Can You Stop an Outbreak of a Contagious Disease?
nytimes.com
Hi all, I wanted to share some happy news. I was selected as a top award winner of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications!
The awards, given by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in partnership with Schmidt Sciences, recognize science journalists, research scientists and science communicators who have developed creative, original work to communicate issues and advances in science, engineering, and medicine to the general public.
Here is what they wrote about my work:
Aatish Bhatia pushes beyond traditional explanatory journalism by using data visualization, interactivity, and custom-built tools to invite audiences to experience scientific ideas for themselves.
Drawing on his background as a physicist, educator, developer, and journalist, he turns topics such as the spread of infectious disease, the social upheavals driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the changing night sky into intuitive experiences that encourage audiences to explore, experiment, and discover.
The award recognized three pieces that I wrote at The New York Times in 2025 with Francesca Paris, Irineo Cabreros and Rumsey Taylor.
These pieces were edited by Lowen Liu, Kevin Quealy, Jonathan Ellis and Toni Monkovic, with input from Larry Buchanan. (It takes a village to produce this kind of work, and Iām grateful to have worked with the one-of-a-kind team at The Upshot.)
You can check out all of the inspiring work from the other award winners at this link (which also makes for an excellent reading / viewing / listening list!)