Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Mr. Palca has covered a range of science topics – everything from biomedical research to astronomy. In addition to his science reporting, Mr. Palca is backup host for Talk of the Nation Science Friday. Mr. Palca began his journalism career in television in 1982, then spent seven years as a print journalist, first as Washington news editor for Nature and then as senior correspondent for Science. Mr. Palca has won numerous awards, including the National Academies Communications Award, the Science-in-Society Award of the National Association of Science Writers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Prize. Mr. Palca was president of the National Association of Science Writers from 1999-2000. He received his PhD in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz where he worked on human sleep physiology.