{"id":5128,"date":"2019-04-08T13:09:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T17:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metcalfinstitute.org\/?p=5128"},"modified":"2025-09-02T12:49:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:49:42","slug":"spotlight-andyuhler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/spotlight-andyuhler\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Uhler"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong>Journalist Andy Uhler is knee deep in the Mexico\/U.S border wall dispute. An alumnus of Metcalf Institute\u2019s 2016 Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists<\/a> and reporter for American Public Media\u2019s Marketplace<\/a>, Uhler has been looking at the proposed wall from all angles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving an understanding of what\u2019s actually happening for the people there is the biggest hurdle for me,\u201d says Uhler, who grew up in Texas, not far from the Mexico border. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize how little I understood the economics of the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uhler\u2019s \u201cBorder Life\u201d series has explored everything from the free flow of commerce across the border, the housing market and employment to the potential environmental impact of the wall.<\/p>\n

One story in particular, Border Life: Butterflies vs. walls along the Rio Grande<\/a>, gave Uhler an opportunity to utilize his Metcalf training to help him better explain the science behind the some of the border-wall issues. \u201cThis is one of the most unique and pristine ecological reserves in North America that happens to be located on the Mexican border,\u201d explains Uhler.<\/p>\n

The piece explores the effect of the proposed wall on the National Butterfly Center, an outdoor conservatory near the Rio Grande where more than 200 species of butterflies have been observed along with 500 different types of birds, some of which are listed as endangered species. In the story, Uhler explains how a permanent barrier would not only cut off 70 acres of the center for staff and guests, but it could also impact the Rio Grande valley ecosystem and eradicate an enormous area of native habitat, including host plants for butterflies. \u201cThe staff gave us a lot of science on why it\u2019s not just a border wall,\u201d says Uhler. \u201cMetcalf\u2019s science immersion workshop gave me the ability to ask the right questions and dig deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uhler holds a B.A. in English and humanities from the University of Texas and a Master\u2019s degree in global policy studies, specializing in energy and environmental policy, from the university\u2019s LBJ School of Public Affairs.<\/p>\n

His career path veered towards journalism after Uhler, an undergrad at the time, heard a story on KUT, Austin\u2019s NPR station, that piqued his interest. He signed up to volunteer during the station\u2019s pledge drive. \u201cOne of the other volunteers at the radio station said KUT is starting a newsroom and \u2018I\u2019m going to introduce you to the news director.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten years later, Uhler landed a reporting job at Marketplace where he covers a wide range of issues including business, energy, agriculture, and most recently, immigration. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s honestly thinking about \u2018what really smart people am I going to get to talk to today, and who\u2019s going to tell me something I didn\u2019t know?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Uhler to realize he needed to strengthen his ability to cover environmental issues with greater accuracy and context. That\u2019s when a Metcalf alum encouraged him to apply for the annual workshop. \u201cMy editor was looking for anything that could help reporters better understand the science behind the things we were reporting on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uhler says one of the most valuable aspects of the workshop was the opportunity to interact with other reporters and scientists in an informal setting. \u201cWhat the program specifically taught me is that scientists are equally intimidated by journalists,\u201d says Uhler. In fact, he recently enrolled in a data journalism class at the University of Texas. \u201cI\u2019m trying to get better at taking raw data and thinking about numbers and data as a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Uhler ponders future career moves, there\u2019s one thing he\u2019s certain of: he\u2019s currently engaged in a labor of love. \u201cI just really, really like reporting.\u201d<\/p>\nRead More Alumni Profiles<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalist Andy Uhler, an alumnus of Metcalf’s 2016 Annual Science Immersion Workshop, is knee deep in the Mexico\/U.S border wall dispute. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2201,"featured_media":9643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[151,148,109,124,157,130,166,133,136,121,160,163,112,127,154,99],"class_list":["post-5128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","category-uncategorized","tag-alum","tag-american-media","tag-andy-uhler","tag-annual-science-immersion-workshop-for-journalists","tag-border-life","tag-business","tag-data-journalism","tag-energy","tag-environment","tag-immigration","tag-kut-radio","tag-lbj-school-of-public-affairs","tag-marketplace","tag-metcalf-institute","tag-national-butterfly-center","tag-university-of-texas"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5128"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13779,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions\/13779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}