WASHINGTON (17 June 2009) -- IEEE-USA Engineering Mass Media Fellows David Lukofsky and Nicholas Diakopoulos have begun their 10-week media internships preparing news stories on science, engineering and technology: Lukofsky at WOSU-FM, a public radio station in Columbus, Ohio; and Diakopoulos at the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee.
Lukofsky received his Ph.D. in engineering physics from Dartmouth College this month, and Diakopoulos will earn his Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Tech this year.
In his application to become a 2009 IEEE-USA Mass Media Fellow, Lukofsky wrote that the internship will "be the perfect springboard to the media and policy experience I need for my dream job -- to act as the messenger who informs members of government on sci-tech issues." Diakopoulos expects to "garner valuable knowledge of journalism that will help me innovate better technologies for the journalists of the future."
In 2008, Scott Lebar, the Bee's assistant managing editor, praised IEEE-USA Mass Media Fellow Maddalena Jackson: "She is the epitome of what the program set out to achieve. We teach, she learns; she writes, our readers learn." To read more about Jackson's internship, see http://www.todaysengineer.org/2008/Nov/mass-media.asp.
Since 2000, 13 U.S. IEEE undergraduate and graduate students have served as IEEE-USA Mass Media Fellows, helping journalists in print and broadcast fields communicate authoritatively to the public about science, engineering and technology. IEEE-USA is the only engineering organization in the Mass Media Fellows program, which is administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). IEEE-USA is also one of a smaller group of sponsoring societies that supports more than one Fellow.
From 2006-08, AAAS Science & Engineering Mass Media Fellows produced more than 600 first-run news stories on science and technology. Entering its 35th year in 2009, more than 550 Fellows have participated.
As a result of IEEE-USA's participation in the program, volunteers and staff have established contact with key journalists to promote IEEE-USA activities. IEEE-USA Communications Committee Chair Abby Vogel and member Allan Schell helped to select the organization's 2009 Fellows.
For more information on IEEE-USA involvement, see http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/massmedia.asp.
IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 210,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE. IEEE-USA is part of IEEE, the world's largest technical professional society with 375,000 members in 160 countries. See http://www.ieeeusa.org.