Kate Becker
Science writer
About Me
With more than a decade of experience as a science writer, I have written on a wide variety of science and science policy subjects for web, print, radio, and television, with an emphasis on astronomy and physics. As a researcher for NOVA and NOVA scienceNOW, the nation's premiere science documentary series, I investigated everything from human hibernation to invisibility cloaks. I studied physics at Oberlin College and astronomy at Cornell University, and I've had the good fortune to observe with the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Very Large Array in New Mexico, two of the very best places on this pale blue dot of a planet.
Current projects
Freelance Writing
I've recently written for BU Research, Nautilus Magazine, NOVA Next, FQXi, New Scientist, Nature News, and Humongous Media. Read more here.
The Visible Universe (Author)
Where quarter-life crises meet quantum mechanics and college football meets ancient astronomy. I've been writing this astronomy column for the Boulder Daily Camera since 2007.
Past
projects
The Nature of Reality (Editor)
What is The Nature of Reality? It’s NOVA's physics blog, where scientists and science writers take on the physics of everything, nothing, and all the things in between.
NOVA (Senior Researcher)
I developed original science stories for NOVA and NOVA scienceNOW, public television’s premiere science documentary series, and provided research support to program producers for almost eight years.
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
At the University of Colorado's space physics lab, I developed new educational programs for K-12 students, focusing on inquiry-based, data-rich experiences and spurring interaction between students and professional scientists and engineers
Education
Cornell University
M.S. in Astronomy
As a graduate student in the astronomy department at Cornell University, I studied pulsars and other transient radio sources. I even wrote a thesis about it. Check it out.
Oberlin College
B.A. in Physics
As a student at Oberlin, I studied pulsars as probes of the interstellar medium--that is, the stuff between the stars.
Fun facts
I've also been a news writer for and occasional host of "How on Earth," the radio science show Boulder's KGNU community radio. I spent a year as an Americorps*VISTA volunteer, and served as an intern for the House Science Committee. I co-directed the Cornell astronomy department's acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet. And I once helped make a startling discovery.