Dana Mackenzie

Writing is my second career, but it was my first love. As a kid, all I wanted to be was a writer. Nevertheless, my academic career took a different direction. I loved mathematics too, and earned a doctorate from Princeton. I taught math for six years at Duke University and seven years at Kenyon College in Ohio. I enjoyed it, but I have to say I never felt that teaching was my true calling.

In 1996, using the newfangled invention called the World Wide Web, I found out about the Science Communication Program at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle clicked together. I could be a writer, as I had always wanted to be, and still make use of my knowledge of math and science.

At UCSC I learned about journalism and made the contacts I needed to hit the ground running. An internship at American Scientist in the summer of 1997 gave me some practical experience in writing and editing with a deadline. Since the fall of 1997, I have been a full-time freelance writer.

Some of the magazines I have written for are Discover, Smithsonian, Science, and New Scientist. "The Big Splat, or How Our Moon Came to Be" published by John Wiley & Sons, was my first book. Since then, I have written two booklets for the American Mathematical Society, called "What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences," volumes 6 and 7. I am working on another book about mathematics now, and I will post more information as it comes closer to fruition.