Kenneth Chiacchia is an American writer in the Fantasy and Science Fiction genre.

Biography

Chiacchia was born in Hackensack, NJ. He earned a PhD in biochemistry, at the Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1991. He has been published in four different genres: Science Fiction, Medical Writing, Search and Rescue Science, and Journalism. Ken began his career as a medical science writer at Harvard Medical School in 1993. Currently he is a medical science writer and editor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is an $9 billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 54,000 employees, 20 hospitals, 4,200 licensed beds, 400 outpatient sites and doctors’ offices, a 1.5 million-member health insurance division, as well as commercial and...

. Chiacchia is a member of both the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the National Association of Science Writers. He has been a news reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...

's North Hills section with over 50 published stories. Ken had a recent story that was the cover page article for the Pittsburgh City Paper

Pittsburgh City Paper

The Pittsburgh City Paper is Pittsburgh's leading alternative weekly newspaper which focuses on local news, opinion, and arts and entertainment...

.

He is also a dog handler in Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group, a Pittsburgh-based volunteer organization that assists authorities in civilian lost-person searches. His work has been noted in local newspapers. He has written on the science of olfaction

Olfaction

Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...

 for search and rescue

Search and rescue

Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

 workers. In 1993, Chiacchia joined the Pittsburgh Worldwrights Writers' Workshop founded by Pittsburgh science-fiction and fantasy writer Mary Soon Lee and continued by Pittsburgh author Barton Paul Levenson

Barton Paul Levenson

Barton Paul Levenson is an American Writer of science fiction, fantasy and the macabre. He is a long-standing member of one of Pittsburgh's oldest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Workshops, Carnegie-Mellon University-based Pittsburgh Worldwrights, which includes Pittsburgh science fiction...

 and others. Chiacchia won the 2008 Carnegie Science Center

Carnegie Science Center

The Carnegie Science Center, located in the Chateau neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, opened in 1991.With a history that dates to October 24, 1939, the Carnegie Science Center is the most visited museum in Pittsburgh...

Journalism Award.

Non-Fiction

• "Replanting Cranberry The Pittsburgh region's poster child for sprawl is putting down new roots." Pittsburgh City Paper, December 3, 2009 (Cover Page)
• ”In Search of Human Scent.”
• "Who Goes There? The Body's System for Generating Individual Scent" Advanced Rescue Technology, June/July 2004, pp. 45–50.
• ”Getting it right: Evaluating standards and practices for future training.”
• "8 Things Hackers Hate About You:"
• "Brain Waves," University of Chicago Magazine, Nov./Dec. 2007.
• "Insanity Defense," Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001.

Scholarly Articles

• Chiacchia KB. Quantitation of the class I disulfides of the insulin receptor. [Journal Article. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.] Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications. 176(3):1178-82, 1991 May 15. UI: 2039503
• Chiacchia KB. Reoxidation of the class I disulfides of the rat adipocyte insulin receptor is dependent upon the presence of insulin: the class I disulfide of the insulin receptor is extracellular. [In Vitro. Journal Article. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.] Biochemistry. 27(13):4894-902, 1988 Jun 28. UI: 3048393
• Chiacchia KB. Drickamer K. Direct evidence for the transmembrane orientation of the hepatic glycoprotein receptors. [Journal Article. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.] Journal of Biological Chemistry. 259(24):15440-6, 1984 Dec 25. UI: 6150936