The job hunt begins, and I’m offering a cash bounty

Greeting, friends. Eleven months ago, I left Florida to come to Chicago and work my way through Northwestern’s Master’s of Journalism program.  Since then, I have been gainfully unemployed, focusing all my attention on my studies. This year-long project has been a success thus far.  I’m now in my fourth quarter, and the end is … Read more

Whoa, has it been nearly a month?

Once again, it looks like I’ve been neglecting the occasional update for you lovely folks.  Let me give you the quick rundown of what’s going on. I’m knee-deep and wading through this obituaries project.  The interactive innovation project at Medill this quarter is about obituaries, online and off.  That’s eating up a metric ton of … Read more

Genetically engineered virus creates a better battery

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have successfully demonstrated a technique for fabricating a better battery using a genetically engineered virus. They announced their technique for the battery earlier this month, maintaining that it allows them to use a much wider variety of materials for potentially higher-capacity, rechargeable batteries. The interdisciplinary team of MIT scientists … Read more

New quarter, new beat

Starting today until the beginning of June, I’m working on Health/Science reporting. My beat is Technology/Gadgets/Nanotech. If you should happen to have any good tips on these subjects, please please contact me and clue me in (ian at ianmonroe.com). I finally have a beat that I can write about with some kind of clarity, so … Read more

Want to know the main problem with trying to do grad-school journalism?

Here’s the thing — journalism is transactional.  You rely on other people to feed you information that you can use to write your stories.  In exchange, your sources get to draw attention to the things that they think are important. For instance, if you’re writing an article about a new business, you contact the business … Read more