Sofie Bates
Sofie continued her internship with the UC Davis Strategic Communications department the summer after graduation. Afterwards, she went to the master's program in science communication at UC Santa Cruz in 2019 and then did several science journalism and videography internships. She is now a video intern with the Landsat team at NASA Goddard.
How has your professional writing minor benefited you?
The minor totally switched my career trajectory. I didn't realize that there were so many types of science writing and various ways to make it my career. Science Journalism (UWP 111C) was when I was first exposed to the subject, and I fell in love with it immediately. It's also where I heard about a fellowship with the National Association of Science Writers (NASW). I applied and was selected to cover the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference as a journalist, and that experience solidified my passion for science journalism. All of that never would have happened without the professional writing minor and the wonderful mentors I met from it.
Why were you interested in pursuing the professional writing minor?
Initially, I wanted to improve my ability to write about complicated science because I was planning to pursue a career in lab research. But I fell in love with science journalism while taking UWP 111C with Katie Rodger, and that class switched my entire career trajectory!
What advice do you have for current UC Davis students considering or currently completing the minor?
My advice to current professional writing minors is to choose some diverse classes to test it out and see if you like it. At first, I focused exclusively on technical science writing classes. But my favorite courses that I took for the minor were Science Journalism (UWP 111C) and Introduction to Professional Editing (UWP 112A), and now I use those skills on a daily basis.