A writing
fellowship
for scientists
& builders.
We train researchers & writers in scientific domains to write and grow audiences so that they can influence the trajectory of entire fields.
Each cohort is focused on a different topic. Cohort 01, which runs from January 8 to March 1 of 2024, is devoted to biology. Our fellows include experts in synthetic biology, biosecurity, longevity, and animal welfare. They hail from six different countries. Some are chief technology officers at biotechnology companies, regular contributors to WIRED, and venture capitalists.
Fellowships are intensive and run for 8-week periods. Each fellow writes two edited pieces for inclusion in a published anthology, joins a selective writing community, and learns directly from experts throughout the program. A pool of funds is made available for fellows to hire professional editors and artists, or to embark on reporting trips.
Our goal is to empower thousands of people to write, present ideas in beautiful ways, grow audiences, and then use their newfound abilities to raise funds or build a business.
If you’d like to join our Slack community, or have other questions,
please send a message to team@ideasmatter.co.
Ideas Matter Team
Niko McCarty
Co-founder, Founding Editor at Asimov Press
Niko McCarty is a founding editor at Asimov Press and curriculum specialist at MIT.
He writes Codon, a blog about biotechnology, and was once a data journalist at the Simons Foundation. Niko grew up in the Chicago suburbs, lives in Cambridge, and holds various degrees in biotechnology and science journalism from Imperial College London, Caltech, and NYU.
Tony
Kulesa
Co-founder, Principal at Pillar VC
Tony Kulesa is a Principal at
Pillar VC.
Previously, he was the founding Director of the MIT BioMakerspace, a community biology laboratory and incubator space, and an Instructor at the MIT Department of Biological Engineering. He holds a PhD from MIT, where his inventions of new platforms for drug discovery and microbial therapeutics were highlighted in Science Editor’s Choice and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
Madelyn Heart
Head of Biotech Community at Pillar VC
Head of Biotech Community at Pillar.
Madelyn joins Pillar from a growth stage biotech startup, Opentrons Labworks. She held multiple roles in the organization across sales, customer success, marketing, community management and product. She is passionate about empowering scientists and growing the the life science community.
Madelyn graduated from Bates College and spent her first year after university teaching biology for the Spanish Government in Madrid, Spain.
Daniel
Goodwin
Co-Director of Homeworld Collective
Committed to unlocking the industrial potential of synthetic biology.
As co-Director of Homeworld Collective, Daniel propels climate biotech into a hyperproductive community. With a recent MIT PhD and groundbreaking work published in Science, Dan’s multidisciplinary journey spans engineering, entrepreneurship, and award-winning apps.
As a proud parent, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt, and outdoor enthusiast, he embodies the ethos of “create more value than you can capture” by Tim O’Reilly.
Paul Reginato
Founding Co-Director of Homeworld Collective
Facilitating collaborative articulation of priority problems in climate biotech.
As co-Director of Homeworld Collective, Paul enables the climate biotech community to chart research pathways for novel technologies. His previous work includes roadmapping for biotech in atmospheric CO2 removal and developing novel technology for in situ genome sequencing in intact cells and tissues.
Paul holds a PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT and a BSc in Biology and Mathematics from University of Waterloo. He’s also a poet and photographer. His north star is love for Earth’s life.
Katie
Okolita
Design & Development at Pillar VC
Transforming narratives through design.
Katie, with a decade of branding and development experience, brings her expertise to Ideas Matter. Her career includes work with prestigious clients like the United Nations and Hilton Hotels. After launching her own business in 2014, she joined Pillar VC in 2021.
At Ideas Matter, Katie blends her skills with the initiative’s mission, enhancing its digital storytelling and audience engagement in the scientific community.
