The Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has established the HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship. The new initiative aims to increase diversity in the field of scientific journalism.
The new program, launching in June, will bring a cohort of 10 students from historically Black colleges and universities to a week-long summer camp on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. During the program, participating students will be introduced to prominent science journalists and editors of scholarly science publications. They will also take part in hands-on learning workshops to better develop their journalistic skills. Upon the session’s completion, all 10 students will receive individual mentoring from a professional scientific journalist over the following year.
The initial cohort of the HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship contains students from five participating historically Black institutions: Howard University in Washington, D.C., Hampton University in Virginia, Florida A&M University, Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and North Carolina A&T State University.