Megan Zerez is the education reporter at WSKG, the NPR affiliate for New York’s Southern Tier and northern Pennsylvania. She is the primary reporter at the station’s Ithaca bureau and a Report For America corps member. Before moving to Ithaca, Megan worked at NPR member stations WNYC (New York City, NY) and KERA (Dallas, TX). She has received several national and regional awards for her work.

Originally a scientist by training, Megan received degrees in molecular and cell biology (B.S. 2017) and biotechnology (M.S., 2019) from the University of Texas at Dallas. Megan found her way into journalism by chance, during a year-long research collaboration in Cape Town, South Africa in 2016. When she was unable to continue lab work there due to strikes, she began investigating the ongoing, nationwide student protests.  She studied journalism at Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and at the University of North Texas’ Mayborn School of Journalism. She grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, but considers Texas a second home.

Interests:

Investigative/watchdog reporting
Data Journalism
Audio production

Memberships:

Society of Professional Journalists
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Education Writers Association
Asian American Journalists Association
National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association