Michelle Nijhuis
Michelle Nijhuis is an American science journalist who writes about conservation and climate change for many publications, including National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines.
Nijhuis has received several awards for her work, including the 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science's Kavli Science Journalism Award in the magazine category, for her piece titled Crisis in the Caves on white-nose syndrome in bats. The piece was published by Smithsonian and was also the recipient of the 2012 Award for Reporting on a Significant Topic, from the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
In 2011 Nijhuis was a fellow of the Alicia Patterson Foundation.
Nijhuis received the 2006 Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism from the American Geophysical Union; a 2006 AAAS Science Journalism Award in the small newspaper category; the Media Award from the American Institute of Biological Sciences; and three additional awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Nijhuis has been a finalist for the National Academies Communication Award.
Nijhuis was born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York. She graduated from Reed College in 1996 and began interning at High Country News, in Paonia, Colorado, in January 1998. Today Nijhuis is the magazine’s Contributing Editor. She also holds the title of Contributing Writer for Smithsonian magazine. She has also published in the New York Times, Nature, Scientific American, National Geographic, Audubon, and Orion, among many other outlets. She gave the 2008 commencement address at her alma mater, Reed College.
With journalist Thomas Hayden, Nijhuis is the co-editor of The Science Writers’ Handbook, released in spring 2013. Nijhuis blogs regularly at The Last Word on Nothing.
