COVID-19 has caused over a staggering 1.4 million deaths worldwide. Nearly a year to the date of when the virus was first reported internationally, science journalist Ed Yong speaks about the global pandemic as part of the 2020 John Jay Iselin Memorial Lecture. Yong, one of the most prolific reporters on the novel coronavirus, has helped to shape our understanding of the disease and its impact on our lives since the crisis began. Yong in fact predicted an international pandemic would be coming  – and considered whether the United States would be ready – in 2018. He reported on how COVID-19 exposed health disparities in the US, tackled the mask debate, and much more. Following his lecture, Jennifer Weiser, assistant professor of chemical engineering at The Cooper Union Albert Nerken School of Engineering, will join Yong for a brief discussion.  

Yong is a staff member at The Atlantic, where he covers science. He has also written for National Geographic, the New Yorker, Wired, Nature, New Scientist, and Scientific American among others. Yong recently received the 2020 Victor Cohn Prize for medical science reporting from Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and the National Press Club Journalism Institute’s 2020 Neil and Susan Sheehan award for investigative journalism. His first book, I Contain Multitudes, was a New York Times bestseller. Bill Gates called it “science journalism at its finest.” His TED talk on mind-controlling parasites has been watched by over 1.5 million people. He received a B.A. and M.A. in Natural Sciences (Zoology) from the University of Cambridge in 2002 and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree on the biochemistry of resolvase from University College London.

Professor Jennifer Weiser researches drug delivery, wound healing and developing polymeric biomaterials for medical applications. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University.

The John Jay Iselin Memorial Lecture honors 10th President of The Cooper Union, who served from 1987 to 2000. As General Manager and then President of Channel 13, Jay Iselin was largely responsible for making Public Television a vital force in broadcast journalism, originating such programs as “Nature” and “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.” Past Iselin lecturers have included author and former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, political activist and law professor Zephyr Teachout, and civil liberties scholar Burt Neuborne.