Medill and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced a new collaboration on Feb. 26. Through this initiative, the Bulletin is partnering with students in Medill’s graduate journalism Health, Environment and Science specialization and Politics, Policy and Foreign Affairs specialization in Washington, D.C., to provide an outlet for aspiring journalists focused on the Bulletin’s coverage areas of nuclear weapons, climate change and disruptive technologies.
The newest story in this venture is from Medill alumna Stephanie Fox (MSJ19). With vivid prose and an adventurer’s heart, Fox chronicles her trip to the Mongolian mountains with two glacial geologists, a high school teacher, three undergraduate science majors and a collection of Mongolian guides to show how boulders there reveal the pace of the climate crisis. It’s a mesmerizing story about climate change, but it’s also, as Fox puts it, “[A] story about teamwork and hardship and the people who dedicate their lives to traveling around the world in the hope of fitting a small piece into a much larger scientific puzzle. This is a story about what it takes to research climate change.”
Medill Dean Charles Whitaker said, “These young professionals are gaining real-world experience and mentoring from an editorial team known for taking important, difficult topics and making them lucid and accessible. I am delighted that the best and brightest young minds in journalism today will have the opportunity to work with a publication as storied and venerable as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.”
John Mecklin, the Bulletin’s editor-in-chief, added, “Medill is one of the premier journalism schools in the world. Medill’s student journalists are top-flight—smart, dedicated and willing to learn. We are happy to help guide them and to feature their reporting and writing in a way that fosters their futures, and the future of American public-interest journalism.”
The first story in the partnership was published in the Bulletin in October 2019: “Puerto Rico’s clean-energy and grid-restoration efforts still in doubt.” In it, then Medill graduate student Jillian Melero (MSJ19) reported on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and discovers that the hurricane has acted as “a catalyst for change that is long overdue.”
Several more stories are in the pipeline for review with the Bulletin working with Medill Assistant Professor Abigail Foerstner in Chicago and Professor Ellen Shearer in Washington, D.C.
Reporting for his work on the New York City taxi industry. His reporting found that drivers had been the victim of predatory lending resulting in nearly a thousand bankruptcies and several suicides. His series has led to the proposal of a $500 million bailout for drivers.
York Times Visual Investigations team, was lead reporter on a New York Times investigation into the Russian bombing of Syrian civilians that won a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, as well as a George Polk Award for international reporting on February 19. The Pulitzer jury recognized the Visual Investigations team for two stories that proved, for the first time, that the Russian Air Force was responsible for a series of attacks on hospitals and other civilian sites in opposition-held Syria.
Post. The Post’s staff won the Pulitzer for Explanatory Reporting for a series that showed the effects of extreme temperatures to the planet (found here: 
The Role of Media, Law, Norms, and Technology in Assuring Acceptance of Election Results,” evolved to “Fair Elections During a Crisis: Urgent Recommendations in Law, Media, Politics and Tech to Advance the Legitimacy of, and the Public’s Confidence in, the November 2020 U.S. Elections. Read a 
Jeanie Caggiano is an executive vice president and executive creative director at Leo Burnett Chicago. Currently, she is the lead for UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth Group and Feeding America, among other clients. In addition to UnitedHealth, she is best known for her two Allstate campaigns: “Mayhem” and the “Our Stand” campaign featuring Dennis Haysbert. She has contributed writing to Disney, McDonald’s, Hallmark Cards, Kellogg’s, Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Morgan Stanley. In February 2019, the women’s media group She Runs It (formerly Advertising Women of New York) named Caggiano a “Trailblazing Mother” at the Working Mothers of the Year awards.
Cindy Chupack has won two Emmys and three Golden Globes as a TV writer/producer whose credits include “Sex and the City,” “Better Things,” “Divorce,” Modern Family,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and most recently, Showtime’s darkly comic hour, “I’m Dying Up Here.” In 2018, she directed her first episode of television for “I’m Dying Up Here” and her first feature, OTHERHOOD, starring Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman.
Mary Dedinsky is the director of the journalism program and associate professor in residence at Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q). A long-time editor and reporter, Dedinsky was the first woman to be named managing editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. At the Sun-Times, she was also an education reporter, investigative reporter, editorial writer, metropolitan editor and director of editorial operations. For her work at the Sun-Times, she was elected to the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame. She has twice served as a Pulitzer Prize juror.
Helene Elliott was the first female journalist to be honored by the Hall of Fame of a major professional North American sport when she was given the Elmer Ferguson award by the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005.
Maudlyne Ihejirika is an award-winning Chicago Sun-Times urban affairs columnist/reporter with 30 years of experience in journalism, public relations and government. Recently named among the Power 25, an annual ranking of the 25 most powerful women in Chicago journalism, she earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Iowa before attending Medill. She currently writes the Sun-Times “Chicago Chronicles,” long-form columns on “people and places that make Chicago tick.” She is the author of “Escape From Nigeria: A Memoir of Faith, Love and War,” a tale of her family’s survival of the brutal Nigerian-Biafran War, and miracles that brought them to the U.S.
As chief marketing and communications officer for Lurie Children’s Hospital, McIlwain leads marketing for the hospital and Lurie Children’s Foundation as well as all media relations and strategic communications. Her team is responsible for all owned, earned and paid media, CRM and direct marketing efforts, annual giving physician marketing and driving awareness, preference, volume, donations, reputation and reach for the top-ranked children’s hospital.
