Buzzin’ Brood Student Spotlight: Coraline Karim, Content Writing Intern, BioBuzz 

Cora Karim is a content writing intern at BioBuzz and a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University’s Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, where she is pursuing a Master’s in Writing and Fiction. With an expected graduation date in May 2026, she plans to incorporate her professional writing within the environmental and life science fields while continuing her creative novel writing for as long as her fingers allow.

September 20, 2024

This article is part of our Buzzin’ Brood Student Spotlight series, one of our ongoing People & Places Features. We are thrilled to spotlight the next generation of industry. Be sure to FOLLOW us on LinkedIn to tell us what you think and let us know if you have a student or intern you’d like us to feature.

How did you get here?

I could write an entire novel about what led me to this point in my life, but I’ll keep it relatively short and sweet. I first became inspired by life sciences—specifically environmental science—during my sophomore year of high school in the wallowing city of Seminole, FL. I’ve lived in Florida my entire life, and for most of my childhood, I lacked drive until I took AP Environmental Science with the jovial Mrs. Kindinger. She taught me about the vastness of our world and the natural, living science surrounding our planet. Gradually, I began pursuing something far more important than myself: everybody.

The written word holds great power over us all. Ironically, I began my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Florida, but I craved something less technical and more creatively ambiguous. Ultimately, it was a positively selfish venture of self-discovery that led me down a winding, fragmented cobblestone road to a love for sociopolitical, cyber-dystopian, climate-disastrous speculative writing—also known as a BA in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing. My current workshop professor at JHU calls me the “Body Horror Writer” of our class—and that’s a compliment. Curiosity led me to my MA in Writing at Johns Hopkins. After graduating, I plan to pursue a secondary BA in Environmental Engineering at JHU to enhance both my creative writing and professional career. What better way to learn and grow than to immerse yourself in what you love, right?

That being said, I’ll be moving to Baltimore, MD, in 2025 to find a forever home, continue my studies, and flesh out my career. I also love cycling on my yellow-and-pink Surly bicycle with biking groups and friends, and I kick box and spar several times a week. I volunteer with Equality FL, an LGBTQ+ non-profit initiative, and I engage in homelessness activism to provide resources for the homeless in my community during these hot and grueling Florida months.

To add a grandiose finish, I am employed full-time at a criminal defense law firm that handles high-profile murder, human and sex trafficking, and white-collar cases. I draft a lot of paperwork and court material, including reviewing case discoveries that reveal many grueling and grotesque details. There’s a strong possibility this is why I’m the “Body Horror Writer” of my class.

Happy to meet you, reader!

What is currently blowing your mind right now?

From classes to research projects and internships to the industry and just about anything in between, be authentic and focus on what’s driving and exciting you right now. Feel free to focus on a handful of things in depth or bullet in listicle form.

Many things concern me, but mainly the fatal impact of heat on our planet. This is why educating our communities on all sciences is so important; as innovators, writers, scientists, and consumers, we have a responsibility to relish in our findings, no matter their relevance to our lives. Heat, climate change, global warming—these are the Earth’s bodily responses to our lack of togetherness and awareness of our impact on each other and the planet.

The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell is a great read. He consolidates heat as a plot point surrounded by many themes of life, natural sciences, and human culpability. I highly recommend it, regardless of one’s demographic.

If you could explain yourself right now in only emojis, what would those be?

If you could travel in to the future… what does your LinkedIn Headline say?

“Cora Karim | Environmental Engineer, Pulitzer Prize Winner, and Critically Acclaimed Novelist”

Aside from what I’ve said, I would love to get to know more people in the STEM and life sciences field. I have a weird obsession in environmental science, so much that I incorporate a lot of it into my creative writing. The internship at BioBuzz as a content writer is just the first step of many, I believe. The natural world is constantly evolving, and I wish to be a part of its positive innovation.

What is your favorite quote and why?

“Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof.”

― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta was my older brother’s favorite movie—and mine too. The layered subtext of this quote inspires me to write, for myself, for my brother, and others. He passed before I could share my dream of writing and my love of science with him, but I hold onto this quote in every moment I write.