Adam Goldstein earns Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Fellowship
COLUMBIA, Mo. (May 1, 2023) — Adam Goldstein, a master’s student at the Missouri School of Journalism, has won the 2023 Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Fellowship, which comes with a $5,000 stipend to support the reporting of a science, health or environmental story anywhere in the world.
The news was announced on April 27 during the Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Lecture, which featured investigative journalist and School of Journalism alum Sky Chadde.
“Adam got excited about science reporting after he took my science writing class, and he has totally run with it,” said Sara Shipley Hiles, director of the Smith/Patterson Fellowship and Lecture Series and executive director of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. “He has received so much acclaim for his reporting, and the Ag & Water Desk has started picking up his work. It’s cool.”
The fellowship is made possible through a partnership with the Pulitzer Center, which will provide coaching, mentorship and other assistance to Goldstein and others around the country as part of the Campus Consortium Reporting Fellows program.
I really think now is the time to dig into this. I’m looking forward to really exploring the tensions and the differing needs between the oil, gas and energy community and the local conservation community, scientists and even local residents. I want to get to the bottom of what’s going on and see how we can find a solution that works for us all.
Adam Goldstein
Goldstein’s reporting project will take him to Wyoming, where around 300-400 pronghorns migrate each spring from Grand Teton National Park to the state’s Upper Green River Basin, a journey of about 170 miles. But their path, known as a “migration corridor,” passes through an area that was in 2017 named the future home of a $17 billion gas field. The resulting collision between the interests of the energy industry and wildlife conservation, Goldstein said, calls for reporting that captures a comprehensive view of a complex subject.
“I really think now is the time to dig into this,” Goldstein said. “I’m looking forward to really exploring the tensions and the differing needs between the oil, gas and energy community and the local conservation community, scientists and even local residents. I want to get to the bottom of what’s going on and see how we can find a solution that works for us all.”
Goldstein initially came to the School with the intention of becoming a television reporter, but Hiles’ science writing course inspired him to switch gears and pursue writing. Goldstein completed a graduate assistantship with the Ag & Water Desk in the fall and currently has an internship at States Newsroom in Washington, D.C. covering Farm Bill hearings and other agriculture stories from the nation’s capital.
Once he graduates this May, he will start a new job as the climate and environment reporter for the New Bedford Light, a nonprofit news site based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He landed the position through Report for America, which also hired the 10 environment reporters currently staffing the Ag and Water Desk’s reporting network.
“I think this is a fantastic opportunity to put the lessons I’ve learned at Mizzou into action, from interviewing and sourcing to fact checking and narrative storytelling,” he added. “The Pulitzer Center has such an expansive network with a large variety of resources, contacts and perspectives. I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to work with them to make this project happen and embrace a story I’m passionate about.”
Past fellows have completed projects all over the world, from Loktak Lake in India to Peru and Mexico, as well as the U.S.
Updated: May 1, 2023