Please Vote in the 2025 NSWA Elections

by | Dec 23, 2025

Voting is now open!

Elections Procedures

Relevant rules with regards to elections procedures:
  • For all voting this year, all decisions will be determined by a simple majority of votes or ranked number of votes (for at-large members)
  • The results of the election will be tallied by a non-candidate NSWA Member (Rachel Tompa)
  • Members are required to provide email addresses to verify their standing within NSWA, however, only the election administrator will be able to see these addresses. It shall be anonymous for all other purposes.
  • Members are allowed to change their vote until the date of the annual meeting (polls close 11:59 PM on January 13th, 2026)
  • Results will be announced at our annual meeting
  • Feedback or questions can be directed to rtompa@gmail.com

Relevant rules with regards to board positions:

  • Terms are for one year.
  • In the event of a tie, the current president shall be the tie-breaker.
  • In the event of the vacancy of the at-large board member role, the NSWA president shall appoint a member to fill the role.

 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

 

Candidate Statements

President

Michael C. Bradbury

It has been my incredible honor to lead NSWA the last two years and I’m asking for a third term as President in 2026. I first joined the NSWA board 20 years ago, served as an at-large board member for six years, then returned to the board in 2022. Since then, I have served as Vice President and now as President.

After many requests for more social events, I helped put the happy in happy hour to combat the anxiety and anger coming from the attacks on science and to foster a greater sense of community within the NSWA membership this year. That became a centerpiece of our programming, which encouraged members to come out to events in person after several years. I’m proud to have guided the all-volunteer board of dedicated science writers this year as we decided to pursue a variety of programs and member events, including field trips to the Elwha River and to Friday Harbor Labs.

Science media, journalism, and institutional writing continue to take hits as consolidation increases, beloved publications close their doors, and jobs ebb with little flow. It’s a hard time to be a science writer but I’m undaunted by the current challenges because I know among our 300-plus members there are solutions to the problems we face, new publications waiting to be born, and sustainable models on the cusp of invention. Together NSWA shall persevere. I’d like to explore what’s possible as I work on your behalf next year.

 

Vice President

Lynda Mapes
I’m Lynda Mapes and I’d love to have your support for vice president of NSWA.
I am presently serving at large on the board, and would love to step up my commitment. Now is a rough time in science, and science journalism. Ours is an organization where we can navigate this storm, share camaraderie and craft. We are growing our activities and scope, and I would love to offer my perspective and community connections built from 27 years as a reporter at the Seattle Times. I am a two-time winner of the AAAS Kavli Gold Award, as a member of teams at the Seattle Times reporting on the orca extinction crisis (2019) and the takedown of the Elwha Dams (2012). I was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting in 2025 with a team of journalists at the Seattle Times that exposed the failure of a state program to restore salmon. I’ve published six books, including Orca, Shared Waters Shared Home which won the Washington State Book Award for non-fiction (2021), and the National Outdoor Book Award (2021). I was a Knight Fellow in Science Journalism at MIT in 2013-14 and have twice been selected as a Bullard Fellow in Forest Research at Harvard University, (2014-15 and 2022-3) where I also am an associate of the Harvard Forest. I retired from my position at the Seattle Times in July, 2025, to devote myself to long-form journalism, writing books, mentoring, and giving back to the journalism community.

Treasurer

Bryn Nelson

Hi all, I’m Bryn Nelson, a Seattle-based science, medical, and environmental journalist and author. I’ve been an NSWA board member for 3 years and in early 2024, I stepped into the role of treasurer as a way of giving back to an organization that has been incredibly supportive of me and other science writers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Since then, I’ve helped to plan a variety of membership events, including a tour of a human composting facility and a paint and sip happy hour. I’d love to continue in my role as treasurer, which has involved learning a number of varied banking and accounting tasks and helping to ensure that NSWA remains financially strong. Through careful, transparent  accounting of our expenses and stewardship of donations, membership fees, and grants, I hope to help us continue being able to host an enviable variety of book events, field trips, workshops, happy hours, webinars, and other career development events in addition to the regional writing awards, career development grants, and our annual member event. In 2026, I hope to help plan even more events that will help writers, editors, and authors hone their craft.

