting/Public Speaking: Topics include communicating chemistry simply, transitioning from a Ph.D. to careers in journalism. Moderated discussions on chemophobia, social media usage in the chemical sciences. On-camera co-host for web newscasts produced by ACS. Innovation: With C&EN art and web teams, developed first-for-the-magazine features, including a 90th anniversary commemorative timeline poster, a pullout guide to top conference speakers, interactive quizzes and database searches.

I was the "voice of Twitter" for World Central Kitchen, the humanitarian organization founded by renowned Chef José Andrés. Doubled followers to Twitter account in 2013, developed Twitter strategy for projects and events. Edited Annual Report, press releases and other communication materials. Volunteered in person at outreach events. Edited video footage as needed.

I reported and wrote profiles of prominent women scientists in a range of fields (molecular biology, physics, geoscience) for the Research Advances column in AWIS Magazine.

Ph.D. with Erik J. Sorensen Part of a team that was first to finish a laboratory synthesis of a molecule that's found in small quantities in nature and showed hints of promise as a potential antibiotic-- abyssomicin C. We produced enough abyssomicin to begin studying how it works in greater detail, beginning with a proteomics project I worked on in collaboration with Benjamin Cravatt's lab at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. M.A. with George L. McLendon Worked on a potential strategy to treat cancer by targeting a natural pathway through which cells die, known as apoptosis. I attached a dye known to damage tumors in response to light to a four amino-acid molecule known to trigger apoptosis.