Professional bio: Gretchen Uhrinek (she/her) lives in the woods north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds a BA in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh and an MA in biology from Miami University, where her work focused on Appalachian community science and conservation in the wake of mining. A two-time Chautauqua Writers' Festival fellow and graduate of The Open Notebook's 2026 Sharon Dunwoody Science Journalism Mentoring Program cohort, Gretchen writes and edits across genres, with work appearing in Folklore Review, Rat Bag Lit, Red Canary Magazine, Northern Woodlands Magazine, and elsewhere. 

Fun bio: I'm a reader, a writer, a nature nerd, a DIY fiend. A person who likes to celebrate sustainability and community all in one breath. I like going up (rock climbing) and down (caving, scuba), and most of my vacations involve sleeping on the ground. My favorite books are the ones that feel like a loosely connected series of short stories (plus The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and anything Terry Pratchett). I'm basically awful at corporate speak, but I can bake a few types of bread from memory and make tofu with the best of 'em, which ought to count for something. I write articles on engineering and ecology, personal essays that always come back to childhood, and character-driven stories with plenty of critters and jokes in between. I live in the woods north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, use em dashes without AI, and believe in the power of the Oxford comma.

I graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and a Minor in Sociology. 

I earned my Master of Arts in Biology from Miami University. 

I was honored with an invitation to participate in The Open Notebook's Sharon Dunwoody Science Journalism Mentoring Program, where I learned alongside a cohort of 15 other journalists covering science around the world. 

I also have an open water scuba certification (NAUI) and a grant proposal writing certification (Fort Hays State University)—you'll never guess which one is more fun.

I have three years of experience as the primary writer and only editor for two engineering society magazines, publishing 16 issues each year.

Before that, I spent over five years as a copyeditor.

Right out of undergrad, I spent about one year qualifying and editing artwork for branded materials using Adobe Creative Suite.

I was a freelance writer and editor for two years during undergrad. I also made smoothies, worked retail, digitized historical microfiche, and wrote commercial radio scripts, among other odd jobs; I never had fewer than two part-time jobs when I was a full-time student.

My first job was putting together pizza boxes for my friend's mom's restaurant when I was eleven. She paid us in ginger ale. It was a good gig.

I am the founder and co-captain of Sustainability Club, a rock-climbing club dedicated to environmental stewardship and community engagement. 

The Hopper—an environmental literary magazine—trusts my judgement as a fiction editor. 

I currently serve as a grant reviewer for the EPA's Great Lakes Restoration Community Grant Program, managed by Restore America's Estuaries.

I helped launch and previously served as the co-director for Veterans Write, a non-profit that brings free writing workshops to veterans.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, I sold homemade soap and candles on Etsy and donated proceeds to the Last Prisoner Project.

As an undergraduate student, I walked and bathed dogs at Heal Animal Rescue (previously Animal Friends of Westmoreland) every Sunday for a year.

Here is a link to my graduate portfolio. My work focused on Appalachian environmental stewardship, conservation, and community science in the wake of mining.

Here is my LinkedIn profile. I think LinkedIn is generally Bad but recognize that it's important to live in the modern era (even if the modern era is also generally Bad).

Here is my resume.  It's a resume.

And finally, here is a Google Drive folder containing pictures of my dog, Sunny. This is the most important link of them all.