Kenneth Chang is a science reporter for the New York Times, covering chemistry, geology, solid state physics, nanotechnology, Pluto, plague, and other scientific miscellany. He should have received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois but instead left after seven years to attend the science writing program at University of California at Santa Cruz. He worked at the Los Angeles Times, the Greenwich Times in Connecticut, the Newark Star-Ledger and ABCNEWS.com prior to joining the New York Times in 2000. He also designed the Web site for the "Studmuffins of Science" calendar for his friend Karen Hopkin.