U.S. News’ Petit named science writer in residence

Charles Petit, a veteran, award-winning science writer for U.S. News & World Report, has been named a science writer in residence for fall 2002 by UW–Madison.

Petit’s career has spanned three decades and includes a 26-year stint covering science for the San Francisco Chronicle. He has covered the science news waterfront, focusing in particular on the areas of astronomy, the earth sciences, new technology, evolution, archeology and climate change. In addition to his science writing, Petit has served as president of the National Association of Science Writers, and as a longtime board member for the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.

During his career, Petit has won numerous awards, including the 1999 AAAS-Whitaker Prize for Science Writing, the 1995 C. Everett Koop Award from the American Heart Association, the 1991 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award and the 1990 Science in Society Award from the National Association of Science Writers.

As a science writer in residence, Petit will spend the week of Oct. 20 on the Madison campus and will work with UW–Madison faculty, staff and students to convey a better appreciation and understanding of the business of science writing.

Petit will also deliver a public lecture, “In Words of One Syllable, Please,” at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Nafziger Room on the fifth floor of Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Science Writer in Residence Program, now in its 16th year, was established with the support of the Brittingham Trust. It continues with support from the UW Foundation and has brought to campus many of the nation’s leading science writers, including three whose work subsequently earned them the Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s most prestigious award.

The program is sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and University Communications.