My mission

The intellectual practice that ties the philosophers of antiquity to the frontier scientists of the 21st century is the use of the written word to communicate their ideas. American teenagers in 2025 can learn geometry because the Greek mathematician Euclid wrote the Elements while living in Alexandria more than 2,300 years ago. No other form of communication allows humanity’s best and most enduring ideas to travel such vast physical and temporal distances.

Helping today’s young scientists record their ideas is my contribution to posterity and the success of our species. I teach my students how to develop their ideas, test their assumptions, and share their findings with readers inside and outside their fields. I am especially passionate about teaching students how to introduce transformational discoveries to lay audiences.

Learning to write well starts with the realization that anyone can. Likewise, people who already write well can learn to write even better. I encourage writers to pursue topics that excite them, and I share strategies for organizing research and structuring writing projects, from brainstorming to the final draft. After 20 years as a writer and editor, I can think of no higher calling than teaching young scientists to write with clarity and conviction.

My path

After writing and editing for my undergraduate student newspaper, I began my professional career at the Washington City Paper in Washington, D.C., where I covered arts and culture. I then worked as a reporter for Reason and a staff writer at CityLab. After several years in media, I “switched sides” and became the communications director for FAMM, a criminal justice reform nonprofit. Once I’d scratched that itch, I became part of the inaugural editorial team at Freethink, and then returned to Reason, where I wrote magazine features before serving as deputy managing editor.

Eventually, I realized that my favorite aspects of writing and editing are collaboration. Despite our reputation for being solitary (and often nocturnal), writers produce their best work with strong, constructive feedback from editors who prioritize helping their charges get the best out of themselves.

After nearly two decades, I decided to reorient my career around serving as a writing coach and mentor. In 2025, I joined the Roots of Progress Institute as the developmental editor for the Blog Building Initiative, where I spent every day working with talented scientists, researchers, and thinkers committed to making tomorrow better than today.