Summary
Kelsey Fitzgerald has a background in biology and ecology and spent her early career working on wildlife biology, wildland fire and ecological restoration projects around the western U.S. Along the way, she came across many important science stories that weren’t being told. She completed her master’s degree at the Reynolds School of Journalism in 2015, with a focus on environmental journalism and citizen science along the Truckee River. She worked as a freelance journalist in Reno covering science and the environment, then continued on to the Desert Research Institute where she served as a science writer and senior communications officer for more than 300 scientists in Northern and Southern Nevada.
Fitzgerald specializes in making science stories understandable and relatable to wide audiences and has won awards from the Public Relations Society of America for her work. Her experience includes writing, photography, podcasting, web design, graphic design and ArcGIS StoryMaps.
Fitzgerald returned to the Reynolds School in the fall of 2022 as the Reynolds Associate Professor of Practice in Science and works with the Hitchcock Project for Visualizing Science. She also currently serves as communications coordinator for the USDA-funded Native Climate project, where she leads a journalism internship program aimed at building awareness about climate change impacts and resilience on Native American lands.
Education
- M.A. in Interactive Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno
- B.A. in Biology, Skidmore College