Distinguished Visitors Talk by Ari Daniel, Science Journalist

Talk on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 4:30pm (tea at 4:15pm) 

“Science Stories for the Ear, Mind and Heart”

In his keynote address for the Inaugural Tri-Co Scientific Imaging Symposium, Ari Daniel will explore how audio storytelling can be a powerful force to communicate the scientific process and the very human effort that propels — and sometimes derails — it. Drawing on his own journey as both a scientist and journalist, he will share examples of his work and break down how he thinks about covering complex stories. Ari hopes to empower students to think about communicating their science more broadly and to consider that an academic or research path can lead to a variety of professional destinations including journalism.

Ari Daniel is an independent science reporter who contributes regularly to National Public Radio among other outlets. Ari has always been drawn to science and the natural world. As a graduate student, he trained gray seal pups (Halichoerus grypus) for his Master's degree in animal behavior at the University of St. Andrews, and helped tag wild Norwegian killer whales (Orcinus orca) for his Ph.D. in biological oceanography at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. For more than 15 years, as a science reporter and multimedia producer, Ari has interviewed a species he's better equipped to understand – Homo sapiens.

Over the years, Ari has reported across six continents on science topics ranging from astronomy to zooxanthellae. His radio pieces have aired on NPR, The World, Radiolab, Here & Now, and Living on Earth. Ari formerly worked as the Senior Digital Producer at NOVA where he helped oversee the production of the show's digital video content. He is a co-recipient of the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Gold Award for his radio stories on glaciers and climate change in Greenland and Iceland.

Sponsored by the Department of Biology in conjunction with the Distinguished Visitors Program.