The editorial staff. Top row (from left): Rich Folkers, Mary Ellen Hackett, and Walter Hubert. Bottom row (from left): Samuel Lopez, Karolina Wilk, and Jonathan Summers.
Our introductions continue and conclude this week. These staff are the core editorial team—the writers, editors, and advisers who produce a variety of articles and oversee the administrative functions of Poster. Whether they’re in the office or working remotely, they’re available to cover the research, operations, events, and people of NCI at Frederick and Frederick National Laboratory. Read on to meet them.
If you missed it, there’s also a feature to introduce our contributing writers.
Rich Folkers
Senior Editor
Department: NCI Office of Communications and Public Liaison
What do you do at NCI at Frederick or Frederick National Laboratory, and what’s your favorite part of your job?
In addition to working with the Poster staff and editing materials for the NCI at Frederick, I write for several NCI groups
What led you to your career field?
I was a magazine journalist for over two decades. At a time when that industry faced a precarious future, I began looking for a chance to work for a cause. Like so many others, cancer had affected my family, and NCI became a great place to try to make a small personal difference.
What do you enjoy about working on Poster?
Watching the staff writers tell stories about scientists, their achievements, and their motivations is extremely gratifying.
What’s something you like to do off the clock?
My wife and I have five dogs, four of them rescues. They tend to fill up empty hours.
What’s a little-known fact about you?
I don’t like cats.
Mary Ellen Hackett
Editorial Adviser & Contributing Writer, Frederick National Laboratory
Department: FNL Public Affairs and Communications
What do you do at NCI at Frederick or Frederick National Laboratory, and what’s your favorite part of your job?
I lead the PACO team and I love brainstorming with my colleagues to come up with new ways to tell the Frederick National Laboratory story.
What led you to your career field?
In high school I watched a television show set in a newsroom and I was hooked. During my time as a journalist, I was drawn to news about health and science.
What do you enjoy about working on Poster?
I enjoy collaborating with FNL and NCI at Frederick colleagues.
What’s something you like to do off the clock?
I do fiber arts and am now learning to make mosaics.
What’s a little-known fact about you?
I flew with the Navy’s Blue Angels when I was a reporter in Brunswick, Maine.
Walter Hubert
Editorial Adviser
Department: NCI Office of Scientific Operations
What do you do at NCI at Frederick or Frederick National Laboratory, and what’s your favorite part of your job?
- I oversee several activities on the FFRDC contract, including the Scientific Library, SPGM, and Vehicle Fleet.
- I am part of OSO’s internship program as a Scientific Adviser.
- I have several additional responsibilities at OSO.
- Favorite part: We have to be flexible about assignments, responsibilities, and priorities. It is never boring.
What led you to your career field?
- To the job at NCI in Frederick: They were looking for a cancer researcher with Contracting Officer Representative experience. Such combinations of professional skills are uncommon, but I had them, as I was a professor earlier working on oncogenic human papillomaviruses and I gained contracting experience at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
- To the career field: A 1982 article in Time magazine about the rising stock of Genentech. I was in Germany, worked in electronics, and mostly had a working-class perspective on life. Interestingly, molecular biology had already well-developed curricula at universities in the U.S. by then, but not in Germany. As such, pursuing that career field meant that I could get out early from the German Navy, leave Germany, take my German GI Bill benefits towards my university studies in the U.S., and take on the future with engagement and confidence. My life changed dramatically.
What do you enjoy about working on Poster?
- It is a powerful community-building tool, and I work with wonderful professionals to accomplish that. Science alone is not enough for building a thriving scientific community.
What’s something you like to do off the clock?
- I like engineering challenges, which comes in handy when taking care of my property, cars, etc.
- I am also a rose gardener—as long as they are fragrant, reblooming, and pretty.
What’s a little-known fact about you?
- I am into vintage stereo/hi-fi gear and just got a 45-year-old Revox tape recorder. The reel-to-reel machine is a marvel of electromechanical engineering for sound—a real fusion of Swiss precision engineering and German manufacturing quality. It works great and has done so since way before we had CDs…
Samuel Lopez
Managing Editor & Staff Writer
Department: Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
What do you do at NCI at Frederick or Frederick National Laboratory, and what’s your favorite part of your job?
