John McQuaid

John McQuaid is a journalist and author. At The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), he was lead reporter on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series about global fisheries collapses and co-lead on a series that anticipated the city’s near-demise by Hurricane Katrina. 

He has written on science and the environment for publications including Smithsonian Magazine and Scientific American, and in 2020-21 was a Wilson Center fellow studying AI and facial recognition technologies. He is the co-author of "Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms" and the author of "Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat," on the biology and history of flavor. At Merrill College, he is studying the rapid emergence of generative AI technologies and their implications for news media and democracy.

Areas of Interest

• Artificial intelligence, media and society
• Science and technology, and the media
• Climate change, environmental and science communication
• Science policy

Education

• B.A. (English), Yale University

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