Jennifer Ackerman CV

Jennifer Ackerman

Curriculum vitae

Current Affiliation

Contributing writer, National Geographic Magazine
1997 to present

Senior Fellow, Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service
2007 to 2010

Education

Yale College, New Haven, CT
B.A. in English cum laude
1980

Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College (fellowship)
1998

Brown College of University of Virginia (fellowship)
2001

Experience

Freelance writer
Work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, Scientific American, Natural History, Real Simple, More, Nature Conservancy, and many other publications, Ackerman has written essays and articles on subjects ranging from the neural nature of dyslexia to ocean circulation, the wildlife of Japan, parasites as agents of evolutionary change, the biology of cranes, the origin of birds, microbial threats to food safety, genetically modified foods, and the work of Nobel-prizewinning developmental biologist Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard.
1989 to present

Editorial Board, University of Virginia Press
1998 to 2002

Judge, Philip D. Reed Memorial Prize for Environmental Writing
sponsored by the Southern Environmental Law Center
1996 to 2001

Staff writer and researcher
Book Division of the National Geographic Society
1982 to 1989

Publications: Books

Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold (Twelve)
The Strong Women’s Guide to Total Health (Rodale), coauthored with Dr. Miriam Nelson
Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body
(Houghton Mifflin) Book was supported by a 2004 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction.
2010

2010

2007

Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity
(Houghton Mifflin)
Selected as a Library Journal Best Book of the Year and as a finalist for the 5th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Award in Nonfiction. Foreign editions published in UK, Egypt, and Korea. Book was supported by a year-long fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Mariner edition was named a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” paperback.
2001

Notes from the Shore (Viking Penguin)
The paperback edition (Penguin 1996) went into three printings. Foreign rights were sold to Denmark, Italy, and the United Kingdom. For her work on the book, Ackerman won an Established Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Arts Council and was selected as a finalist for the American Academy of Arts Rome Fellowship of 2001-2.
1995

Publications: Anthologies (selected)

“Osprey”, Flights of Imagination (Greystone Books, 2010)
“Cranes,” Best American Science Writing, ed. Alan Lightman (Perennial, 2005)
“The Great Marsh,” Stories from Where We Live—the North Atlantic Coast, ed. Sara St. Antoine (Milkweed, 2001)
“Osprey,” The Beach Book, ed. Aleda Shirley (Sarabande Books, 2000)
“Spindrift,” Seacoast Reader, ed. John A. Murray (Lyons Press, 1999)
“Islands at the Edge,” From the Field, ed. Charles McCarry (National Geographic Society, 1997)
“Five Fathoms,” The Nature Reader, ed. Daniel Halpern and Dan Frank (Ecco Press, 1996)

Publications: Periodical (selected)

“Plastic Surf”, Scientific American, August 2010
“Breathing Trees,” Wilderness Magazine, October 2008
“Make it an Early Bird,” The New York Times Opinion Editorial Page, November 21, 2007 “Queens of Green,” More, April 2007
“Paris: Space for the Soul”, National Geographic, October 2006
“Downside of Upright,” National Geographic, July 2006
“Dragonflies: Strange Love,” National Geographic, April 2006
“The Great Marsh,” Delaware Beach Life, 2005. Recipient of the International Regional Magazine Associations Silver Medal award for nature writing
“No Mere Bird,” National Geographic, April 2004
“Untangling the Brain,” Yale Alumni Magazine, January/February 2004
“When the Frost Lies White: Winter Wildlife in Japan,” National Geographic, February, 2003
“How Safe is Our Food?” National Geographic, May 2002
“Genetically Modified Foods,” National Geographic, May 2002
“Going in Circles” Real Simple, June/July 2001
“Celle Fantastyk,” Natural History, May 2001
“Mystery at the Genome’s Core,” Sunday Star Ledger, Feb. 18, 2001
“New Eyes on the Ocean,” National Geographic, October 2000
“Dinosaurs Take Wing,” National Geographic, July 1998
“Journey to the Center of the Egg,” The New York Times Magazine, Oct. 12, 1997
“Parasites,” National Geographic, October 1997
“Islands at the Edge,” National Geographic, August 1997

Speeches (selected)

August 2003 “The Living Building: Facts of Life,” McDonough and Partners Architectural Firm, Charlottesville, VA
April 2003, “Writing for the National Geographic,” Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC), Charlottesville, VA
March 2003, “The Biological Ties that Bind,” Dickinson Theater, PVCC
November 2001, “Chance in the House of Fate: A long view of genes and heredity,” Society of Fellows, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
September 2001, “Understanding Heredity,” University of Virginia Medical Center Hour, Charlottesville, VA
February 2001 “Japan’s Winter Ecology,” Brown College, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
April 1999, “Reading the Land,” University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
April 1998, “Nature Writing,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
October 1997, “The Longest Thread,” Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA

Awards and Honors (selected)

2005, “The Great Marsh” article in Delaware Beach Life received the International Regional Magazine Associations Silver Medal award for nature writing.
2004, Received National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction
2002, Chance in the House of Fate selected as finalist for the 5th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Award in Nonfiction
2002, Chance in the House of Fate named a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” paperback
2001, Named finalist for the American Academy of Arts Rome Fellowship of 2001-2
2001, Chance in the House of Fate selected as a Library Journal Best Book of the Year
1998, Received grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
1997, Received Fellowship in Nonfiction from Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College
1994, Received Established Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Arts Council