I am a science writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Science News, Anthropocene, High Country News, Knowable, and other outlets. I edit the California Native Plant Society magazines Flora and Artemisia. I also also write for the the delightful science writing blog The Last Word on Nothing.

My reporting has won several awards, including the 2018 National Academies Keck Futures Initiatives Communication Award  for a about mental health among  refugees from Iraq.  

My research has been supported by the National Press Foundation, the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, the USC Annenberg Health Journalism Fellowship, and the Harvard Medical School Media Fellowship.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in Science and Technology Studies at Brown, and a master’s degree in science writing at Johns Hopkins, I spent 2012-2016 covering neuroscience as a staff writer for Science at its Washington, D.C. headquarters.

In 2016 I moved back to my hometown of Coloma in the California foothills, where I now live and work.  When I’m not at my desk I spend as much time as possible out on the river. You can reach me at emily.l.underwood@gmail.com and intermittently on Twitter: @em_underwood