First Light Creators & Guests

Pam Belluck is a journalist and author who writes about health and medical subjects, including issues related to the brain, mental health, and reproductive health. She is currently a staff writer for The New York Times.Belluck's first book, "Island Practice," was published in 2012.Before becoming a science and health reporter, Belluck was the NY Times national bureau chief, leading the paper's Midwest and New England bureaus. She also contributes to multimedia, video, and podcast projects for The New York Times. Belluck began at The Times as the Queens bureau chief and was briefly a metropolitan education reporter. Before joining the Times, she was a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She was also a freelance writer for The San Francisco Chronicle, where she was Southeast Asia correspondent, based in Manila and reporting from China, Burma, Thailand, South Korea, and Hong Kong.Belluck received her degree in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International affairs at Princeton University with a minor in East Asian studies.

Bryan D. Bender is a journalist. Currently, he reports on the Pentagon, NASA, and the defense and aerospace industries as a senior national correspondent for POLITICO, where also writes the Morning Defense newsletter and edits POLITICO Space. He also writes about terrorism, the international arms trade, and government secrecy. Previously, Bender covered the Pentagon for The Boston Globe and Jane’s Defence Weekly. Bender's work has appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Jane's Defence Weekly, and he is a frequent television and radio commentator on national security and foreign policy topics. His first book, "You Are Not Forgotten," was published in 2013.

Sarah E. Needleman is a reporter who writes about interactive entertainment and social media for The Wall Street Journal. Her coverage centers on Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and other big videogame publishers, as well as social-media companies such as Twitter, Reddit and Pinterest.Needleman joined the Wall Street Journal in 2001 and was covering small business and careers. She also wrote the monthly column "Accidental Entrepreneur." Before that, she was a feature writer and paginator for the Home News & Tribune and the Princeton Packet.Needleman received her B.A. in Journalism from Rutgers University.

Dr. Robin George Andrews is an volcanologist and science journalist and photographer.Dr. Andrews's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Geographic, Scientific American, Quanta Magazine, Vox, Nature, Science Magazine, Earther, Gizmodo, Forbes, The Verge, Atlas Obscura, New Scientist, Supercluster, Discover Magazine, WIRED, CNN, the Guardian, the Observer, The Times, and The Daily Beast. He has appeared on BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera, and Good Morning America.Dr. Andrews's first book, "Super Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyond," was published in 2021.Dr. Andrews was the 2022 recipient of the European Geosciences Union's Angela Croome Award for continued, excellent and successful reporting of Earth, space & planetary science topics.Dr. Andrews received M.Sci. in Geology from Imperial College London.

Meridith McGraw is a politics journalist. Currently, she is a national political correspondent for Politico. Before that, she was a White House reporter for ABC News. She regularly appears on programs on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and NBC News.

Eva Ruth Moravec is a journalist and producer. Currently, she is an Executive Producer at City Cast. She is also a Cofounder and Executive Director of the Texas Justice Initiative.Previously, Moravec was an associate producer of narrative podcasts for NBC News.

Julie Wernau is a journalist. Currently, she is a health and science reporter at The Wall Street Journal. She has also reported on food and restaurants for WSJ, and was their consumer reporter in China before she was expelled by the Chinese government.Before joining the WSJ, Wernau was a business reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where she covered energy and green technology.

Davis Winkie is a journalist. Currently, he covers the U.S. Army for the Military Times. Winkie received his B.A. in History and Classics from Vanderbilt University and his M.A. in Military and U.S. History from of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.