PBN’s Nesi named a 2009 Metcalf Fellow

NARRAGANSETT — The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting announced today that Providence Business News staff writer Ted Nesi and 10 other journalists from across North America have won its annual journalism fellowships.

The 11 fellows will attend a one-week marine and environmental science immersion program at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography during the second week of June. They will learn basic methods of scientific research, the principles and ethics that guide scientific inquiry, and how to analyze and interpret data.

Nesi joined Providence Business News as a staff writer in July 2008, and recently became the newspaper’s Web editor, as well. Before joining PBN, Nesi was a reporter and columnist at The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro. He is a 2007 graduate of Wheaton College in Norton and the winner of two New England Press Association awards.

“I’m grateful to the Metcalf Institute for choosing me, particularly as a reporter who lives and works in Rhode Island,” Nesi said. “With climate change getting so much attention lately, it’s important that reporters who cover the environment really understand the science that’s driving the debate.”

This year’s Metcalf Fellowship program is titled “Coastal Impacts: Global Change in Coastal Ecosystems.” The 11 reporters will undertake research in the field and lab with scientists and also attend a public lecture series focusing on water resources, fisheries, sea level rise and public policy responses to climate change.

The other 2009 Metcalf Fellows are: Simone Aponte, news producer at KFMB-TV/CBS 8 in San Diego; Eliza Barclay, a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, and other publications; Justin Fritscher, reporter at the Clarion-Ledger and Rankin Ledger in Jackson, Miss.; Eva Gilliam, a freelance video journalist who works for The Associated Press Television News, BBC/WPRI’s The World and other outlets; Colleen Kimmett, science and environment reporter for TheTyee.ca in Vancouver; Sarah Parsons, a freelance environment writer based in New York; Niki Price, reporter at Oregon Coast Today; Javier Serna, sports writer for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.; Robert Silk, reporter for the Key West Citizen and Islamorda Free Press; and Sarah Welsh, assistant news editor at the Rio Grande Sun in Espanola, New Mexico.

The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting was established in 1997 to provide science training for journalists. It was named in honor of Michael P. Metcalf, the late publisher of The Providence Journal, and funded by Belo Corp., The Providence Journal Charitable Foundation, The Washington Post’s Philip L. Graham Fund, and the Telaka Foundation.

Additional information on the Metcalf Institute is available at MetcalfInstitute.org.