Writing Samples

As my grandmother often said, I was born a writer. I spent 10 years as a technical writer for a large financial-software developer and the past nine years writing content for news organizations. I’ve tried to share my passion and knowledge by teaching various writing courses since 2004. I was “The Go-To Editor” at UB for major proposals, grants, and accreditation reports. Now I continue my love for words by helping viewers understand what’s happening in the world around them.

I am a firm believer in logical organization, concise wording, and a simple—but elegant—prose style.

Case Brief

I wrote this case brief as an assignment for my Advanced Legal Analysis, Reading, and Writing course.
Client: Auburn University | The Center for Legal Studies
Tools: The Bluebook, Westlaw®, Word

Memorandum of Law

I wrote this memorandum as an assignment for my Advanced Legal Analysis, Reading, and Writing course.
Client: Auburn University | The Center for Legal Studies
Tools: The Bluebook, Westlaw®, Word

UB Tri-Fold Brochure

I designed and wrote the copy for this informational brochure. The brochure provided a quick glance of all the technology offered to the university’s students. Similar brochures were written to address the specific technology available to faculty and to staff. I worked directly with the printer to complete the project.
Client: University of Baltimore
Tools: Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop

Scouting Report: Alzheimer’s Overview

Over the past few decades, Alzheimer’s disease has evolved from a rare brain disorder to a major public-health crisis. Today, experts believe as many as five million Americans may have Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, there are millions of family members and other caregivers significantly affected by this disease. Our aging population makes Alzheimer’s disease an especially critical issue.
Client: The Pat Summitt™ Foundation
Tools: Acrobat, InDesign, Photoshop, Word

BioFlips: Healthcare for the Future

The development of microfluidic biochips (known as “BioFlips”) holds great potential for advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury. Biological microelectromechanical devices (BioMEMs), like other nanotechnologies, use microscopic chips to study and manipulate materials at an atomic or molecular level. The recent addition of microfluidic properties to these chips now allows researchers to collect, analyze, and control atomic quantities of liquid or gas directly on the microchip.
Client: self—academic white paper
Tools: Acrobat, Word

Recollector User Manual

I designed and created this documentation as the digital equivalent of the printed manuals (which I also wrote and designed).  I used simplistic HTML coding wherever possible to reduce the client’s future maintenance efforts.  Note: I’ve only included selective sections for illustration purposes.  The entire project contains more than 5,000 individual HTML pages.
Client: CheckFree Corporation
Tools: HTML, JavaScript, RoboHELP, Word

Healthcare for All

I co-wrote this article with one of my undergraduate students for The UB Post, the official campus newspaper of the University of Baltimore, to explain the Affordable Care Act to the UB community.
Client: The UB Post, reprinted with permission
Tools: Acrobat, Word

Academic Journal Article

I co-authored this article—“Equal Treatment under the Law: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Same-Sex Benefits Post-Windsor”—with one of my teaching colleagues for the prestigious Journal of Health and Human Services Administration. It was my first blind-refereed academic publication.
Publication: Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, LGBT Symposium issue (Fall 2014)
Tools: APA Publication Manual, Word