Emily Kwong
Emily Kwong (she/her) is the reporter for NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. The podcast explores new discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines — all in about 10 minutes, Monday through Friday.
Prior to working at NPR, Kwong was a reporter and host at KCAW-Sitka, a community radio station in Sitka, Alaska. She covered local government and politics, culture and general assignments, chasing stories onto fishing boats and up volcanoes. Her work earned multiple awards from the Alaska Press Club and Alaska Broadcasters Association. Prior to that, Kwong produced youth media with WNYC's Radio Rookies and The Modern Story in Hyderabad, India.
Kwong won the "Best New Artist" award in 2013 from the Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition for a story about a Maine journalist learning to speak with an electrolarynx. She was the 2018 "Above the Fray" Fellow, reporting a series for NPR on climate change and internal migration in Mongolia.
Kwong earned her bachelor's degree at Columbia University in 2012. She learned the finer points of cutting tape at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in 2013.
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This season's final competition, originally scheduled for mid-March, had to be bumped up by two weeks. "The river was already melting," the town's mayor explained. -
The gulf coast of Alaska awakened early Tuesday morning to a tsunami warning. The warning was eventually downgraded, but not before many Alaskans evacuated their communities for higher ground.
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In Sitka, the local production of The Nutrcracker is uniquely Alaskan. Father Herring replaces Mother Ginger; the Mosquito Queen reigns instead of the Mouse King. -
A crew plans to leave Nome, Alaska Thursday and sail to the North Pole. The voyage may now be possible due to sea ice melt in the Arctic caused by climate change.
