Founded in 2018, and based in Atlanta, The Xylom is the only Asian American-run news outlet dedicated to science, climate, and environmental coverage.
We seek to bring you clarity and complicate the narrative on three questions:
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"How can science look more like us?"
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"How are scientists shaped by what happens outside of the lab?"
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"How do people respond to the changing world through science?"
We do so by pairing an award-winning collection of essays with multilingual, multimedia, and culturally competent reporting that is accountability-, solutions-, and data-driven.
The Xylom is 100% supported by readers and grants. We will never have a paywall, nor do we sell ads or do sponsored content. We do believe in an open, real-time budget accurate to the cent that allows you to see exactly how your donations are making an impact.
Let's grow science with words, together. #xforxylom
MEET THE TEAM
ALEX IP 葉清霖
Publisher and Editor
Alex covers the future of cities and environmental justice, with a focus on the American South and the Global South. His reporting surrounding false statements from the City of Atlanta regarding "Cop City" led him to being named the Atlanta Press Club's 2024 Rising Star. Born and raised in Hong Kong and fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin, Alex also recently led a team to translate the KSJ Science Editing Handbook into Chinese (Traditional and Simplified). Alex holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Tech and a master's degree in Science Writing from MIT.
Rhysea graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with degrees in Journalism, Geological Science, and English. She served as the Founding Editor of USC Annenberg Media's Earth Desk and was a USC Annenberg Center for Climate Journalism and Communication Rural Climate Reporting Fellow at the Malheur Enterprise in southeast Oregon. Her work focuses on the environment, politics, and social issues.
AORUI PI 皮奧睿
Engagement Editor and Public Health Writer
Aorui is a bilingual journalist and news producer based in Los Angeles. She manages The Xylom's social media presence and reports on the future of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the United States. With living experience abroad and a keen interest in reporting international stories, Aorui brings a global perspective to her work. A recent journalism graduate from the University of Southern California, her bylines include Initium News, RADII, and USC Annenberg Media.
KANG-CHUN CHENG 鄭康君
Editor-at-Large
KC is a Taiwanese-American photojournalist based in Nairobi, Kenya covering how climate change exacerbates insecurity, Indigenous communities' response to development, China-Africa relations, and outdoor adventure. She uses photography as a tool for storytelling.
KC has herded reindeer in the Arctic, roasted lamb with pastoralists in the mountains of Xinjiang, hitchhiked through Tunisia, harvested honey with the Yaaku in Kenya's Laikipia North, walked the Camino de Santiago, and free-dived on the south Sinai peninsula. Her bylines include The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, Climbing Magazine, and Al Jazeera.
SAUGAT BOLAKHE सौगात बोलखे
Ferriss - UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellow
Saugat is a Nepalese freelance science journalist based in New York City. He is passionate writing about living things, biotech, and the environment. His words have headlined The Atlantic, Wired, Scientific American, Nature, Science News, Quanta Magazine, New Scientist, EOS, Knowable Magazine, and other publications. He is also a program assistant at The Open Notebook (TON), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping global science journalists improve their craft.
In 2024, Saugat was recognized as the Science Journalist of the year by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology. He has a BS in Zoology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and an MA in science journalism from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. When not writing, he’s either running, hiking, humming songs, trying gymnastics, or geeking over another sci-fi show.
ZHENJIA ZHANG 張振佳
Newsroom Intern
Zhenjia is a business and economics reporter specializing in TV news. Originally from China, she covers how immigration and economic policies impact working-class communities, with a focus on immigrant labor and housing. The president of the Asian American Journalists Association chapter at the CUNY Newmark J-School, Zhenjia was awarded the 2025 Deadline Club Scholarship, recognizing her potential and excellence in journalism.
Betsy Ladyzhets is the founder of The Sick Times, a journalist-founded website chronicling the Long Covid crisis, and the community manager for the CASW Connector, a curated collection of resources to promote excellence in interpreting science for the public. Before that, she ran the COVID-19 Data Dispatch, a publication that provides news and resources on pandemic data. Her bylines include Science News, STAT, FiveThirtyEight, the COVID Tracking Project, and other outlets.
Betsy Ladyzhets
Paola Rosa-Aquino is a freelance science writer. She has a background in astronomy and was an Environmental Justice Fellow at Grist. A native Puerto Rican fluent in Spanish, she is also the Communications Subcommittee Lead at The Uproot Project, a network of and for environmental journalists of color. Her previous bylines include Insider, Popular Science, The New Republic, Gizmodo and Salon.
Paola Rosa-Aquino
Tyler Jones is the Program Coordinator at the Boston University SciCommers program (formerly known as NPR Scicommers.) She bridges her background in Entomology with extensive experience working with early-career science communicators and writers. She is an organizer for Black Birders Week, and her bylines appear on The Daily Beast, Tucson Audubon's Vermillon Flycatcher, and Penn State News.
Tyler Jones
ADVISORY BOARD
WE ARE RECOGNIZED INTERNATIONALLY.
We've been featured by top-tier institutions, republished by industry publications, and shortlisted for awards. We are also a member newsroom of Covering Climate Now, the Institute of Nonprofit News (INN) Network and Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers. That's because we are committed to changing the world one science story at a time.
AWARDS
2024 Rising Star
Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication
News & Journalism: Sustainability, Environment, & Climate
AS SEEN IN
WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD TOGETHER.
Our stories amplify marginalized voices, drive emotional impact, and spur local action.
NOTABLE ALUMNI
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Saugat Bolakhe, Contributor for Nature, Scientific American, Science News, and others; Contributor for The Xylom, 2021 - Present
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Gobinda Pokharel, winner of Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists' Environmental Journalism Award; Contributor for The Xylom, 2022 - Present
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Hanna Webster, who led above-the-fold coverage of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Contributor for The Xylom, 2022
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Katrina Miller, New York Times Fellow and winner of The National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication; Contributor for The Xylom in 2021
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Fayth Tan, winner of The National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication; Contributor for The Xylom in 2021
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Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Physics Reporter, New Scientist; Contributor for The Xylom in 2023
MASTHEAD
Alex Ip
Publisher and Editor
Rhysea Agrawal
Managing Editor
Aorui Pi
Engagement Editor and Public Health Writer
Kang-Chun Cheng
Editor-at-Large
Saugat Bolakhe
Ferriss - UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellow
Jinger Zhang
Newsroom Intern