FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NARRAGANSETT, RHODE ISLAND – August 8, 2007 – The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting has awarded the 2007-2008 Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Reporting to six professional journalists.

The Metcalf Diversity Fellows are: Julia Kumari Drapkin, photographer and multimedia reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida; Ambar Espinoza, researcher for Marketplace Productions, Los Angeles, CA; Natalie Garcia, reporter for Visalia Times-Delta, Visalia, CA; Ngoc Nguyen, freelance journalist and editor for NHA Magazine, San Jose, CA; MA Shumin, independent filmmaker, Paris and New York, NY; and Julie Varughese, reporter for the Norwich (CT) Bulletin and NorwichBulletin.com.

The Diversity Fellowships is a ten-month program for early career minority journalists that includes four weeks of independent study in environmental science at the University of Rhode Island, including a science immersion workshop on environmental justice. Following the independent study, the 2007-2008 Diversity Fellows will work for nine months reporting on science and the environment at: PRI's The World; Minnesota Public Radio; The Providence (RI) Journal; The Sacramento Bee; Talk of the Nation: Science Friday; and the (Albany, NY) Times Union, respectively.

The Metcalf Institute Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Reporting are intended to increase quality environmental reporting and diversity in newsrooms around the country, and are funded by a grant from the Geosciences Division of the National Science Foundation.

The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, named for Michael P. Metcalf, late publisher of The Providence Journal, was established in 1997 with funding from the Belo Corporation, The Providence Journal Charitable Foundation, The Philip L. Graham Fund, and the Telaka Foundation.