Who am I?

I’m a scientist and journalist. My bylines have appeared in outlets like NPR, Vox, Slate, National Geographic, and The Washington Post. My work focuses on people coping with a changing ocean and a warming world.

In summer 2024, I joined POLITICO and its sister site E&E News as a staff reporter covering the green energy transition.

Prior to that, I was an investigative reporter covering the environment for The Post and Courier, South Carolina’s largest newspaper.

I’m also a National Geographic Explorer and maintain an unpaid research appointment at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. I’m currently collaborating with museum curator Nick Pyenson on a National Geographic Society-funded research project.

This 2022 profile of me does a pretty good job explaining how I make a hybrid career work for me.

I earned a PhD in ecology at UNC Chapel Hill, where I researched coral reefs and climate change in the Caribbean. I then taught courses on biodiversity and climate change at Georgetown University. From 2021 to 2022, I served as the Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution studying marine mammal populations in the Arabian Gulf, the world’s hottest sea.

My science journalism career got a serious boost when I served as the 2019 Mass Media Fellow at The Washington Post. I highly recommend the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship to anyone interested in the wondrous world where science, society, and storytelling collide.

Get in touch email: clare.fieseler [at] gmail [dot] com

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