Rachel Nuwer, ’07 Biology Honors, minor in English, gave an inspiring presentation to about 75 students, faculty and community members at Loyola University New Orleans, April 11th on her “behind the scenes” adventures of hanging out with pangolin poachers in Vietnamese jungles; surveying Lao black markets for rhino horn, ivory and tiger penis; counting elephants from the back of a bumpy, four-seat Cessna flying over Chad; work spanning a dozen countries while preparing her latest book, Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking. Rachel Nuwer is an award-winning science journalist who regularly contributes to the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC Future, and Scientific American. Poached was just named non-fiction book of the year by the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
While at Loyola, Rachel conducted honors research with Biology professors, Dr. David White and Dr. Frank Jordan. Her honors thesis was on aquaculture methods in the Mekong River in Laos. She studied abroad in Vietnam her junior year in an ecology-centered program, went on to do an Ecology Master’s degree and now lives in New York City and works as a freelance science journalist. She answered many questions for approximately fifteen English/Journalism, Biology and Mass Comm. students over lunch during her visit. Twenty-four of her books were purchased at the talk, sold by the Loyola Barnes and Nobel bookstore.
