Boyce Rensberger

Boyce Rensberger has been a science writer or science editor for more than 40 years, beginning in 1966 at The Detroit Free Press. From there he went to The New York Times, from 1971 through 1979. He left The Times to freelance and to become head writer of a PBS science series for children, "3-2-1- Contact!" In 1981, he became senior editor of Science 81-Science 84 magazine, a popular monthly published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. At the end of 1984 Rensberger went to The Washington Post fr 14 years. There he served as science writer and science editor. At The Post, he created the paper's acclaimed monthly supplement, "Horizon: The Learning Section." Rensberger has written four science books, most recently Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell.

From 1998 to 2008 Rensberger was director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at M.I.T. This is a program that brings a dozen professional journalists to MIT and Harvard to take courses for one academic year. He also established a series of "boot camps" on various subjects, bringing additional journalists to campus for shorter workshops.

Rensberger has twice won the AAAS top award for science writing. In 1973-74 he was an Alicia Patterson Fellow, spending a year in East Africa studying human evolution and wildlife conservation. In 1987 he was a Science Writing Fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Rensberger, who received a B.S. in zoology and journalism from the University of Miami and an M.S. in mental health communications from Syracuse University, also was co-director of the summer Science Writing Fellowships Program at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. His outside interests include gardening and woodworking. He lives in rural Maryland with his wife.