Susanne Rust is having a heck of a year. She and fellow reporter Meg Kissinger have already won the Meeman, Polk and Oakes awards for their series on bisphenol A (BPA) in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and they’ve got a good shot at taking home a Pulitzer on April 20.

Michigan State’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism brought Rust to campus on April 2 to talk about the investigation, which revealed a stunning lack of government regulation of BPA, and drew attention to the health risks associated with the plastic additive.

Rust was a graduate student in biological anthropology before deciding to become a journalist. Given her educational background and her work as a science reporter, I thought it might interest ESPP students and faculty to get Rust’s take on how best to explain research findings to the media. Her comments are also of interest for journalists.

-Andy McGlashen