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The Edward J. Sylvester Memorial Scholarship in Science Writing in memory of Edward J. Sylvester, an award-winning journalist who taught at Arizona State University for more than 30 years. The scholarship provides essential support to students interested in science journalism.

Sylvester joined ASU in 1980 in what was then the Department of Mass Communication and later became the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He played an integral role in the school’s development, leading the charge in science journalism education and teaching a wide variety of news reporting and editing courses.

Sylvester’s achievements included leading the school’s partnership with the Mayo Clinic, mentoring medical school students pursuing master’s degrees at Cronkite.

Prior to joining ASU, Sylvester was a reporter and editor for more than a decade at newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Arizona Daily Star. He secured numerous journalism honors, including a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing in 1977 for an Arizona Daily Star story on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

Sylvester was the author of five books on medical research and biosecurity, as well as numerous academic journal articles. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction in 1983 for “The Gene Age” and in 1986 for “Target: Cancer.”

Sylvester served in the U.S. Army as an information specialist for the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, Germany from 1965-1967. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1965 from Princeton University and a master’s degree in 1974 from the City College of New York, where he was a member of Joseph Heller’s famed fiction workshop.