(Justin Hayworth/Grinnell College)

Hi. I'm Anika Jane.

A writer with a background in the life sciences, I cover the environment and climate change in Iowa, with a particular focus on water, soil and CAFOs. A lifelong Midwesterner, I write about changing ecosystems from one of the most transformed landscapes on the continent.

My work has appeared in outlets including Ars Tecnica, Environmental Health News, Inside Climate News, Michigan Advance, and Planet Detroit.

I hold a master’s degree in science writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as a bachelor’s degree in biology and Spanish from Grinnell College. I am a former Outrider Fellow at Inside Climate News and was named a Taylor-Blakeslee Graduate Fellow by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.

I am lucky that my full-time job is thinking about science, and that thinking tends to spill over into my hobbies. Whether hiking, running, reading, or painting, I'm often considering my place in nature and the science that surrounds me.

Resume

Experience

September 2025 - Present

Iowa Reporter for Inside Climate News

Inside Climate News, based in Des Moines, IA

As ICN's inaugural Iowa staffer, I cover the environment and climate change in the state, with a particular focus on water, soil and CAFOs.

January - August 2025

Reporting Fellow for Inside Climate News

Inside Climate News, based in Cambridge, MA

Expanded ICN's midwestern coverage through reporting exploring the impacts of climate disasters and ongoing policy turmoil on communities and ecosystems in Michigan, Ohio, and Iowa.

August 2024 - August 2025

MIT Science Writing Graduate Fellow

MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing, Cambridge, MA

Wrote and pitched news, feature, and narrative stories about microbes, health, ecology, and climate.
Coursework included sourcing, interviewing, writing, fact checking, editing, podcasting, data and investigative journalism.
Collaborated with the GBH Equity and Justice Reporting Unit on an investigative piece revealing a critical healthcare desert in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood.
In January, travelled to Cuatro Ciénegas, MX to write a 6,000-word feature about the region’s 500-million-year-old microbial communities and how extractive water practices threaten to destroy them.

2022 - 2024

Science Writing Fellow

Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA

Pitched and created all web, magazine and social media content pertaining to the Science Division — covering research in environmental science, biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, mathematics, and statistics.
Wrote 60+ research narratives, profiles, and news stories featuring faculty, students, and alumni in the sciences, including an award-winning four-story series about the work of summer research students.
Wrote three features for the print Grinnell Magazine, including a cover story about their prairie research station.

Spring 2022

Undergraduate Research Scientist: Environmental Microbiology

Hinsa-Leasure Laboratory, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA

Isolated bacteriophage from confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) pig manure and searched phage genomes for genes that may contribute to the environmental spread of antibiotic resistance.

Summer 2021

Undergraduate Research Scientist: Virology

Nebraska Center for Virology at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

Screened drug candidates in vitro (in live cell cultures) for the treatment of ZIKA virus infection, and determined the potency and toxicity of the most promising antiviral.

Education

2025

Massachussets Institute of Technology
M.S. Science Writing

2022

Grinnell College
B.A. Biology and Spanish

Skills

Writer and copy-editor
Effective interviewer.
Creates content for diverse platforms, ranging from institutional websites to TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
Has experience in photography, audio engineering, and videography, as well as editing in Adobe Photoshop, Hindenburg, and Premier Pro.
Proficient in Microsoft and Google Suites.
Spanish (fluent).