France Costrel has always wanted to be a journalist, and especially a reporter. After working in Paris for a national TV station, she entered NYU's "News & Documentary" program and is in the meantime a PhD candidate at the Sorbonne University. Her favorite topics are social and international relations issues and she loves translating life into sounds and images.

Ariel Bleicher studied mathematics and world literature at Scripps College in California. In pursuit of adventure, she moved to Alaska, where she explored the Alaska Range in mountaineering boots and freelanced as a science writer for the Arctic Regions Supercomputing Center. Her writing has appeared in The Anchorage Press, Portland Monthly magazine, on TheScientist.com and on Scienceline.org.

Alexandra DiPalma graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English. After studying in Rome, she decided to move to Italy to teach. That plan only lasted for a summer. She returned to New York City and is currently working as a journalist.

When Emily Elert was nine years old she stuck a pair of scissors into an electrical outlet in her bedroom. After recovering from the shock, she tried to reopen the scissors, but they had been fused together. She hid them at the bottom of the bathroom trash can and told no one (until now). During that year, she also composed her first story, a nonfiction account of a cross-country Greyhound trip called, "I Turned Eight on the Bus." Since then, she has continued to study and enjoy science and writing.

Becky Flaum was born into journalism, literally. Her parents met while working as reporters for the Hartford Courant. She grew up in Memphis, was schooled in London and moved to New York where she's a journalist and humor writer living in Brooklyn.

Since moving from Chicago to New York in 2006, Charlie Hoxie has worked on documentary projects for PBS and The Biography Channel, as well as feature-length documentaries. His chief interests for subjects are the environment and music, and a fondness for world cultures has taken him to faraway lands like Bolivia, Ethiopia, and Wisconsin.

Alyson Kenward studied chemistry at the University of Calgary. After five years of trying to keep yellow mixtures from turning orange, she decided it was time to swap her lab coat for a laptop and get down to the business of being a writer of all things science-related. Although she misses how her stir plates used to serenade her, she was happy to recall just how much she loves writing. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the central New Jersey wilderness. 

Devon Petley is a freelance video and multimedia journalist living in New York.  He is currently working on a feature length documentary film in addition to developing websites for publishing journalism.  He is a graduate of Syracuse University and University of Pittsburgh.  He taught high school for three years in the greater Washington, D.C. area before relocating to New York to pursue a career in journalism.

Anna Rothschild is a science writer living and working in New York City.  In a past life, she was a biologist at the American Museum of Natural History where she cloned dolphin genes into bacteria, lassoed lizards in Floridian forests, estimated the ancient population size of humpback whales, and detected fraud in the caviar trade.

Lily Vosoughi enjoys the news, reading and travel.  She has worked as an Associate Producer at ABC News for the past five years, gaining a broad range of experience in varied roles in news production. After traveling to remote regions of the world such as Iran and Bhutan, she realized her affinity for foreign cultures.  Upon graduating she hopes to travel the world as a reporter, covering issues relevant to the international and political news arena.

Olivia Koski was born in the desert and raised in the mountains. After studying physics in college, she earned a living manipulating light for the military. She abandoned saguaros, pine trees and lasers for the skyscrapers of New York City, where she is studying the fine art of manipulating words, sound and images as a journalist.

Chad Hanna attended the University of Texas at Austin where he studied literature and philosophy. He has worked as a vintner's assistant, remodeler, open water first responder, editor and freelance writer.  He lives in New York City and is a master's candidate at NYU.