MORE PUBLICATIONS
Oregon's Land Grant History
Oregon's Progress
Oregon’s Progress (2001-2018) https://archive.progress.oregonstate.edu/authors/peg-herring
At a time when print was declared to be “dead,” Oregon State University’s oldest research magazine was winning top national awards, increasing its circulation, and creating increasingly effective techniques for online learning. I served as the editor-in-chief of Oregon's Progress and director of the state’s largest publisher of educational materials. Magazine journalism continues to deliver among the most trusted issues-reporting in the world, and Oregon’s Progress lives on.
The Future of Beer: Four ingredients create a revolution
USAID Aquaculture Research Program
USAID Aquaculture & Fisheries Collaborative Research Support Program (2010-2011) https://aquafishcrsp.oregonstate.edu/
I led a team of science communications faculty in the Journalism Project for the AquaFish program, covering USAID projects in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. For this project, I spent time with low-income fishing families and small-scale aquaculturists in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines, and with scientists from these countries. The work resulted in a dozen articles and videos, plus a personal journal I kept as a visitor to these places.
Oregon's State of Environment Report
Oregon State of the Environment Report 2000 https://digital.osl.state.or.us/islandora/object/osl%3A34463
At the turn of the millennium, the Oregon Mystique that had attracted a whole generation of new residents to the state was giving way to inevitable limits on Oregon’s natural abundance. A blue-ribbon panel of scientists across Oregon was asked by the governor to address these challenges in the first scientifically reviewed report on the state’s environment and its future risks. Dr. Paul Risser, President of Oregon State, led the science panel and I served as science editor of this groundbreaking assessment: Oregon’s State of the Environment Report. All six Oregon governors alive at the time signed the report and urged communities to use science to plan a sustainable future for Oregon.
University of California's Natural Reserve System
University of California Natural Reserve System (1985-2001). A crown jewel of natural areas dedicated to teaching and research, the UC Natural Reserve System manages a landscape-scale library of ecosystems throughout California. I worked with 17 of the now more than 40 sites to write, design, and illustrate booklets that describe the natural history and specific research opportunities for scientists at each location. I created more than 100 illustrations of plants, animals, and landscapes within the Natural Reserve System that continue to be used in University reports and publications.
Natural Areas Report
Natural Areas Report (1989-1999). The Natural Areas Report provided a way for researchers to exchange ideas about the science, management, and policies of natural areas set aside for research on public lands across North America. Working with US Forest Service ecologist Sarah Greene, I designed, edited, and illustrated this quarterly newsletter written for and about scientists on state and federal lands.
Science Writer's Group
Science Writers’ Group (1986-2002). The collective name I gave to the many hats I wore in my independent consulting business. I designed and directed science communications projects, writing, editing, illustration, and synthesis for research groups in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife
Biologist, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fisheries Research Division (1977-1984). Not really a single publication, but the first opportunity I had to write professionally about science, in this case, about the natural history of wild Chinook salmon and (gulp) the statistical calculations of the Oregon Production Index. Original papers, alas, are lost to history, except for one priceless blind review that launched the rest of my career: “Your breezy, conversational style is inappropriate for science.” This became my North Star.
