Listed below the form are the teams of NU Sci that you can get involved in. If any of them sound interesting to you, please fill out this form and the leader(s) of the corresponding team(s) will get back to you!
Writing
Our team of over 50 writers cover all things science, from new breakthroughs to science happening at Northeastern to the latest stories about the institutions and people that practice science to opinion pieces grounded in scientific research.
We publish two print issues a semester, but writers are welcome to contribute as much or as little as they like. There’s no requirement to write for every issue, and writers are welcome to pitch article ideas for our website at any time. For print issues, writers typically have a week and a half to complete a first draft and another week and a half to work with their editor to perfect the article.
Article pitch meetings are typically held at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays toward the beginning of each semester. Writers have the option to pitch in person or sign up remotely. Any Northeastern student can pitch ideas through our pitch page, nuscimag.com/pitch.
Design
The design team, led by our two heads of design, brings the articles of NU Sci to life. We primarily use Adobe InDesign to format articles for our print issues, which often include vibrant images, abstract design motifs, pull quotes, and more! We welcome designers of all levels, and usually host design workshops once a semester to go over the basics of InDesign and the NU Sci style guide.
After article rough drafts have been submitted by NU Sci authors, the Heads of Design will send out a design interest form, where you can sign up for however many pages you feel comfortable designing for the specified issue. Usually, new designers sign up for one page; designers who have been working with NU Sci for longer have signed up for as many as 5, though!
For past examples of our work, just pick up any NU Sci issue in Curry Crossroads and outside of our office at Curry 232 or visit the online PDF versions of the print magazine, available on ISSUU.
Photography
The NU Sci photography team organizes and provides all photography content for magazine covers, articles, headers, social media and events. As a science journalism club, our published work often focuses on natural, architectural or abstract themes. Any styles and genres you prefer shooting that invoke your assigned topic and connect to science are welcome!
Starting fall 2023, the photo team is restructuring to accommodate more skill and time commitment levels and emphasize greater university interaction and learning in the field. The team is subdivided into staff and contributor teams. The complete team meets together at article assignments and breaks into respective sub-team meetings (team responsibilities, expectations and meeting times listed below). Regular teaching workshops, photography trips, speaker events and contests are held for both the photography team and the general university throughout, come to pick up new skills and invite others!
Web
The web team ensures that NU Sci‘s work is available to everyone online. In addition to getting print content onto the website and pdf versions of the print magazine onto ISSUU, we find and engineer new features to expand functionality and design the website to appeal to its visitors.
We typically hold a training on using the website after the first NU Sci meeting of the semester, followed by optional twice per week meetings for web team members to collaborate and improve the website together. Although we currently use WordPress for our current site, we plan to build a new website from scratch for Fall 2023. We hope this will enable our team to better mimic a professional web development team, gain more customizability, and broaden our ability to meet the needs of NU Sci and its teams.
No prior web development or coding experience is necessary to join! We emphasize teaching and learning from one another in hopes that you’ll gain skills you can take with you to classes, co-op, and beyond your time at Northeastern.
Social Media
The social media team creates fun, interactive, and digestible content that is published across various NU Sci social media platforms in order to showcase club events and the talent of our fellow members! We work with a variety of photo editing, video editing, and graphic design applications to advertise our club to over 1,000 total followers.
We regularly post content each week to highlight the original, creative works of the Writing and Photography team. We are also responsible for designing promotional materials such as stickers and posters.
We welcome any and all skill levels!
Outreach
The outreach team focuses on planning events and tabling to promote community within the club, working on magazine distribution, and reaching out to departments to increase diversity within membership. We work closely with the marketing team as well to highlight these opportunities for engagement.
We host tabling for each new issue and host occasional launch events to highlight the club’s diligent work throughout the semester. In lieu of these responsibilities, we often are tasked with distributing magazines throughout campus to increase the accessibility of comprehensive science communication.
We welcome anyone with a passion for any of these responsibilities and even any new ones of interest!