Kate Zernike

Zernike was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the daughter of Barbara (née Backus) and Frits Zernike Jr.[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/fashion/weddings/kate-zernike-and-jonathan-schwartz.html New York Times Weddings: Kate Zernike and Jonathan Schwartz"] September 25, 2005[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hartfordcourant/obituary.aspx?pid=152627978 Hartford Courant: "Obituary ZERNIKE, Frits"] July 18, 2011 Her father was a physicist who emigrated from Groningen, the Netherlands in 1956; and her mother owned the St. Clair Ice Cream Company in South Norwalk, Connecticut. Her paternal grandfather, Frits Zernike, was a Dutch physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953. She has two brothers, Frits Zernike III and Harry Zernike.

Zernike is a graduate of Trinity College{{Cite web |title=Kate Zernike '90: Breaking the Big Story – Trinity Magazine |url=https://magazine.trinity.utoronto.ca/kate-zernike-breaking-the-big-story/ |access-date=2023-12-19 |language=en-CA}} at University of Toronto, where she obtained her B.A. in history and English in 1990. She later graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, receiving a master's in journalism in 1992.{{cite web|url=http://bipartisanpolicy.org/kate-zernike |title=Kate Zernike |website=Bipartisan Policy Center |access-date=15 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029234927/http://bipartisanpolicy.org/kate-zernike |archive-date=October 29, 2014 |url-status=dead }}

Zernike began her career in journalism at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Massachusetts, where she worked from 1992 to 1995. She then worked as a reporter at The Boston Globe from 1995 to 2000, where she was responsible for covering education and special projects.{{cite web | author = Zernike, Kate | date = December 14, 2016 | title = Authors: Kate Zernike | work = Macmillan.com | url = http://us.macmillan.com/author/katezernike | access-date=December 14, 2016 | quote = [Quote—Entirety of source content:] Kate Zernike is a national correspondent for The New York Times and was a member of the team that shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. She is author of the book Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She lives with her family outside New York City. }}

Zernike became a national correspondent for The New York Times in April 2000,{{Cite web |title=Kate Zernike |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kate-Zernike/162659062 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241209070429/https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kate-Zernike/162659062 |archive-date=2024-12-09 |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Simon & Schuster |language=en}} where she covers education, criminal justice, Congress, and national elections.{{Cite web |title=Kate Zernike |url=https://eagleton.rutgers.edu/staff/kate-zernike/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Eagleton Institute of Politics |language=en-US}}

She has also taught as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Zernike was a member of the New York Times team which shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting,{{Cite news|url=http://us.macmillan.com/author/katezernike/|title=Kate Zernike {{!}} Authors {{!}} Macmillan|newspaper=US Macmillan|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-13}} which was for reporting on global terrorism and its networks.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2002|title=2002 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists|last=|first=|date=|website=Pulitzer Prize|publisher=|access-date=2017-01-12}}

She also won the Education Writers Association prize for news feature reporting in 2000, and the Benjamin Fine Award in 1995.{{Cite web |title=Kate Zernike Keynote - William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy {{!}} Stockton University |url=https://stockton.edu/hughes-center/events/events-kate-zernike-2014.html |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=stockton.edu}}

• Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America, New York:Times Books ({{ISBN|9780805093483}}
• {{cite book |title=The Exceptions: Sixteen Women, MIT, and the Fight for Equality in Science |date=27 April 2023 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-3985-2000-4 |language=en}}{{cite journal|doi=10.1126/science.adf4923|title=The exceptional women of MIT (book review)|last=Wadman|first=Meredith|journal=Science|volume=379|issue=6634|date=February 23, 2023}}

In 2005, she married Dr. Jonathan D. Schwartz in a ceremony presided over by a leader from the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Zernike lives in Montclair, NJ with her family. She has two sons with her husband.

{{reflist}}

• [https://katezernike.com/ Her website]
• [http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/z/kate_zernike/index.html Articles at The New York Times]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/ask_reporters/Kate_Zernike.html Autobiographical sketch for students at The New York Times]

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Category:Living people

Category:The New York Times journalists

Category:The Boston Globe people

Category:Writers from Connecticut

Category:University of Toronto alumni

Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni

Category:American people of Dutch descent

Category:1968 births