Published: May 19, 2010

Five journalists have been selected as 2010-11 Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The fellowships are hosted by the Center for Environmental Journalism at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and funded through a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The nine-month program offers experienced journalists an opportunity to deepen their understanding of environmental issues and policy through coursework, seminars and field trips in the region.

The new Ted Scripps Fellows are:

Karen Coates, a freelance journalist, author and media trainer, splits her time between Asia and the American Southwest after living in Thailand and Cambodia for several years. Coates is a correspondent for Archaeology, writes a food culture column for The Faster Times and has written for publications including the Christian Science Monitor. She has published two books including "Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of the War" and has two books due out in 2011. Coates has a bachelor's degree from the University of Montana and a master's in a self-designed program in journalism, anthropology and international studies from the University of Oregon.

Erin Espelie is executive editor at Natural History magazine and a filmmaker. At the magazine, she covers the interactions between humans and Earth's natural processes and writes a monthly column, "The Natural Explanation." Espelie also makes poetic nonfiction films about environmental issues and recently premiered new works at the New York Film Festival and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. She has a bachelor's in molecular biology and genetics from Cornell University.

Leah McGrath Goodman is a freelance journalist and author based in New York City. Formerly based in London, she has written business, news and culture stories for Condé Nast Portfolio, Forbes, Profile, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, The Guardian and The Financial Times. McGrath Goodman also worked as a special writer on the energy desk at Dow Jones Newswires for three years, where she covered global energy markets. Her first book, an insider's account of the lives and times of the traders who built the global oil market, is due out in 2011. She has a bachelor's in journalism and political science from St. Bonaventure University.

Ryan L. Nave was a staff writer at Illinois Times for five years where he covered politics and state legislative issues as well as the Illinois coal, nuclear and biofuels industries. Now a freelance journalist based in Seattle, Nave's recent stories have focused on the relationship between energy, the economy and the environment. He has won several journalism honors, including a first-place award for government-beat reporting from the Illinois Press Association in 2009. Nave has a bachelor's in political science from the University of Missouri.

Jonathan Waldman has written about science, culture and the environment for newspapers, magazines, radio shows and blogs, including The Washington Post, McSweeney's, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Outside magazine and High Country News. He is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco. He spent the last two years living aboard and refurbishing a 30-year-old sailboat, and wrote about the experience for Outside's blog. Waldman has a master's in science journalism from Boston University and a bachelor's in environmental studies from Dartmouth.

Since 1997, the Scripps Howard Foundation has provided annual grants for its fellowships at CU-Boulder, named for Ted Scripps, grandson of the founder of the E.W. Scripps Co. Ted Scripps distinguished himself as a journalist who cared about First Amendment rights and the environment.

The Center for Environmental Journalism in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at CU-Boulder is the first of its kind in the United States. For more information call 303-492-4114 or visit www.colorado.edu/journalism/cej/.

-CU-