Scientific American’s Robin Lloyd to Give 28th Annual Hill Lecture

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Event Canceled

Please note this event and all campus events are canceled March 16 to April 5. To find the most updated campus information, please see utk.edu/coronavirus.

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Robin Lloyd, a writer and editor for Scientific American and adjunct professor of science writing at New York University, will talk about “The End of Investigative Science Writing?” when she delivers the 28th annual Alfred and Julia Hill Lecture at the University of Tennessee.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place on Tuesday, March 31, at 8 p.m. in the College of Nursing Auditorium on the UT campus.

Lloyd has contributed to almost every realm in science journalism and media. She has been a newspaper reporter, a wire service journalist, a network online journalist, a science communicator (for the American Museum of Natural History, New York City), and a science writer and editor for Space.com, LiveScience, and, for 11 years and continuing, Scientific American.  In addition to these outlets, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Spectrum, Undark magazine, and on National Public Radio’s website.  She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

For her Hill Lecture, Lloyd has chosen the title “The End of Investigative Science Writing?” She explains: In the past, investigative reporting improved the quality of life through safer drinking water and stricter rules about pesticide use near schools.  But things changed.

“Most science journalists, including myself until recently, failed to publish stories that questioned scientific claims made by community and national leaders, representatives of major industries, and scientists themselves,” Lloyd said.  “My recent reporting on underground pipes has given me new insights into why this is the case.

“If we don’t preserve investigative reporting on science, environmental gains could be reversed.  Lloyd said to avoid that crisis “will require critical thinking about science writing’s place in society and re-envisioning how we train and employ science journalists.”

The Hill Lecture series brings distinguished science journalists to campus to share their thoughts on science, society, and the mass media. The lecture series is made possible by an endowment created by Tom Hill and Mary Frances Hill Holton in honor of their parents, Alfred and Julia Hill, founders of The Oak Ridger. The Hill family’s endowment of the lecture series was a gift to the UT School of Journalism & Electronic Media in the College of Communication & Information.

The College of Nursing Auditorium, site of this year’s Hill Lecture, is at 1200 Volunteer Boulevard on the UT campus. Free parking is available on Circle Park Drive and in nearby lots after 4 p.m.  Refreshments will be served before and after the lecture.