Science, Health and Environmental Reporting

The Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) at New York University is one of the world's oldest and most successful science journalism training programs. Aspiring science reporters, authors, editors, producers and videographers who complete the intensive sixteen-month program receive a Master of Arts degree in Journalism and an Advanced Certificate in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting. They join an extended family of graduates (352 at last count!) committed to covering scientific, medical and environmental issues with precision, subtlety and passion.

SHERP alumni have diverse backgrounds and beliefs and work in many types of print, broadcast and digital media in twenty-five countries. What unites them are two deeply held convictions: science is too important to leave only to scientists, and journalism is too important to leave only to the scientifically illiterate.

SHERP's current students are the newest links in a chain that stretches back to the program's founding in 1982 by Bill Burrows, who retired in 2008 and was succeeded as SHERP director by Dan Fagin.

What We Do: A Customized Curriculum, a Hands-On Approach

Humans are a storytelling species, and the scientific enterprise is the wellspring of many of our greatest contemporary narratives. But how many of us possess the skills to make these narratives our profession? SHERP's customized curriculum is tailored to develop world-class science storytellers at a time of unprecedented change, challenge and opportunity in journalism. Our faculty of nationally prominent science journalists offers rigorous instruction in research, reporting, writing and editing through coverage of cutting-edge science, from nanotechnology and epigenetics to global climate change and cosmology. Coursework is built around case studies and learning by doing, not academic theory or rote memorization. A key focus is reporting, writing and editing features and news for magazines and online, but students also dive into all forms of modern journalism, from books and long-form narratives to blogs, videos, audio podcasts and social media. Entrepreneurial skills, including self-marketing, are emphasized throughout.

Multimedia journalism is woven into the curriculum from the first semester, when every SHERP student learns to shoot and edit video under the tutelage of a New York Times videographer who also provides advanced instruction during the second semester. Summer classes include an ethics seminar as well as a workshop on data mining, analysis and visualization taught by graphics editors at the Times. We teach audio podcasting, too. The curriculum reflects our philosophy that twenty-first century journalism education should be platform-agnostic: the content of the story should dictate its form, not vice versa. Whether they do most of their work in print or online, our graduates thrive in the fast-changing science journalism landscape because they are comfortable telling stories on mulltiple platforms, in multiple ways.

The culture at SHERP is challenging but never cutthroat. We emphasize cooperative learning in an informal, intellectually rich environment. SHERP students work hard and love what they do. Thanks to the specialized curriculum and intimate atmosphere, "sherpies" form lifelong bonds during their sixteen months in the program, including seven marriages so far!

Where We Work: NYC, the World Capital of Science Journalism

SHERP takes full advantage of its home base at the center of the science journalism firmament: New York City. A small program nestled comfortably in a large research university, SHERP utilizes the vast intellectual resources of New York University, including the NYU School of Medicine, to enrich student experiences. We also reach well beyond the university community. In addition to two full-time professors with many years of experience in professional science journalism, Dan Fagin and Charles Seife, the program's superb faculty includes current or former editors and writers at Scientific American, Time, The New York Times, Science, Reuters, Popular Science and The Wall Street Journal, among other outlets. SHERP faculty work at the very highest levels of science journalism but are also deeply committed to the hard work of teaching well, with long track records of success in the classroom as well as the newsroom.

The curriculum also draws heavily on a roster of guest speakers constituting a who's who of science journalism and science research. In a typical year, nearly one hundred journalists and scientists visit SHERP to speak in classes or at evening seminars that have become gathering places for the New York science journalism community. There are also yearly field trips to Brookhaven National Laboratory, The New York Times, the American Museum of Natural History and CNN. When SHERP students go on a field trip, they do much more than tour; they pitch stories to editors and participate in seminars with leading researchers.

Science journalism internships at leading publications, programs and web sites are a crucial part of the SHERP experience and are fully integrated into the overall curriculum, not a tacked-on appendage. Every student completes two for-credit internships during the final eight months of the program, but the internship process actually begins much earlier. Starting in the first semester, SHERP's internship coordinators provide personalized support and advice, assisting students in landing positions and then making sure they get the most out of their internship experiences. SHERP interns don't get coffee, except for themselves; they get clips. Many choose to intern at outlets that have worked closely with SHERP for years; their supervisors are often alumni or current or former faculty. Others take advantage of the flexibility of the our internship program to secure internships at places farther off the beaten track for science, health and environmental journalism.

Our Focus: Building Skills and Portfolios

To thrive in today's convergent media environment, science journalists need diverse skills and a broad portfolio of published work. SHERP delivers both. By graduation, a typical SHERP student has written or edited dozens of stories of all lengths and types, produced several video and audio pieces, built data graphics and slide shows and even authored a book proposal -- all prepared in close collaboration with professors who have long track records of success in science, medical and environmental journalism.

Life After SHERP

Job placement is a proven strength of SHERP. Every year, several graduating students go to work full-time at places where they were SHERP interns; other job-seeking graduates tap the close-knit and extensive SHERP alumni network, which operates its own busy email list. Over the years, editors have come to trust the SHERP "brand," so graduates fare very well in the extremely competitive market for staff jobs and freelance work in science journalism.

SHERP alumni regularly return to Cooper Square for evening seminars and other special events, and also as guest speakers in classes. The tight bonds between current and former students and faculty (both present and past) are a distinguishing feature of SHERP and a crucial asset for "SHERPies" new and old. (Long after they've graduated, SHERPies love to collaborate with each other, whether on serious editor-writer partnerhsips or this recent parody video.)

Join Us!

If you think our program is right for you, we look forward to introducing you to our students, professors and alumni and showing you the unique, convivial culture of SHERP. Please see the How to Apply page for full details on how to proceed. All SHERP students start in September and are expected to complete the program by December of the following year. We are not able to enroll part-time students. Please note that the application deadline is very early, January 4, and that the GRE test is required for all applicants, whether or not you have a graduate degree.