About Lee Hotz
Robert Lee Hotz is the science columnist at the Wall Street Journal where he reports on the universe of science and its impact on society. In his column – Science Journal – he ranges broadly across the new research horizon, from climate change, cosmology and molecular medicine, to evolution, neuroeconomics and new insights into the human brain.
Mr. Hotz was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1986 for his coverage of genetic engineering issues, which explored the legal, moral and social impacts of biotechnology, and again in 2004 for his coverage of the space shuttle Columbia accident. Mr. Hotz shared in The Los Angeles Times’ 1995 Pulitzer Prize for articles about the Northridge Earthquake.He has received many other honors, including national awards from The Society of Professional Journalists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Geophysical Union.
He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; an honorary life member of Sigma Xi, The Research Society; and is president of the National Association of Science Writers. He is a director of the Alicia Patterson Foundation, which funds independent journalism projects around the world, and a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.
He is the author of Designs on Life, Exploring the New Frontiers of Human Fertility, and a contributor to several books on research issues. He has traveled three times to the South Pole and twice to the Greenland ice cap north of the Arctic Circle, under the auspices of the National Science Foundation.
Before joining The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Hotz was a longtime science writer at the Los Angeles Times. He has also worked as a reporter and editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Pittsburgh Press and The News-Virginian.
Mr. Hotz received his B.A. in English, magna cum laude, and M.A. in Theater History from Tufts University. He lives with his wife, Jennifer Arlen, and two sons in New York and Santa Monica.