Valerie Brown

Salem, OR USA
Contact

Professional Experience

Prize-winning freelancer with background in science writing including climate, environmental health, and nuclear issues; also arts & culture writer, particularly popular songwriting and music history. I write about complex subjects in a vernacular style that puts readers at ease and invites them to learn something they don't already know.

Expertise

Writer
20 Years
Fact-Checker
20 Years
Researcher
20 Years

Specialty

Environment & Nature
15 Years
Science
15 Years
Music
20 Years

Industries


Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines
20 Years
Professional Journal
15 Years
Online/new media
15 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

20 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Scientific American (1-2), Pacific Standard (fka Miller-McCune) (1-2), Environmental Health Perspectives (6-10)

Other Work History

Legal Secretary Musician

Technical Skills

copy editing, photo editing (Fireworks), sound editing (Cakewalk Sonar), basic web design (Adobe Muse)

Computer Skills

Word, PowerPoint, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Muse, Filezilla, Cakewalk Sonar, Skype, Excel (entry level)

Equipment

digital audio recorder, microphone, laptop, basic point-&-shoot digital camera

References

Susan Booker, Environmental Health Perspectives John Mecklin, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists David Biello, Scientific American

Awards

First Place, Explanatory Writing in Print, Society of Environmental Journalists, 2009

Associations

National Association of Science Writers Society of Environmental Journalists

Showcase

Climate

Could Climate Change Boost Toxic Algal Blooms in the Oceans?
(Scientific American 12/21/2012)
Increased dissolved carbon dioxide in the oceans may make marine microbes like dinoflagellates pump out more toxins that collect in shellfish and other seafood, putting consumers at serious risk of nerve damage and even death.
A Climate Change Solution?
(High Country News 9/3/2007)
Beneath the Columbia River Basin, a real-life trial of the uncertain science of carbon sequestration

Science Writing

Bacteria'R'Us
(Pacific Standard 12/2/2010)
Emerging research shows that bacteria have powers to engineer the environment, to communicate and to affect human well-being. They may even think.
Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup Plant May Be Too Dangerous
(Scientific American 5/29/2013)
a look at why the weapons waste plant may be prone to nuclear chain reactions, hydrogen explosions, and equipment failures

Environmental Health

Metals in Lip Products: A Cause for Concern?
(Environmental Health Perspectives 6/1/2013)
Lipsticks and lip glosses may have unhealthy levels of lead, aluminum, manganese, titanium, chromium, cadmium, nickel, and cobalt that can be ingested.