About
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry
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- About Kenna
I attended the University of Iowa, where I double-majored in English and Biology, as I loved plants and didn’t want to pursue English as my sole focus. After two years, I missed the mountains too much and returned to Colorado, where I obtained my B.A. in English and a B.S. in Biology, both summa cum laude, at Colorado State University (CSU). At CSU, my love for science communication blossomed as I realized I could marry my interest in the natural world with my passion for writing.
At CSU, I became an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Elizabeth Pilon-Smits and her husband, Marinus Pilon. Their work focused on the environmental cleanup of excess iron, copper, and selenium through phytoremediation —a process in which plants absorb minerals. While I did participate in some of the research within the lab, I also worked on the lab’s website and wrote blogs about selenium, phytoremediation, and other laboratory activities.
During my undergraduate years, I also served as the first Medicinal Plants Intern at the Denver Botanic Gardens in 2018, creating a popular virtual tour of medicinal plants for the Gardens’ website. The Medicinal Plants Tour is the third most popular tour on the Denver Botanic Gardens’ website.
In 2019, I pursued my master’s degree in Science Communication at Imperial College London. While in London, I began my first podcast, Human Angle, where I uncovered the hidden lives of scientists. I wanted to make these scientists more human and less of celebrity figures, and give a voice to unknown scientists, particularly women and minorities. The podcast highlighted individuals such as Nikola Tesla, Beatrix Potter, Michael Crichton, Sigmund Freud, Chieng-Shiung Wu, Gladys West, and many others.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I returned to Colorado and completed my degree virtually. During that time, I created a blogcast (part blog, part audio interview) where I interviewed several popular science and science fiction writers about their work. From the Biblio-Files focused on the authors themselves, their past history, and motives for some of their popular works. I also wanted them to illustrate how the science in their work was being communicated. I was honored to interview award-winning and renowned writers, including Chris Ferrie, Deborah Blum, Kathryn Harkup, Randy Olson, Sheril Kirshenbaum, Helen Scales, Olivia Judson, Brian Clegg, Amy Stewart, Sam Kean, and Sy Montgomery, among many others.
Previously I worked at JILA (previously standing for the Joint Institute of Laboratory Astrophysics) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It’s a leading physics research institute established through a partnership between NIST and CU Boulder. I expanded this PIO role to include resources for the researchers like a mentoring series, a workshop series on media training, scientific writing, and presentation, along with a podcast and alumni newsletter.
Currently I work as the Content Manager for Live Science, a science magazine. There I get to write about everything from the environment to heath to octopuses.
When I’m not working, I also freelance as a science journalist, working on various projects, primarily focusing on animal intelligence and environmentalism, particularly intelligence in crows and cephalopods. I also informally mentor researchers and writers in science writing, media training, podcasting, and other skill sets, as the world of science journalism is so varied.
