PITTSBURGH-Carnegie Mellon University's Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research (SEER) and the university's College of Engineering will host five journalists at a special media panel from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, in the Singleton Room of Roberts Hall.

The Media Boot Camp series is designed to help faculty and researchers better understand the needs of reporters covering science and the environment. The event is open to Carnegie Mellon faculty.

"The fall boot camp is a great opportunity for our faculty to interact with journalists and to help them better disseminate our research to the public," said Chris Hendrickson, head of Civil and Environmental Engineering and faculty director of SEER. "The series also gives the university campus an opportunity to hear what the news media is covering and thinking about."

Panel participants include Karen Dillon, environmental reporter for The Kansas City Star; Janet Raloff, editor at Science News; Karen Schaeffer, a reporter and producer with NPR affiliate WCPN of Cleveland, Ohio; Byron Spice, science editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; and Jennifer Yates, Associated Press Pittsburgh bureau chief. The journalists will discuss their reporting beats and then faculty will pitch research stories to the panel for discussion and review.

Deb Lange, executive director of the Steinbrenner Institute, said given SEER's role in promoting energy and environmental initiatives at Carnegie Mellon, it is critical that we understand how the media works and that our faculty develop a working relationship with local and national journalists.

A third Media Boot Camp event, featuring more environmental and science reporters, is scheduled for April 2006.

About the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research:Given the advantage of Carnegie Mellon University's well-established interdisciplinary culture and ongoing studies in energy and the environment, the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research promotes the university's core academic strengths and advances emerging interests to identify and create research and education opportunities for the university's faculty and students across all schools and majors. Alumnus and trustee W. Lowell Steinbrenner and his wife, Jan, donated $4 million in 2004 to create the institute, which is the first step in positioning Carnegie Mellon to change the way the world thinks and acts about the environment.