Secretary

Michelle Martin

I’m a Seattle-based freelance journalist and served as an at-large member and then as secretary last year. I’m running for secretary again. I’ll continue to compile science lectures and events for the NSWA calendar. In the coming year, I’m also looking forward to helping to organize monthly events and field trips.

I have a bachelor’s degree in biology from Humboldt State and a Master’s in journalism from the University of Colorado. I’ve worked for daily newspapers, including The Boulder Daily Camera and The Denver Post, for Alaska Airlines Magazine. As a freelancer, I’ve had stories in National Geographic, AARP, Alaska Airlines Magazine and on KBCS, among other outlets.

 

At-Large Members

Clayton Aldern

I’m running for re-election to the NSWA board as at-large member because I remain interested in identifying ways to give back to an organization that has been so good for the science journalism ecosystem of the Northwest.
I’m a senior data reporter at Grist, where I also serve as chair of the Grist Union. My path from computational neuroscience to environmental journalism—including my recent book The Weight of Nature, about climate change’s effects on our brains—has shown me that some of the best stories emerge at unexpected intersections. I think this organization makes these kinds of intersections more common. As someone who’s been fortunate enough to contribute to some award-winning reporting teams, I’ve also learned how much strong institutions and mentorship matter—and during my time on the board thus far, I’ve seen my colleagues work to expand exactly these kinds of resources for members at different career stages.
Looking ahead, I’d like to think a bit more about two areas: the degree to which NSWA can contribute to a) building stronger mentorship pipelines for early-career writers and b) creating more collaborative reporting opportunities around the region’s urgent environmental and health stories. Today, as always, science writing is an important enterprise. I’m committed to helping NSWA remain a vital community where every member can connect, learn, and thrive in this work.

 

Virginia Gewin

I am a freelance science journalist based in Portland, Oregon. With a MS in environmental science, I tend to focus on agriculture, land use, biodiversity, and climate change.  In the last few years, I have been fortunate to receive fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation, Knight Science Journalism MIT program, USC Center for Health Journalism, and the Nova Institute for Health. I write for a number of outlets, including Nature, Science, Scientific American, Civil Eats, Grist, Vox, Bloomberg, Audubon, and others.

I was appointed to the NSWA board in 2023 as an at-large member and have enjoyed getting to know more Seattle-based colleagues. Over the last 1.5 years, I have helped with the annual holiday party fund-raising and planning, manned the NSWA booth (with Bryn Nelson) at the 2024 Portland Book Festival, promoted NSWA happenings on social media channels, and helped judge Best of the Northwest awards as well as Career Development award submissions. If elected, I will help to plan the 2026 NASW meeting at Oregon State University in Corvallis. In my role as chair of the NASW Freelance committee, I’m also always looking for opportunities to raise the profile of PNW freelancers and their vital contributions to journalism.

 

Barbara Goldoftas

I volunteered to fill an open position on the board this fall, and I’m pleased to be running for election now.

Earlier in my career, I worked as a science writer for about 20 years. After getting a Master of Science in science communications from MIT, I worked on staff at a few magazines in Boston, including Technology Review and the now-defunct Technology Illustrated, and I taught science writing at MIT and Harvard. I also freelanced, particularly about environment and public health, and I won a National Magazine Award for an exposé on working conditions in poultry slaughterhouses. I was based for a while in the Philippines and am the author of The Green Tiger: The Costs of Ecological Decline in the Philippines (2006). In 2010, I earned a Ph.D. in environmental health from the Boston University School of Public Health, and for a decade, I taught environmental health and public health. In 2020, I returned to science writing, and I served as a technical communications consultant at U.S. Agency for International Development in DC, working on climate adaptation, resilience, and climate and health until the agency was gutted.

When I returned to science writing, I joined NSWA  and rejoined after returning to Seattle last year. At this time of uncertainty for scientific funding, it would be a privilege to serve on the board and contribute to the ways that the association provides resources, get-togethers, and camaraderie to the science writing community in the PNW.

VOTE VOTE VOTE!!