New York City is the capital of science media in the United States, and arguably the world. Ever since the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) was founded in 1982, the program has always capitalized on its location by forging strong relationships with dozens of leading science, health and environmental publications, stations, networks and web sites based in New York.
Many of those media outlets have SHERP graduates on their permanent staffs, and they're eager to offer prize internship slots to the program's students. (To see where hundreds of SHERP graduates are working now, visit the alumni page.)
Some SHERP students choose to intern at specialized publications such as Scientific American, Space.com, Psychology Today or Audubon magazine. Others choose general-interest publications and networks such as CNN, Newsday and New York Times Television, where they get crucial experience covering science, health or environmental beats for general audiences.
SHERP regards journalism internships to be so important, both as a vital learning experience and as a practical route to professional success, that all of the program's students are required to complete at least one internship. Students typically do their internship during their final semester in the program, but the many SHERP students who decide to do two internships also utilize the summer term. SHERP students perform so well on their internships that every year several are offered permanent positions after graduation.
Starting early in the first semester, SHERP's internship coordinator works closely with the students, helping them to polish their r'esum'es and to identify internships that match their interests. (Every SHERP student writes a candid assessment after completing his or her internship, to be read by students in subsequent classes.) The internship coordinator also follows up to make sure SHERP students are getting the most from their internship experience.
The close-knit SHERP job network extends well beyond internships. Long after they've graduated, the more than 250 SHERP alumni still routinely rely on each other when trying to find a job or fill one. There's even a busy SHERP-only e-mail list which alumni use for tips about job openings as well as lively conversation about science, health and environmental journalism. (SHERP graduates can join the discussion.)
SHERP students can also log into a special SHERP-only internship page for a comprehensive list and summaries of recent student experiences in specific internships.
A partial listing of places where SHERP students have interned in recent years:
- ABC: "Good Morning America" (science unit)
- Audubon
- BBC: New York bureau
- Business Week (science and technology coverage)
- CBS: "48 Hours"
- CBS: Sunday Morning
- Chemical Week
- CNN: Medical Unit
- Discover
- Family Circle
- Fox News Channel: Documentary Unit
- GenomeWeb
- IEEE Spectrum
- MAMM Magazine
- National Geographic Adventure
- Natural History
- Nature Biotechnology
- NBC News
- Nova ScienceNow
- NY1 News
- Popular Science
- Psychology Today
- New York Times TV: "Science Times"
- NPR: "Science Friday"
- ReutersHealth.com
- Science & Technology News Network
- ScienCentral television
- Science News
- Science World (Scholastic)
- Scientific American
- USA Today
- Village Voice
- Wildlife Conservation
- WNET/Thirteen: "Nature"
