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Experience & Top Honors:
Senior Fellow, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Brandeis University: 2011-present.
Independent Journalist: 1993-present. Focusing on food, environment, health and human rights in the developing world. Projects include the aftermath of the US bombings in Laos, food security in Borneo, land grabbing and global hunger, politics and press freedom in Myanmar, democracy in Cambodia. Publications include The New York Times, Slate, Al Jazeera America, Foreign Policy’s Democracy Lab, GlobalPost, Sierra, SciDev.Net, National Geographic Books and more. Correspondent, Archaeology, 2010-present. Asia correspondent, Gourmet, 2004-2009.
Author: Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos (ThingsAsian Press, 2013), with visual journalist Jerry Redfern. This Way More Better: Stories and Photos from Asia’s Back Roads (ThingsAsian, 2013). Pacific Lady: The First Woman to Sail Solo across the World’s Largest Ocean (University of Nebraska, 2008) co-authored with Sharon Sites Adams. Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of War (McFarland, 2005).
Guest editor, Special Report on Climate Change and Food Security: Global Press Journal, Summer-Fall 2014.
Journalism trainer: 2006-present. Designing and teaching workshops and classes in reporting, journalism ethics, and online storytelling for IREX (Azerbaijan), The American Center (Yangon), Indochina Media Memorial Foundation (Thailand), Lighthouse Writers Workshop (Denver), SouthWest Writers (Albuquerque), and others.
Blogger, Rambling Spoon: 2006-present. Named one of the world’s best food blogs by the Times of London.
Co-owner, Redcoates Studios, 2012-present. Multimedia company with Redfern.
Social Justice Reporting Fellow: 2013. International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Reported on food security and cultural change amid widespread logging in interior Borneo.
T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professor, University of Montana: Fall Semester 2011. Taught a course on the business of freelance journalism and advised the student paper. Delivered a public lecture.
Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism, University of Colorado: 2010-2011. Studied graduate courses in environment, climate science, and food security as the groundwork for a project on global hunger.
Weekend edition co-editor/copy editor, The Cambodia Daily: 1998-1999. Phnom Penh.
Editorial associate, Women of Vietnam Review: 1996. Hanoi.
Features editor/reporter, The News-Record: 1994-1995. Gillette, WY.
Education:
Master of Science, University of Oregon, June 1997. Program in journalism, anthropology, international studies.
Graduate courses, Vietnam National University, Fall 1996. Language, history, culture.
Bachelor of Arts, University of Montana, December 1993. Journalism, cultural anthropology, Honors College.
Selected Awards:
Investigative Reporters and Editors Award Finalist, Book, Eternal Harvest, 2014
New Mexico-Arizona Book Award Winner, Travel, This Way More Better, 2014
Fund for Environmental Journalism, grant for reporting on agriculture in Myanmar, 2013
Knight Science Journalism Fellowship, MIT Food Boot Camp, spring 2011
Fund for Investigative Journalism, grant supporting UXO project in Laos, 2010
August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award, for Cambodia Now, 2006
Finalist, Livingston Awards for Young Journalists, international reporting, 2006
Oregon Literary Fellowship to Women Writers, for research related to Cambodia Now, 2000
Selected Presentations & Public Events:
2013-14 Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos, multiple slide shows, lectures and exhibits at various venues. Sponsors include the Asia Pacific Peace Studies Institute; Japan Policy Research Institute; Asia Society Northern California; and COPE rehabilitation center, Vientiane, Laos. Numerous press interviews including Democracy Now!; WBEZ’s Worldview, Chicago; KSFR’s Santa Fe Radio Café; KPFA’s Against the Grain, Berkeley.
2013 The Road to a New Myanmar: Where Could It Lead? Photo presentations and lectures with Redfern as part of the annual Great Decisions Foreign Policy Discussion Series, World Affairs Council, Grand Rapids, MI
2011 Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos, slide show and lecture sponsored by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center, World Affairs Council, Jeannette Rankin Peace Center and School of Journalism, the University of Montana, Missoula, MT
2011 This Way More Better: Finding Inspiration in this Messy New World of Journalism, annual T. Anthony Pollner lecture, the University of Montana
2011 Environmental Justice Week, food justice panelist, University of Colorado
2011 Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos, slideshow and discussion, Chautauqua National Historic Landmark cultural residency program, Boulder, CO
2009 Panel discussion with authors, Baldwin Library, American Center, Rangoon, Burma
2007 Eternal Harvest, a series of slideshows and talks, Popil Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2006 Our Sustainable Future: What Can the Media Do? lecture on sustainable development, sponsored by Angkatan Zaman Mansang and UNESCO, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo
2005 Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of War, presentations organized by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2005 Cambodia Now, various bookstore and library readings in conjunction with the book’s release
2001 The Asian Experience, keynote lecture, University of Idaho
