2023 Nova Media Fellow
Raised in Alabama, Virginia Gewin has lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last 25 years. As a 2021 MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow, she reported on dust in the increasingly arid West. In 2022, with funding from a USC Health Equity Journalism grant, she reported on how toxic dust from the Salton Sea impacts the health of migrant farmworker families working in Imperial and Coachella valleys. Her 2016 Alicia Patterson Journalism fellowship focused on efforts to bolster seed saving around the world. She has also received reporting grants and awards from the European Geosciences Union, Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources, and the Society for Environmental Journalists to travel to Malaysia, Iceland, Peru, Scotland, and all over the United States. Her 2020 story, “Raising Nature on Florida Ranchlands,” won the Best of the Northwest Science Journalism award from the Northwest Science Writers Association. Her work has appeared in Nature, Science, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Washington Post, Discover, Popular Science, and many others.
Media Fellowship Project
Tainted Air: Unearthing the public health impacts of novel fine particulate matter sources and tracking emerging pollutants
Fine particulate matter is considered the most dangerous pollutant, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2021, the WHO lowered air quality guidelines for particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller (PM2.5) in a bid to save lives. The United States regulatory standard, set by the EPA, is currently 2.5 times higher than the WHO–even as dust levels doubled in the Midwest states between 2000 and 2018.
PM2.5 creeps into lungs and burrows into blood, raising cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer risks. Tailpipes and industrial smokestacks may be the symbols of air pollution, but a number of emerging pollutants of concern are by-products of degraded ecosystems. Microplastics, algal toxins, and supercharged wildfires are just a few of the pollution sources that taint air quality in novel ways.
As the number of new sources of harmful air pollutants rises, scientists say it is time to dig deeper into the chemicals, elements, and biological agents that shape regional air quality. Virginia will investigate the public health impacts of emerging air pollutants and explore whether regulatory oversight is sufficient.
Education and Training
- AAAS Mass Media fellow
- NASA Earth System Science fellow
- MS Environmental Science, Washington State University Pullman, WA
- BS Environmental Science, Auburn University, Auburn AL
Selected Honors
- 2021 MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow
- 2021 Best of the Northwest Science Writing Award
- 2019 European Geosciences Union Science Journalism fellow
- 2019 Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources Andrew Weegar Memorial award
- 2016 Alicia Patterson fellow
Selected Publications
- How a dangerous stew of air pollution is choking the United States? (Nature)
- Dust clouds are killing people out West–and the dangers could spread (Popular Science)
- As the Salton Sea shrinks, agriculture’s legacy turns to dust (Civil Eats)
- Dust-up over dust storm link to “Valley Fever” disease (Nature)
- Move to change how U.S. tracks pesticide use sparks protest (Science)
- Supreme Court Case Could Reshape Indigenous Water Rights in the Southwest (Civil Eats)
- Raising nature on Florida ranchlands (bioGraphic)
- What Mongolia’s dairy farmers can teach us about the hidden history of microbes (Discover)
- Re-wetting the swamp: Indonesia’s bold plan (Scientific American)
- What impacts do the West coast wildfires have on crops? (Civil Eats)
- Post-pandemic seafood could be more sustainable. Here’s how. (Popular Science)
- The slow-motion catastrophe threatening 350-year-old farms (The Atlantic)
- Coastal “Dead Zones” are multiplying. Seaweed may be a solution. (Bloomberg)
- First 100 days: It’s Biden’s EPA now. What does that mean for the agrochemical industry? (Food & Environment Reporting Network)
- Produce growers get new ammunition in the battle against outbreaks (Washington Post)
