Frances Mack is a freelance multimedia journalist specializing in scientific and environmental reporting. She started her journey as a science communicator in high school at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, where she gave presentations to hundreds of visitors daily about the atomic makeup of glass. There, she uncovered a passion for service communication and sparking curiosity in others. She followed this passion in her undergraduate studies at Lehigh University. She graduated in May 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts in scientific and environmental journalism with minors in museum studies and earth and environmental science.

At Lehigh, she dedicated three years to research assessing the media coverage of antibiotic resistance after the onset of Covid-19. The project examined how news outlets balance covering multiple public health crises. Her group’s findings were presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in 2022, and were published in the American Journal of Undergraduate Research.

Also as an undergraduate, she created several award-winning documentaries. Her honors thesis, “Unraveling the Early Universe,” explored, on a small scale, the relationship between science and theology when it comes to the origins of the early universe.

She is currently pursuing Medill’s Master of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University.

In her first quarter at Northwestern, she wrote weekly articles for the environmental beat in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. She interviewed local experts and residents about issues including dune preservation along Lake Michigan, composting initiatives and heritage tree conservation.

Frances aims to create dynamic visual and written stories that highlight environmental issues and scientific breakthroughs in an accessible way. She works to translate complex topics, amplify underrepresented voices, and share the intricacies of the natural world to diverse audiences.