Cape Gazette science reporter Maddy Lauria chosen for prestigious fellowship

The University of Rhode Island's Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting has selected 10 journalists from the United States, Nigeria and Pakistan to attend its 18th Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists.

This weeklong workshop helps journalists gain a deeper understanding of the scientific process and sharpen investigative reporting skills to uncover new environmental stories. The fellows, chosen from the largest pool of applicants in the workshop’s history, represent a variety of media organizations, large and small, including Marketplace, NBC News, the Dallas Morning News and the Cape Gazette.

Maddy Lauria is an environment and community reporter at the Cape Gazette. She has reported on local environmental issues such as the First State’s ongoing development of a commercial shellfish aquaculture program, the effect of coastal storms and climate change on both oceanfront communities and back bay towns, wildlife research projects, Sussex County’s large poultry industry and everything from police and business to politics and entertainment in Milton, the home of Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.

She grew up in northern Delaware, earned a bachelor's degree in English and journalism from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and is thrilled to be back on the East Coast, living minutes away from the largest spawning grounds of Atlantic horseshoe crabs in the world.

The workshop, which runs Sunday, June 5 through Friday, June 10, helps journalists sharpen their investigative skills by putting them directly in the field, laboratory and classroom to gain a greater understanding of how scientists approach, conduct and analyze their research. The fellowship provides important context for environmental stories and builds journalists’ confidence in translating complex scientific data. Fellows leave the workshop with the background, tools and sources to break stories on a range of environmental topics.

The workshop takes place at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, one of the nation’s premier research institutions with a global reputation for excellence in marine research and exploration of the world’s oceans and coasts.

The remaining 2016 Metcalf Fellows are Doyin Adeoye, reporter for the Nigerian Tribune in Oyo, Nigeria; Richard Gardella, investigative reporter for NBC News in Washington, D.C.; Catalina Jaramillo, freelance reporter and editor in Philadelphia; Jeff Mosier, reporter for the Dallas Morning News in Dallas; Susan Phillips, reporter, WHYY in Philadelphia; Muhammad Qaseem Saeed, reporter, Geo News in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan; Kate Siber, reporter, freelance in Durango, Colo.; Andy Uhler, reporter, Marketplace in Los Angeles, Calif.; and Amelia Urry, associate editor, Grist.org in Seattle.

Metcalf Institute is an internationally recognized leader in providing environmental science training for journalists. The institute also offers communication workshops for scientists, science resources for journalists and free public lectures on environmental topics. For more information, go to www.metcalfinstitute.org.