Creative Science Writing

Summer Workshop in Creative Science Writing

In May 2017, I founded the Summer Workshop in Creative Science Writing for Undergraduates at the University of Pittsburgh. I co-organize the series of 10 weekly writing workshops with Marylou Gramm and Sam Pittman of the Department of English. The goal is to foster efforts by undergraduate “Writers in Residence” in research labs to communicate science in a compelling, accessible manner to non-scientists using creative writing (e.g. poetry, narrative nonfiction, etc.).

Each summer, the Workshop publishes selected works by the Writers in Residence in the Lab Musings online magazine on Medium (see 2017, 2018, and 2019 issues). In addition, a Being Human podcast was created of an interview with Lee Gutkind (“the Godfather behind creative nonfiction”) by Dan Kubis at the grande finale event of the 2018 Workshop. Funding for the Workshop has been provided by the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, an Interdisciplinary Humanities Grant, and the Honors College.

Grand Finale of 2019 Workshop

Photos by Heather Kresge