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Editor’s note: The Daily editorial board acknowledges that this article is subject to a conflict of interest. This article is a feature of Daily Week and does not represent the Daily’s standard journalistic practices.
Growing up in Palo Alto, California, Alex Viveros (LA’22) loved both science and reading, but at first he didn’t know how to combine his interests. “I was always torn between the two,” he said. He was fascinated by anatomy and physiology and was excited to participate in heart dissections and read books that contained atlases of the human body.
Viveros later attended Henry M. Gunn High School near Stanford University. His passion continued into his youth, as he was surrounded by peers who were passionate about research and science in general. True to his interests, he also participated in a research program at Stanford University analyzing the immune system of rats. But he confesses: He “didn’t really like doing research…but I liked talking to people and learning new things.”
Viveros thought that becoming a doctor would allow him to combine his interests in problem solving and communication. while working Practical.He added, “Part of me [thinks] I’ll do it someday. ” Nevertheless, Viveros pursued science journalism because he felt that interviewing “really great people” allowed him to stay true to his interests. At one point, Viveros even considered a career that deviated completely from science.
“My heart was always screaming…I want to be a historian or something…but everyone was telling me, ‘Oh, you’ll never make money in history or English,'” Viveros said. “And I became a journalist. So I obviously wasn’t listening.”
Viveros joined Tufts in 2018 with no formal journalism experience, but went on to serve as sports editor and founder and editor-in-chief of the sports newspaper. SScience Department and Editor-in-Chief of the Daily. While supervising SViveros from the science department learned more about the thriving research scene in the Boston area.he remembered article About a project at Tufts’ Kaplan Institute that aims to model meat flavor and texture from biopsies of animal cells.
But Viveros found the COVID-19 dashboard project, in which he collaborated with other writers to input the number of COVID-19 cases and quarantines at Tufts each day, to be particularly thought-provoking. . Mr. Viveros said this while reporting on the trends in the number of infected people. [is] Don’t write it on paper. You’re probably thinking, “Why would that happen?” Why are cases increasing? ”
He also appreciated hearing other voices on campus asking similar questions about the rise and fall of incidents throughout the year. Overall, we found that Viveros had a strong interest in learning about and reporting on infectious diseases that affect their communities. “look [COVID-19] EVOLUTION taught us how to report on the pandemic responsibly. ” He also looked back on those days. entirely paper: “The Daily is a really good training ground. … People can come in and get a taste of it without having to be a reporter.”
After graduating from Tufts University in 2022, Viveros decided to stay in his hometown. Regarding his work in science journalism, he says, “Cambridge in particular is a really good place.” He spent six months as a science writing and communications intern at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Broad Institute and Harvard University., Covering Research advances such as how analysis of protein complexes provides new potential binding sites for anti-cancer drugs.
Since last September, Viveros has been a student in the year-long MIT Graduate Science Writing Program. He elaborates that the science writing program attracts “people from a variety of backgrounds,” including “people who graduated a few months ago and people who came back after doing other jobs.” Students in the program cover science news, features, documentary projects, and large dissertation projects of approximately 6,000 words.
“It was great to learn what I could at the Daily, but I was also a full-time student. [I can] You just have to focus and you have a little bit more time to learn,” Viveros said. Some students in the program pursue careers in other fields, such as medicine or law, but their communication skills remain intact. Viveros’ research in this program has not yet been made public, but he is currently working on a report on research conducted by infectious disease experts.
Viveros aims to work in journalism after attending a science writing program. He elaborates: “You could work for a news site. Some people work for magazines. Personally, I’d like to be a freelance writer where I can write the stories I want to write…but I don’t think I’d be interested in a staff position. If you can get a job, that would be great too.” Working in communications in large organizations often pays well, but Viveros doesn’t focus on any specific location. Most of all, he says, “I like the voice of journalism…and I like writing for a wider audience.”
From his years of writing experience, Viveros has narrowed down some simple advice for those interested in a career in journalism. “Just read a lot of books. Honestly. That’s one thing people don’t say enough. …You can’t be a good writer if you’re not a good reader.”” He said. He says that while it can be very difficult to find time to read in your spare time in college, setting aside time to be exposed to a variety of text structures and authors’ voices can pay off exponentially in your journalism career. He added that it could lead to.
Since his time at the Daily, Viveros has developed a unique talent for writing interests and style. Viveros feels that the best science journalism articles are “articles with a lot of personality.” [Science stories] It could easily turn into a political story or something. ” He further states that he wants to write in a way that embodies the human qualities behind the science: the doctors who study it and the patients themselves. “I want to write it like I write a novel, but it’s nonfiction. There’s a lot of human side to science, and sometimes we forget that.”
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