Kelsey Simpkins is a writer, photographer, and artist with a master’s degree in journalism, specializing in environmental science writing, communication, and policy. She is currently the communications and programs coordinator at the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC), the lead agency for improving air quality in the Front Range of Colorado.
She previously worked for the University of Colorado Boulder as a science and news writer in media relations, where she became a 2023 Hermes Creative Awards Gold Winner and received both a 2023 Gold Pick Award and a 2022 Silver Pick Award from the Public Relations Society of America, Colorado Chapter. During this time, Kelsey was also a 2021 Nature Environment Science Technology (NEST) Studio for the Arts Community Artist Fellow, through which she created the original photography series Airborne Era. This series was in large part informed by her coverage of scientific research at CU Boulder from 2020 through 2023, that proved SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is primarily transmitted through aerosols (airborne transmission).
She received her Master of Arts in environmental journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2018, where she worked as the lead graduate assistant for two years in the Center for Environmental Journalism. Additionally, she received grants from the Royal Norwegian Embassy, University of Colorado Boulder, and the Nevada Museum of Art to travel globally and report on the intersection of the arts, artists, and climate change in the Arctic, the focus of her graduate professional project. As a result of reporting on the sustainability of legal recreational cannabis cultivation and consumption during her graduate program, she moderated a panel on at the 2019 Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
She spent the summer of 2017 working in public information (science writing) for the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., and in the spring of 2018 she was an Editorial Fellow with Nature Conservancy magazine. Since 2018, Kelsey has worked domestically and internationally in the fields of climate change and science communication, media relations, and digital engagement. She is a member of National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains (SWARM).
Her work has been published by the American Geophysical Union, CU Boulder Today, The Coloradan Alumni Magazine, CU Boulder Arts & Sciences Magazine, Iowa State University, NASA, Nature Conservancy magazine, and more.
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Kelsey is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, with a B.A. in art, art history, and environmental studies. Her undergraduate research focused on the intersections between environmental and art movements of the 1970's through present day, culminating in a senior solo show, "The End of the World." She is continually interested in the overlap between the environment, the arts, and social movements of past and present. She attended the Smith College Summer Institute in Art Museum Studies in Northampton, Massachusetts in the summer of 2012, followed by an internship at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. During her time in the Twin Cities, she worked in environmental nonprofit fundraising and communications, and freelanced in the arts and music scene. She runs her own music blog, The Aural Premonition, is a staff writer for Bearded Gentlemen Media and previously wrote for Indie Shuffle. She has written and photographed for Walker Art Center, Rift Magazine, Sofar Sounds Minneapolis, Bandsintown.com, and Billboard Magazine.
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She previously worked for the University of Colorado Boulder as a science and news writer in media relations, where she became a 2023 Hermes Creative Awards Gold Winner and received both a 2023 Gold Pick Award and a 2022 Silver Pick Award from the Public Relations Society of America, Colorado Chapter. During this time, Kelsey was also a 2021 Nature Environment Science Technology (NEST) Studio for the Arts Community Artist Fellow, through which she created the original photography series Airborne Era. This series was in large part informed by her coverage of scientific research at CU Boulder from 2020 through 2023, that proved SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is primarily transmitted through aerosols (airborne transmission).
She received her Master of Arts in environmental journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2018, where she worked as the lead graduate assistant for two years in the Center for Environmental Journalism. Additionally, she received grants from the Royal Norwegian Embassy, University of Colorado Boulder, and the Nevada Museum of Art to travel globally and report on the intersection of the arts, artists, and climate change in the Arctic, the focus of her graduate professional project. As a result of reporting on the sustainability of legal recreational cannabis cultivation and consumption during her graduate program, she moderated a panel on at the 2019 Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
She spent the summer of 2017 working in public information (science writing) for the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., and in the spring of 2018 she was an Editorial Fellow with Nature Conservancy magazine. Since 2018, Kelsey has worked domestically and internationally in the fields of climate change and science communication, media relations, and digital engagement. She is a member of National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains (SWARM).
Her work has been published by the American Geophysical Union, CU Boulder Today, The Coloradan Alumni Magazine, CU Boulder Arts & Sciences Magazine, Iowa State University, NASA, Nature Conservancy magazine, and more.
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Kelsey is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, with a B.A. in art, art history, and environmental studies. Her undergraduate research focused on the intersections between environmental and art movements of the 1970's through present day, culminating in a senior solo show, "The End of the World." She is continually interested in the overlap between the environment, the arts, and social movements of past and present. She attended the Smith College Summer Institute in Art Museum Studies in Northampton, Massachusetts in the summer of 2012, followed by an internship at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. During her time in the Twin Cities, she worked in environmental nonprofit fundraising and communications, and freelanced in the arts and music scene. She runs her own music blog, The Aural Premonition, is a staff writer for Bearded Gentlemen Media and previously wrote for Indie Shuffle. She has written and photographed for Walker Art Center, Rift Magazine, Sofar Sounds Minneapolis, Bandsintown.com, and Billboard Magazine.
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