MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing
Students Students Students

Eva Cornman

Class of 2024
Biology, medicine

Eva Cornman is a writer from the suburbs of Chicago. While studying molecular and cellular biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she realized that she preferred writing and talking about science over actually doing it. She left the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s in biology, a minor in creative writing, and a newfound passion for science writing.

After graduating, Eva spent a year managing a clinical research laboratory that studies the human gut microbiome. At MIT, Eva hopes to use her science background and clinical lab management experience to inform her writing on biology and medicine.

When she isn’t writing, Eva can often be found dancing, hiking, or hanging out with her cat. 

Noah Daly

Class of 2024
Health, medicine

Noah Daly is a writer and reporter covering drug policy, psychedelic science, art, and medical tech innovations. His reporting can be found in The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, Up Magazine, and Lucid News, among other publications.

Originally from New York City, Noah’s love for science was nurtured by watching MythBusters and Steve Irwin: Crocodile Hunter as a kid. After graduating from CUNY Brooklyn College, his love of journalism inspired him to get as close as possible to people telling true stories that change minds and hold truth to power, first as an intern at Foreign Affairs Magazine and then as a graduate administrative aide at New York University’s journalism school. 

At MIT, Noah will investigate the therapeutic convergences of trauma, violence, and substances that alter our states of consciousness. Outside of the classroom, Noah is an avid reader, a novice guitar strummer, a better-than-average chef, and a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Gregor Gracie.

Sophie Hartley

Class of 2024
Conservation

The woodlands of eastern Vermont sparked Sophie Hartley‘s early interest in forest ecosystems. She studied human development and creative writing at the University of Chicago, where she wrote about wild boar, rewilding, and rural Montana’s pushback against bison conservation.

Her work with the Marine Biological Laboratory and the New Hampshire State Parks helped Sophie find her footing as a photojournalist. Since graduating, she has been writing fauna and flora identification guides for hikers in Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. 

At MIT, Sophie wants to keep investigating how culture and science clash in conservation efforts. When she’s not writing or taking pictures, you can usually find her trying to redecorate her apartment.

Sarah Hopkins

Class of 2024
Climate change, migration, public health, science and the law, social justice

Sarah Hopkins holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in literature from the University of Oxford and Sarah Lawrence College. She has worked as a writer, editor, and communicator for social justice organizations, including the ACLU, where she translated complex legal concepts to non-expert audiences and to the media. In these roles, she saw how the law relies on experts trained in scientific fields to move people in power toward informed decisions. She also witnessed how people in power seek to suppress the truth from the public and from the people most impacted by their decisions or policies.

At MIT, Sarah is excited to expand her storytelling across different mediums. She is interested in researching the use of junk science within the criminal justice system and the complex ways in which the law intersects with science—two disciplines that seek the truth but operate in contradictory ways. She also plans to explore other intersections between science and social justice, such as climate change and public health.

Alex Ip

Class of 2024
Climate change, environmental justice, urban studies

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Alex Ip graduated with a bachelor’s in environmental engineering from Georgia Tech. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Xylom, a student-led nonprofit newsroom exploring how communities are influenced and shaped by science. Alex is also leading a team to translate the KSJ Science Editing Handbook into Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).

At MIT, Alex aims to cover the future of cities and environmental justice in the American South, in addition to the often contentious dynamic between evangelical Christianity and climate change. When he’s not writing, you could see Alex zipping around town on his bike, watching a lot of basketball, and cuddling his cat.

Hannah Richter

Class of 2024

Astrophysics, environmental science

The moment Hannah Richter learned about science writing, she was hooked: it combined her lifelong loves of nature and storytelling.

Hannah holds a bachelor’s in environmental science and a minor in creative writing from the University of Chicago. In the lab, she studied bivalves and ocean acidification before interning at Circle of Blue, where she covered East Coast saltwater intrusion, and at the Living on Earth radio show and podcast, where she produced segments from methane-filled cow burps to cryptocurrency and energy use. Hannah also took her sights from Earth to the stars, interning in communications at NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope team and writing an ebook for the Fermi Space Telescope.

At MIT, Hannah aims to cover more stories about the environment and humans’ role in shaping it.

Lily Stewart

Class of 2024
Climate change, reproductive health

Lily Stewart is a writer from Northeast Ohio. She attended the University of Cincinnati, where she studied writing, literature, and biology. She has explored multimedia storytelling and science writing through her varied experiences as an interpretive writer for local parks, a science communication intern at environmental organizations, a strategic foresight researcher focused on the future of misinformation, and an organizer in the reproductive justice movement.

At MIT, Lily plans to write about reproductive health and medicine. She is especially interested in the intermingling of climate change and reproductive health. When Lily isn’t writing, she loves to bind books, garden, and practice her plant identification skills.

Alex Viveros

Class of 2024
Biotechnology, health, medicine

Alex Viveros stumbled into journalism as a college freshman when he spontaneously joined his student newspaper, The Tufts Daily, and signed up for the first section he could think of: “Sports!” He went on to lead The Tufts Daily as its managing editor and editor-in-chief during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alex majored in biology and community health at Tufts, and was a member of the Politico Journalism Institute’s 2021 class. He has interned at Science Magazine and The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he wrote about biological sciences, gene therapy, machine learning, and chimpanzees. 

At MIT, he hopes to cultivate long-form stories on chronic disease and advancements in biotechnology. When he’s not writing, you can find Alex practicing martial arts, playing competitive video games, building Legos, and supporting his favorite Premier League football club.