Mariette DiChristina

Mariette DiChristina is the dean of the College of Communication at Boston University and an internationally recognized science journalist.

Before arriving in 2019, DiChristina was the editor-in-chief and executive vice president of Scientific American, as well as executive vice president, magazines, of the magazine’s publisher, Springer Nature. The first woman to head Scientific American since its founding in 1845, she led the editorial team to honors including the coveted National Magazine Award for General Excellence. In her Springer Nature role, she oversaw an editorial and publishing staff of more than 160 people across 10 countries.

Previously, DiChristina served as president of the National Association of Science Writers and as executive editor of Popular Science, where she was named Editor of the Year by the magazine’s publisher, Times Mirror Magazines. She also served as a part-time adjunct associate professor and visiting scholar in the graduate Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism and a science writer in residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Boston University recognized her work in 2016 with a Distinguished Alumni Award.

Beyond her role as dean, DiChristina chairs the Steering Group for the “Top 10 Emerging Technologies” for the World Economic Forum and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a committee member of Climate Crossroads and of the Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication for the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and is on the board of WBUR and of Society for Science, publisher of Science News. She has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advocating for federal funding of basic scientific research.