Siri Carpenter

Siri Carpenter (born 1971) is an American freelance science journalist and editor living in Madison, Wisconsin. The author of multiple articles in Scientific American, Science, APA Monitor, and other publications, she is a co-founder and the executive director and editor-in-chief of The Open Notebook. In 2018 Carpenter was elected to a two-year term as president of the National Association of Science Writers.

Early life and education Carpenter grew up in La Crescent, Minnesota. She is married, with two daughters, and lives in Madison, Wisconsin. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning a B.A. in psychology in 1995. She earned an M.S. in 1997, and Ph.D. in 2000, both in social psychology at Yale University. Her dissertation, Implicit gender attitudes, was directed by Mahzarin R. Banaji.

Career

Early career In 1998 Carpenter was a Science and Engineering Mass Media Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Virginia. The following year she was a science writer intern at Science News in Washington, D.C. After completing her Ph.D., Carpenter was hired as a senior science writer for the APA Monitor on Psychology in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2002.

Science journalist, editor Carpenter's career as a freelance science journalist began in 2002. She has written for media outlets including The New York Times, Science Magazine, Scientific American, Science News, and others. From 2012 to 2014, she was a senior editor and then a features editor at Discover Magazine in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Carpenter has also worked as a freelance editor for several publications, including bioGraphic, and Science News for Students . In 2025, she joined the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication.

The Open Notebook

When it comes to freelance writing, some things are curiously taboo. Many of the most important aspects of freelancing, like pay rates and contract negotiation, are often shrouded in secrecy. Luckily there’s The Open Notebook, which was founded to shed light on these important topics. — Spencer Davis, The Freelancer Carpenter is executive director and editor-in-chief, and serves on the board of directors; Erdmann is an emeritus board member. Gary Price of Library Journal said The Open Notebook "provides unique tools and resources to help science journalists at all experience levels hone their craft".

National Association of Science Writers Carpenter was vice president of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW), 2016–2018, and was elected to a two-year term as president in 2018. NASW is "...a community of journalists, authors, editors, producers, public information officers, students and people who write and produce material intended to inform the public about science, health, engineering, and technology".

Publications

Books In 2007, Carpenter and Karen Huffman wrote the textbook, Visualizing Psychology. A second edition was published 2010, and Wiley published the third edition in 2012.

In 2020, TON published The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from The Open Notebook, edited by Carpenter.

In 2024, a second, expanded edition of The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from The Open Notebook was published by the University of Chicago Press.

In 2026, the University of Chicago Press published The Best Science Stories and How They Work, a collection of 11 annotated science articles and accompanying author interviews; the volume was edited by Carpenter.

Selected articles

Awards and honors

2009 Outstanding Article Award for Reporting on a Significant Topic, American Society of Journalists and Authors, for "Buried Prejudice", Scientific American Mind, April/May 2008. 2009 National Magazine Award Finalist, Prevention (December 2009) "Is Your Parent Over-Medicated?" 2023 Online News Association, Community Award