Stephanie Pappas is a local, award-winning freelance science writer living in Denver, Colorado. She writes for other peer-reviewed reputable places such as Live Science, Scientific American, and The Monitor. With a rich background in psychology and science communication, Pappas covers an array of topics that encompass geoscience, archaeology, and human behavior.
Pappas received her bachelor’s of psychology from the University of South Carolina. Her academic foundation prepared her for subsequently exploring the abstractions of the human mind and behavior. Eager to improve her practice, she earned a graduate certificate in science communication. To pursue this goal, she started at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This powerful blend of education makes her a natural choice to communicate complex scientific concepts in an engaging and understandable way.
Prior to launching her freelance career, Pappas was a senior writer for Live Science. Fandom is a great equalizer and, during her time there, she honed her skills in reaching many different audiences. Her deep understanding of both science and communication has solidified her reputation as a well-known science writer in the field.
Now that she’s a freelance science writer, Pappas writes articles on the intersection of many different fields to better understand the world around us. It’s her prose that delights, educating the reading public and making the powerful case for closers that connect wonky research with real-world stories. As a result, she has developed an impressive online following, turning her into a hot commodity for many leading scientific journals.
Pappas’s geoscience expertise was recently featured in a NSF-funded study that upends long-held theories on how continental crust is formed. According to Craig O’Neill, a prominent geoscientist involved in the research, “Some of the evidence people have been using to argue for early plate tectonics is probably not showing you plate tectonics at all.” This comment highlights the importance of reframing how we, as researchers, view geologic processes and behavior in a time-extended context.
Whatever the medium, be it written word or audiovisual production, Pappas’s work has undeniably advanced the public understanding of science. In her new blog, she’ll be introducing readers to the latest innovations across the industry. She gets them to think about new ways of looking at accepted theories. Her crisp and intimate prose style has introduced a deep reservoir of knowledge about big ideas, from nature to science, to a wide audience.
Pappas’s capacity to move seamlessly across disciplines gives her the talent to break down complex scientific ideas with incredible simplicity and precision. When she writes her articles, she weaves in perspectives from psychology to show how our behavior skews our understanding of what’s happening with any scientific occurrence.
