National science reporter to visit UW-Madison campus

A national reporter covering science and the environment will visit campus this spring as writer in residence.

Juliet Eilperin, national environmental reporter for The Washington Post, will participate in “Science Writing in the Age of Denial,” a symposium of science writers, and speak to journalism classes during the week of April 23 as the Public Affairs Writer in Residence.

She will also talk about her book, “Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks,” on Tuesday, April 24, at 4 p.m. at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St. The book has been featured on National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” as well as in People, Smithsonian and Popular Science magazines. Her talk is free and open to the public.

Eilperin came to The Washington Post as its House of Representatives reporter, where she covered the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, lobbying, legislation and five national congressional campaigns. Since 2004, she has reported on the environment for the national desk, writing about the intersection of science, policy and politics in such areas as climate change and oceans.

She also covered the 2008 presidential campaign and did a series of investigative pieces in the wake of the 2010 BP oil spill.

For her book about sharks, Eilperin traveled the world to explore how individuals and cultures across the globe relate to sharks.

“Sharks’ power over us has always stemmed from the fact that they are largely unseen,” Eilperin writes in the book. “This book is an effort to explore the mystery that surrounds them and decipher it. … How we negotiate sharing the planet with sharks could help determine what our own future looks like, not just theirs.”

A Princeton University graduate, Eilperin served as the university’s youngest-ever McGraw Professor of Journalism in 2005. Last year she won the Peter Benchley Ocean Award for Excellence in Media.