Short Profile Assignment (300-450 words): Anne Casselman Cassie Beecham May 14th, 2012

Self professed science nerd Anne Casselman sits in front of me, impeccably dressed in a black pencil skirt and sweater set. Her long black hair is impossibly shiny. She taps her right foot, her bubbly personality evident in her body language. Shes telling me about being flown to the Yukon on assignment, for the Olympics, back in 2010. She grins, They took us up there in a Cessna, we hung out at a museum, and like drank. She pauses and giggles, It was great. I feel a pang of jealousy. Besides being beautiful, shes also brilliant. At 31, Casselman has written for some of the most prestigious science magazines in North America, including National Geographic News, Discover Magazine, Canadian Geographic and The Walrus. Casselman grew up in Vancouver. She earned a B.sc. in Zoology from the University of Toronto, and after that a M.sc. in Science Communication from Imperial College London. With such a strong science background its a surprise she ended up a journalist. Casselman says shes a science geek, without the temperament to be a scientist. Casselmans love of journalism extends back to the U of T, where she and friend started a print zine called Jargon. By the time she was living in London she was working on, what she describes as an unselfconscious blog about science journalists living in London, trying to start a science magazine for women. The blog was called Inky Circus. The magazine, which unfortunately never quite came to fruition, was called Inkling. Casselmans big journalistic break came when she earned an internship at Discover Magazine shortly after finishing her Masters degree. There she was commissioned to write a 1,500 word article on The Physics of Bras. Casselmans face lights up when she talks about the article. I like the quirky stuff, she says with a smile. When Casselman talks science she speaks quickly and with a fierce intelligence. You can tell shes got an analytical mind, the kind of mind that figures things out. She can probably fix her own toaster. In the next five years Cassleman hopes to break into the American feature market. One of her goals is to get a piece into National Geographic. I dont doubt shell do it. Casselman is one of those rare total package deals, brains, looks and personality. Shes the type of girl I

want to quickly forget because she so clearly highlights my own inadequacies. I know shell cross my mind again, though, probably the next time I break my toaster.