The Intersection

Blogger Bios

Chris Mooney | Sheril Kirshenbaum |

Chris Mooney

Chris is a contributing editor to Science Progress, senior correspondent for The American Prospect magazine and author of two books, including the New York Times bestselling The Republican War on Science--dubbed "a landmark in contemporary political reporting" by Salon.com and a "well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing's assault on science and scientists" by Scientific American--and Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming--dubbed "riveting" by the Boston Globe and selected as a 2007 best book of the year in the science category by Publisher's Weekly. He also writes "The Intersection" blog with Sheril Kirshenbaum.

Among other accolades, in 2005 Chris was named one of Wired magazine's ten "sexiest geeks." In addition, The Republican War on Science was named a finalist for the 2005 Los Angeles Times book prize in the category of "Science and Technology," and Chris's 2005 Mother Jones feature story about ExxonMobil, conservative think tanks, and climate change was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the "public interest" category (as part of a cover package on global warming).

Chris's 2005 article for Seed magazine on the Dover evolution trial was included in the volume Best American Science and Nature Writing 2006. In 2006, Chris also won the "Preserving Core Values in Science" award from the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.

Chris was born in Mesa, Arizona, and grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana; he graduated from Yale University in 1999, where he wrote a column for the Yale Daily News. Before becoming a freelance writer, Chris worked for two years at The American Prospect as a writing fellow, then staff writer, then online editor (where he helped to create the popular blog Tapped).

Chris has contributed to a wide variety of other publications in recent years, including Wired, Science, Harper's, Seed, New Scientist, Slate, Salon, Mother Jones, Legal Affairs, Reason, The American Scholar, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, Columbia Journalism Review, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. In addition, Chris's blog, "The Intersection," was a recipient of Scientific American's 2005 Science and Technology web award, which noted that "science is lucky to have such a staunch ally in acclaimed journalist Chris Mooney."

Chris speaks regularly at academic meetings, bookstores, university campuses, and other events. He has appeared at distinguished universities including the Harvard Medical School, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Rockefeller University, and Duke University Medical Center; at major venues such as the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco and Town Hall Seattle; and at bookstores across the country, ranging from Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida to Powell’s in Portland, Oregon. In 2006, he was the keynote speaker for the 43rd Annual Dinner of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties and the Edward Lamb Peace Lecturer at Bowling Green State University. In 2007, he was the opening plenary speaker at the World Conference of Science Journalists in Melbourne, Australia.

Chris has also been featured regularly by the national media. He has appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, CSPAN's Book TV, Fresh Air With Terry Gross, NPR's Science Friday (here and here), and The Al Franken Show, among many other television and radio programs. He has been profiled by The Toronto Star and The Seattle Times, and interviewed by many outlets including Grist and Mother Jones.

To see a more comprehensive list of Chris's various writings, click here. For speaking engagements click here or contact:

Dustin L. Jones
Associate, College & University Division
Keppler Speakers
4350 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 700
Arlington, VA 22203
703-516-4000 phone
703-516-4819 fax
www.keppleroncampus.com
Email: djones@kepplerspeakers.com

Sheril Kirshenbaum

Sheril is based at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She is involved in conservation initiatives regionally and locally across levels of government. Sheril also works to improve communication between scientists, policymakers, and the public. Now a science journalist, she frequently writes about topics that bridge science and society from climate change to the science behind kissing. She holds two Master's degrees in Marine Biology and Marine Policy from the University of Maine where she studied the population dynamics and life history characteristics of the Maine Sea Cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa) as well as the socioeconomics of the fishing industry in the Gulf of Maine.

In 2006, Sheril was selected as one of nine legislative John A. Knauss Sea Grant Fellows working on Capitol Hill. She served as an environmental advisor for Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and was involved in Energy, Climate, and Ocean Policy.

Sheril has previously served as a Fellow with the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History where she was involved in a large-scale review of marine protected areas. She also spent time as a Howard Hughes Research Fellow at Tufts University studying plant-herbivore interactions. She has contributed reports to The Nature Conservancy and provided assistance on international protected area projects. Sheril has experience working in pop radio and her work has been published in Fisheries Bulletin, Oecologia, Issues in Science and Technology, and Science. She also contributes to the Wired Science/PBS blog Correlations and Scienceblog's NexGen forum on alternative energy.

Sheril co-authored the forthcoming Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future with Chris Mooney. Born in Suffern, New York, she graduated from Tufts University in 2002, where she earned a BS in Biology and a BA in Classical Studies with focus on Greek and Roman history and literature. She is also a musician. For more information, visit her website or email Sheril at srkirshenbaum@yahoo.com.