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Collectively, the 2026-27 class of Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism at CU ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß’s College of Communication, Media, Design and Information will explore environmental justice and inequity, air quality and atmospheric science, freshwater ecosystems and fisheries conservation, climate change impacts on agriculture and food heritage, and the human, emotional, and cultural dimensions of environmental change.Ìý

Together, the cohort reflects the Ted Scripps Fellowship's emphasis on combining rigorous environmental reporting with compelling storytelling across science, policy, culture, and communities.

Part of the college’s Center for Environmental Journalism, the Scripps fellowship gives full-time journalists the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and understanding of a variety of topics, so they can more effectively report on pressing environmental issues in ways that resonate with broad audiences. Over a nine-month period, fellows attend classes, participate in weekly seminars and field trips, and meet experts as they develop independent journalistic projects related to the environment.

Established in 1993, the Scripps fellowship has been based at CU ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß since 1997, making this the 29th class to join the program as part of the university.

This year’s fellows are:

Janae Barnes covered issues at the intersection of public health, environmental justice, and the lived experiences of Black communities, with a particular focus on the Midwest and national audiences as the flagship healthÌýand environment reporter for Capital B Gary. She has been recognized with two awards by the Indiana Society of Professional JournalistsÌýfor deeply reported, community-centered journalism, blending investigative rigor with narrative storytelling. Her reporting frequently highlights the impacts of climate change, gender and health disparities, and amplifying underrepresented voices.

Jenae was selected as a 2024 Pulitzer Center Story Reach Reporting Fellow, participated in theÌý2024 National Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Fellowship, andÌýWake Forest University’s Environmental and Epistemic Justice Fellowship. She is also a 2025 participant in theÌý, where she reported on the health care experiences of Black expatriates in Germany.

Jenae plans to use the fellowship to research a project that looks at environmental justice issues in the US and abroad, and how these are linked by shared obstacles of socioeconomic status, geography, and historic redlining and/or colonization.

Sam Brasch is a public radio reporter covering climate and environmental issues for Colorado Public Radio News. A Denver native and graduate of Colorado College, he began his journalism career atÌýModern Farmer Magazine. Since joining CPR News in 2019, he has co-createdÌýPurplish, a podcast on Colorado politics, and helped launch the station’s climate solutions desk.Ìý

As a Scripps Fellow, Sam plans to study the history and science of air quality to produce podcasts and other long-form radio projects.ÌýÌý

Amanda Eggert is an environmental journalist based in Bozeman, Montana. In January 2021, she joined the staff of Montana Free Press, a nonprofit newsroom founded by John S. Adams, the journalist featured in the documentary Dark Money.ÌýHer stories about Montana's housing affordability challenges, land-use issues in central Montana's Crazy Mountains, and the intersection of drought and Montana's treasured cold-water fisheries have won awards. When not working, she enjoys exploring Montana's mountains and rivers with her husband, two young sons and collie mix, Athena.Ìý

During her fellowship, Amanda will explore the decline of southwestern Montana's cold-water fisheries and the policy levers that can bring them out of their long-term slide.

Ayurella Horn-Muller is a staff writer at Grist covering the intersection of climateÌýchange, food, and agriculture. She previously reported for Axios and Climate Central, and her work has appeared in CNN, National Geographic, The Associated Press, El País, The Atlantic, WIRED, and The Guardian. She has been recognized with a first-place Society of Environmental Journalists Award for Outstanding Beat Reporting and an honorable mention Nina Mason Pulliam Award for Outstanding Environmental Reporting, alongsideÌýhonors from the Society of Professional Journalists and Green Eyeshades. She is the author ofÌýDevoured: The Extraordinary Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Ate the South, and her work has been anthologized inÌýThe Best American Food and Travel Writing.Ìý

As a Ted Scripps fellow, Ayurella will investigate how climate change is reshaping the bonds between communities and the crops that have long defined them. From Puerto Rico's coffee farms to Georgia’s sweet onion fields and Arizona's winter lettuce valleys, her reporting will exploreÌýwhat it means to lose theseÌýplace-based anchors, the conflict between adaptation and ancestry, and how race, class, and power determine who gets to maintain their food identities — and who is forced to abandon them.Ìý

Sam Price-Waldman is a documentary filmmaker working at the intersection of long-form journalism and cinematic storytelling. His work focuses on character-driven stories shaped by close access, trust, and time.

As a director and cinematographer, he has worked across short-form reporting and multi-year documentary projects for HBO, Netflix, Showtime,ÌýThe Atlantic, PBS, and National Geographic. His most recent short documentary,ÌýThe Life We Have, screened at over 20 film festivals and was awarded Best Short Documentary at AmDocs, the Audience Award at Mountainfilm,Ìýand a 2026 Webby Award.

Before transitioning to independent work, Sam was a staff producer, cinematographer, and editor atÌýThe Atlantic, where he reported on science, environment, and culture.

As a Ted Scripps Fellow, he will explore the emotional dimensions of environmental change and how different ways of knowing shape human relationships to the natural world, while developing a new long-form documentary project.

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