I’m the science & environment reporter at St. Louis Public Radio, a NPR affiliate. I also produce and host live storytelling shows for The Story Collider podcast. Check out upcoming show dates and hear stories from past St. Louis shows here.

Here are a few things I’ve done in my career. I showed New Yorkers that robots can do extraordinary things like play soccer, swim like fish to save aquatic wildlife, and perform surgery.  I slept on the floor and broadcasted the latest weather reports at a small radio station in Delaware for two nights while a winter Nor’easter pounded the Mid-Atlantic coast. I’ve shared some of the most intimate details of my love life on stage for a science storytelling show.

As you can tell, I have interviewed many bees.

There is no limit to what I will discuss with people, whether it’s about recording mating songs of female lab mice, the art of launching giant balloons to get a glimpse of black holes, and the fine craft of freezing animal semen. I am also working on stories that feature more scientists who are young, female and/or of color.

Start a conversation with me: @StoriesByEli.

For pitches/tips: echen [at] stlpublicradio.org.
To pitch a personal science story for the St. Louis Story Collider shows: stories [at] storycollider.org.
(Please mention that you are pitching to the St. Louis shows specifically.)

I also lead a life beyond reporting. I instagram it when I can.
Sometimes I accidentally participate in random social experiments, like this one.