Monica Shaw


Cell/mobile: +44 (0)78 5804 6739
monica.shaw@gmail.com
http://www.monicashaw.com

Science-savvy freelance writer who combines the research skills of a mathematician with the customer-savvy of a business professional. Turns complex information into clean, readable prose designed to educate and entertain the reader. Specializes in health, fitness, travel and food with complimentary skills in photography and a penchant for investigative journalism.

Qualifications

Writing: Professional writer with over five years experience in newspaper, online and business writing with credits including The Daily Telegraph and smarterfitter.com

Instructional Writing: Developer, writer and designer of e-learning material for various clients including Whole Foods Market, Minitab Incorporated, and MIT’s Sloan Business School

Business and Technical Writing: Primary author of technical documentation, business reports and presentations for Royal Bank of Scotland, Imparta Limited and Enspire Learning

Academic Writing: Primary researcher and author of academic thesis in computational biology; researcher and co-author of astronomy paper presented at the 194th meeting of the American Astronomical Society

Internet and Desktop Publishing: Webmaster of smarterfitter.com; Web skills in HTML, CSS, Java and Javascript; fluent in MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint; page layout with QuarkXPress and Adobe Illustrator

Publications

  • Numerous health and fitness articles. smarterfitter.com. Dec 2007 - Present
  • Research reports and user documentation on various topics in credit risk and regulatory capital. Royal Bank of Scotland. Jan 2007 – April 2008
  • Why runners are on a high. The Daily Telegraph. April 2008
  • Five Good Reasons to Quit the Gym. Cranky Fitness. April 2008
  • Restaurant Review: Chai Pani. spacekadet.org. March 2008
  • Minitab Quality Trainer. Minitab, Inc.. May 2006
  • Dietary Supplements and the Law. Whole Foods Market. June 2005
  • A Monte Carlo Algorithm for Closed Polymer Chains. University of Texas at Austin. May 2003
  • When a B[e] Supergiant Meets Two B Dwarfs. American Astronomical Society. May 1999

    • Work History

    Freelance Writer and Entrepreneur
    April 2008 — Present

    Freelance writer of newspaper articles, business reports, instructional material, and web content; primary author and webmaster of smarterfitter.com, a popular health and fitness blog; co-wrote and developed WritersResidence.com, an online portfolio manager for writers. I also write social media reports about major international brands for Market Sentinel.

    Risk Modeler, Royal Bank of Scotland
    January 2007 — April 2008

    Independently researched and reported various statistical models used by the Corporate Markets Credit Risk Department; produced technical documentation and user guides to explain credit rating models to members across the business

    Technical Writer, Imparta Ltd
    September 2006 — November 2006

    Designed, developed and delivered a developer's manual for Imparta's development platform for e-learning applications

    Content Developer, Enspire Learning
    March 2005 — May 2006

    Lead writer of an online statistics course for Minitab Inc; co-developed and facilitated a leadership training program to students at MIT’s Sloan business school and executives at Pitney Bowes; served as primary author of Whole Foods Market’s first e-learning training course

    Software Quality Assurance Engineer, FTSE UK
    October 2004 — January 2005

    Designed, executed and documented software tests to ensure a smooth and on-schedule transition to the “Industry Classification Benchmark System”, a merger of the Dow Jones and FTSE stock market index systems

    Marketing Intern, Uship.com
    May 2004 — August 2004

    Completed independent market research projects to discover new markets that aided the ongoing profitability of the start-up company; reported results in written documents and presentations

    Graduate Research Assistant, University of Texas Mathematics Department
    June 2002 — August 2004

    One of seven individuals selected for UT’s VIGRE (Vertical InteGration of Research and Education) Scholarship; used statistics to research and answer questions in computational biology, the results of which contributed to the successful completion of my Master’s Thesis

    Lead Research Assistant, University of Georgia Mathematics Department
    May 2003 — August 2003

    Led a team of undergraduate researchers in a mathematical programming project to study open problems in computational geometry

    Mathematics Teaching Assistant, University of Texas Mathematics Department
    August 2002 — May 2004

    Led weekly tutorials on various maths topics for undergraduates

    Software QA Tester, Wolfram Research
    May 1999 — August 2001

    Performed software tests and wrote reports to explain the cause and effect of bugs I found

    Teaching and Lab Assistant, University of Illinois
    September 1998 — May 2000

    Led computer-assisted tutorials for undergraduate calculus courses

    Layout Assistant, The Daily Illini
    September 1997 — September 1998

    Used QuarkXPress to layout classifieds section of UIUC’s student newspaper; maintained a portion of the newspaper’s website

    Education

    Master of Science in Computational and Applied Mathematics
    University of Texas at Austin , May 2003

    Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , May 2001

    Memberships

    National Union of Journalists, June 2008 - Present