A Reporter Who Sees Meaning in the Stars

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Katrina Miller was in her final year of a seven-year Ph.D. program in physics when she thought journalism might be written in the stars for her.

When she began her degree, she thought she might become a researcher or even a tenured professor one day, like many graduates of her program at the University of Chicago.

“Somewhere along the way, I think I realized that I really loved learning, talking about and engaging with physics more than I did being on the front lines of research,” she said in an interview. “In the grunt work of it all, I was finding it hard to stay excited.”

While pursuing her Ph.D., she contributed to Wired Magazine and the University of Chicago’s website, covering physics. She developed a passion for reporting, and in 2022 she looked into the New York Times fellowship program for early-career journalists. On a whim, she assembled clips of her articles, wrote a cover letter and submitted an application.

She was accepted into the program about a month later, much to her surprise. As a fellow on the Science desk, Dr. Miller covered various topics, including the total solar eclipse across North America in April, China’s journey to the far side of the moon and a plastic with shape-shifting abilities.

After completing the yearlong fellowship, she joined The Times in June as a full-time reporter. Her beat is expansive, literally — it includes physical sciences, like the cosmos, space exploration and physics.