Amanda Womac, a University of Tennessee graduate and President of the UT Science Forum, assembled a Science Forum at the university on earlier this year with the help of Dr. Littman, an esteemed journalism professor at the University known for his scientific writing skills, titled “Arctic Alaska: Wild, Wonderful, and Warming”. However, Amanda is not an environmental scientist. Instead, she graduated in 2008 with her Masters of Science in Journalism. So why is she so involved in the science related to going green?
During her time at the university, Amanda was the Marketing Coordinator for the UT-Knoxville Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition, Challenge X. Since then, Amanda has furthered her writing career as well as continued to follow her passion for helping the environment, which she discovered during her days as the Marketing Coordinator for the competition.
Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility (2004-2008) was a four-year engineering competition that provided the opportunity for 17 North American universities to develop advanced propulsion technology solutions that increased energy efficiency and reduced the environmental impact of light-duty vehicles, specifically a Chevrolet Equinox. Amanda’s role, as the Marketing Coordinator, was to create press releases, presentations and marketing materials for Team Tennessee. When asked about her roll in a highly technical engineering competition, Amanda replied, “I am not an engineer, so my biggest challenge was my crash course in mechanical engineering. I have a master of science in science journalism and applied my skills as a communicator (for the team).”
Since graduation, Amanda has served in many positions including a writer, speaker and non-profit consultant. All of these positions tie into what Amanda learned through her experience with Challenge X. After the competition, Amanda continued to improve her writing and communication skills through her work as a part-time technical writer for the Hearing and Speech Foundation (HSF). In 2009 she became Executive Director of the organization. Amanda currently uses the knowledge she acquired from Challenge X, about green technology and environment preservation, in her professional freelance science writing and nonprofit consulting.
Furthermore, Amanda “serves on the board for the Sequatchie Valley Institute, a nonprofit environmental education center outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee.” She is also affiliated with the Society of Environmental Journalists and the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists. Amanda plans to return to the university and provide the current EcoCAR team with some insight into public speaking. This will help the entire team with their presentation skills for future outreach events and competition presentations.
To learn more about Amanda Womac, visit her website http://www.amandawomac.com.
