Don Monroe

Overview

After my Ph.D. and more than twenty years of physics and technology research, since 2003 I have been a freelance science writer, covering a wide range of topics including biology, physics, and technology.

Education

2003-2004

New York University, New York, NY
Science and Environmental Reporting Program
Master’s Degree in Journalism

1980-1985

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Ph.D. Physics.
Research on amorphous semiconductors

1976-1980

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
B.S. Physics

Employment History

2004-present

Freelance writer (details below)

2004-2006

Guest Lecturer, Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program, New York University

2004

Editorial Intern at ScientificAmerican.com

2004

Intern at Physical Review Focus

2003-2004

Consultant, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies

2001-2003

Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Agere Systems
Integrated circuit reliability, integrated optics

1995-2001

Member of Technical Staff, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies
Gate oxides, novel transistors, and reliability

1984-1995

Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Bell Labs
Low-temperature physics, superconductors, optical fibers, Silicon-Germanium heterostructures

Writing Experience

[For a continually updated list and writing samples, please look under "Clips" at http://www.DonMonroe.info .]

  • Communications of the Association of Computing Machinery (CACM): Computing stories and related science topics
  • Cancer Target Discovery and Development (CTD2): Stories highlighting research from this cancer genetics network (a project of the National Cancer Institute)
  • New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS): Dozens of meeting summaries for a wide range of symposia, mostly in biology
  • Materials Research Society: next-day talk summaries of materials-science talks for online meeting reports.
  • National Research Council: meeting report on the future of the HAARP facility
  • Physics: Focus: (formerly Physical Review Focus): Journalistic stories on American Physical Society (APS) journal articles for curious nonspecialists
  • Physics: Synopses: short summaries of APS journal articles
  • Alexandria Summit: comprehensive report on talks and panel discussion related to precision cancer medicine at the 2011 Oncology Summit
  • Systems Biology Verification (sbv) IMPROVER: Summaries for the organization meetings of a large scientific project to proactively assess human health and toxicology related to potential products.
  • Science: A molecular evolution story for the news section of this eminent journal
  • Scientific American: News items for a general audience with a scientific bent
  • PLoS Biology: Synopses and a feature story for this biology journal
  • Technology Review: News for this magazine on future technology published by MIT
  • The Santa Fe Institute: Meeting summaries and stories for the SFI Bulletin
  • SciDAC review: Describing projects in large-scale scientific computing at the U.S. Department of Energy
  • The Scientist: News and a feature for this life sciences magazine
  • Other clients include: Cold Spring Harbor Labs, The Rockefeller University, The University of Illinois, Drug Discovery and Development, AMDeC, ASCR Discovery and Columbia University

Editorial Experience

  • 2010-present: Science Editor for occasional issues of the Materials Research Society Bulletin
  • 2007: Assistant to the Editor of Physical Review Focus
  • 2006-2007: Editing of SPIE Newsroom articles for Form and Content Media
  • 1999-2003: Founding member of the Editorial board, IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability

Service Activities

  • 2015: American Institute of Physics Science Communication Award selection committee for articles.
  • 2007-2008: American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award selection committee for works written by scientists
  • 2006-2014: Jobs webmaster for the Science Writers in New York

Software Skills

  • Expert in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
  • Confident in HTML, FrontPage, and Dreamweaver
  • Comfortable with Photoshop, WordPress
  • Competent with C++, Java, perl, LaTeX

Technical Publications, Patents

  • Author or coauthor of more than seventy-five technical publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences proceedings.
  • Five U.S. patents on novel transistors and optical fiber reliability

Societies and Awards

  • 2007 Winner of the Science Writing Award in Acoustics for Journalists from the Acoustical Society of America
  • Merck Science Journalism Student Award 2004
  • Member of the National Association of Science Writers
  • Member of New England Science Writers
  • Fellow of the American Physical Society (lapsed)
  • Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (lapsed)

Unique Experience

Member of the five-person committee appointed to investigate the possibility of scientific misconduct by J. Hendrik Schön, 2002.