Founded in 2018, and based in Atlanta, The Xylom is a non-profit, Gen-Z-run newsroom covering the communities influencing and being shaped by science. We are the only science outlet run by and for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
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Our reporting revolves around 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 through an award-winning collection of original personal essays, longform science features, and resources for early-career science professionals. We also send out a twice-monthly newsletter curating the best science stories in the American South and beyond.
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You might've heard of us when:
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the City of Atlanta deleted a press release after we fact-checked their numerous false claims about the "environmental stewardship" of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center ("Cop City"),
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we became the only outlet in North America to regularly produce science coverage in the Nepali language (among another half-dozen languages we publish in),
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we were the first non-Indian outlet to report on the devastating ecological and economic impacts of the Mumbai Coastal Road as it approaches completion.
We are 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 Editor In Chief
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Alex is the Founder and Editor in Chief of The Xylom, a student-led newsroom exploring the communities influencing and shaped by science. He also recently led a team to translate the KSJ Science Editing Handbook into Chinese (Traditional and Simplified). Alex is pursuing a Master's degree in Science Writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Tech.
ADVISORY BOARD
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
Shreya 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.
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 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.
AS SEEN IN
PARTNERS AND MEMBERS OF
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
Editor In Chief
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Shreya Agrawal
Newsroom Fellow