I’m a technical editor who serves as a staff writer and managing editor for Poster and a staff writer for SeroNews, Insite, and the Frederick National Laboratory website. I also edit scientific manuscripts and other written media, research our facility’s history, coach our collaborating interns, and help create writing skills training materials for fellow employees.
I most enjoy the job’s variety. Between having a front-row seat to riveting science and getting to meet dozens of outstanding researchers and staff, every week has been a new adventure.
What led you to your career field?
It was a happy accident. I wanted to be an English professor, and I had incredibly rewarding jobs as a college writing tutor both during and after undergraduate. As time passed, I decided not to pursue the graduate studies necessary for a professorship and started to look for opportunities outside of academia (much as I loved—and still love—working with students). Journalism always interested me, and my academic coworkers at the time encouraged me to expand my horizons. I saw the job listing with Frederick National Laboratory and decided to give it a shot. Everything worked out.
What do you enjoy about working on Poster?
I love that we get to tell the stories of our scientists and staff and bring them to life for a larger audience. Working with our outstanding editorial team, including the three brilliant interns writing for us this year, is a treat!
What’s something you like to do off the clock?
I’m a sucker for board games and video games with friends and family. I also enjoy lifting weights or doing calisthenics after work. It’s a great way to decompress and shift out of “work mode.”
What’s a little-known fact about you?
As I kid, I designed original board games and was determined to start my own game company.
Jonathan Summers
Editorial Adviser
Department: Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
What do you do at NCI at Frederick or Frederick National Laboratory, and what’s your favorite part of your job?
I manage SPGM. My favorite part of my work is the people. I am continually impressed by the level of commitment and knowledge my colleagues possess. I’m honored to be included among them.
What led you to your career field?
My career for the first 26 years at SPGM was as one of the photographers in the department. My interest in photography and the opportunity to work in my hometown made for a simple decision to accept the photography position right out of university almost 35 years ago. Currently, I manage the same department. I feel lucky that as my job as photographer was phased out; I was able to apply for the job of manager. The last eight years have been challenging but worth it all.
What do you enjoy about working on Poster?
The excellent writers that contribute to Poster make for an exciting and informative close-up of NCI at Frederick and its machinations. Being part of a group that provides such interesting content is very rewarding.
What’s something you like to do off the clock?
I collect and refurbish old electronics, mostly huge old home speakers, because nobody wants them anymore and they still are producing excellent sound after all these years. Currently, my main system runs most of those old speakers, six pairs ranging in age from the 1960s to the 90s, with some of these reaching over six feet high and weighing hundreds of pounds each. Also, over the last year during the pandemic I have become a bit of a PC gamer, playing such notable games as Dishonored, Sniper, and Alien Isolation. Yes, I am an adult, at least in age.
What’s a little-known fact about you?
My middle name is Culler, my mother’s maiden name and the name of the lake in Baker Park. I’m named after my great-great-great uncle Lloyd Culler, mayor of Frederick for 26 years.
Karolina Wilk
Editor & Staff Writer
Department: Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
What do you do at NCI at Frederick or Frederick National Laboratory, and what’s your favorite part of your job?
I’m a science communications and training specialist in Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media, where I write for NCI at Frederick and Frederick National Laboratory’s news outlets; manage the production of SPGM’s communications trainings; oversee the Annual Report; and edit scientific manuscripts, corporate documentation, and other writing.
My favorite part of my job is working with scientists to help communicate their work most effectively.
What led you to your career field?
I have a master’s in writing and have worked professionally as a copy editor. I also worked as a middle school English teacher and completed all coursework toward a graduate teaching certification. Ultimately, I changed my career back to writing and editing and did not complete my teaching internships (though I had been working provisionally as a teacher full time). My return to writing and editing introduced me to science writing and communications through a position at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. When I found the job at SPGM, which blends my writing and editing, science communications, and teaching background, and is in the town I call home, I knew it was a perfect fit.
What do you enjoy about working on Poster?
I enjoy learning about the interesting scientific advances happening at NCI at Frederick.
What’s something you like to do off the clock?
I love hiking with my dog and toddler, yoga, cooking, and writing poetry.
What’s a little-known fact about you?
I didn’t learn English until I went to kindergarten—I was born here but my family spoke only Polish at home.
A list of the editorial staff, along with their contact information, can be found on the Poster About page.