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What, who am I again?

I’m both a journalist and scientist. My bylines have appeared in outlets like Vox, Slate, National Geographic, and The Washington Post.

Most recently, I was a staff reporter for The Post and Courier, South Carolina’s largest newspaper. I also maintain a research appointment at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History where I work with Dr. Nick Pyenson on a National Geographic Society-funded research project.

This 2022 profile of me does a much better job than I’ve ever done at explaining how to make a hybrid career like mine work.

I earned a PhD in ecology at UNC Chapel Hill, where I researched marine protected areas in the Caribbean. I then taught courses on biodiversity and climate change at Georgetown University. And, from 2021 to 2022, I served as the Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution studying marine mammal populations in the Arabian Gulf and cross-border policies to conserve them.

My science journalism career got a serious boost when I served as the 2019 Mass Media Fellow at The Washington Post. I highly recommend the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship to anyone interested in the wondrous world where science, society, and storytelling collide.

Get in touch email: clare.fieseler [at] gmail [dot] com