Exclusive, Interactive, Informational Webinar on the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship

This event is free to attend, but advance registration is required. Please RSVP below.

The Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF), hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), is widely recognized as the premier opportunity for scientists (who have attained a PhD) and engineers (who have attained a Master of Engineering) to learn first-hand about policymaking and contribute their knowledge and analytical skills in the policy realm. Fellows serve yearlong assignments in the federal government and represent a broad range of backgrounds, disciplines, and career stages. Many of these Fellows then go on to serve in important and influential science and technology policy roles in academia, government, nonprofits, and industry.

AAAS, in partnership with the Initiative for Science & Society and Duke SciPol.org, is generously offering Duke students, postdocs, and faculty/staff an exclusive webinar opportunity to learn more about the Fellowship and to ask questions of former Fellows and AAAS staff. The webinar will be hosted by AAAS’s Jessica Soule, the Recruitment, Marketing & Alumni Engagement Director for the STPF. Panelists include:

• Dr. Judit Ungvári, 2018-2019 Fellow currently serving in the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Geosciences
• Dr. Michael Nestor, 2019-2020 Fellow who will be serving the US Department of Energy
• Dr. Lydia Olander, former Fellow who worked with Senator Joe Lieberman and current Director of the Ecosystem Services Program at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
• Tim Profeta, member of AAAS’s Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, and current Director of Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions

(full bios at bottom of page)

This webinar is intended for current Duke PhD students in a science discipline, Duke postdocs who have a PhD in a science discipline, Duke Master of Engineering students, or other people here at Duke with either a PhD or a Master of Engineering. But even if you’re not any of those people, you can nevertheless attend to learn more about the Fellowship program, especially if you think you may get a PhD or Master of Engineering one day.

You must register using the form below to attend. We encourage you to attend in person if possible; please have in mind questions to ask of our panelists! If you are not able to attend in person but would still like to attend the webinar, likewise complete the registration form below and we will send you the link to the webinar a few days before the event.

For further questions, please contact Andrew Pericak, Duke SciPol.org Managing Editor: andrew.pericak@duke.edu

RSVP

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Panelists

Jessica Soule (host):
Jessica Soule is Recruitment, Marketing & Alumni Engagement Director for the Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF). She serves as national outreach liaison responsible for disseminating information and raising awareness of both the STPF program and its fellows. She conceptualizes, plans and executes annual and multiyear integrated marketing plans and represents STPF at a variety of events and venues including conferences, universities and national labs. Prior to arriving at AAAS, she oversaw membership, events and programming for seven years at the National Council for Science and the Environment. Before that, she managed programming in a variety of environmental and scientific nonprofit organizations. Jessica holds an M.A. in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University, and a B.S. in biology from Boston College.

Dr. Judit Ungvári:
Dr. Judit Ungvári is an ecologist by training, with expertise in aspects of avian biology in tropical habitats. She studied birds in the Peruvian Amazon region combining both lab and field-based research and received her Ph.D. in Zoology with a certificate and concentration in Tropical Conservation and Development at the University of Florida in 2016. Judit then worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, addressing conservation issues in agroecosystems in Colombia. She has become involved in local capacity building and community outreach in the USA and Latin America and has mentored dozens of students to complete independent research projects. Her interests include increasing diversity and broadening participation in the sciences, sustainability science, science diplomacy, supporting open and reproducible research efforts, and communicating science to the public, especially in museum settings.

Dr. Michael Nestor:
Dr. Michael W. Nestor is a neurophysiologist with 15 years of experience focused on human stem cell brain organoids, high content screening/drug discovery, electrophysiology, and molecular genetics. Dr. Nestor has a strong policy interest in the bioethics of human gene editing particularly with respect to national security. Dr. Nestor was Director of Neural Stem Cell Research and Investigator at The Hussman Institute for Autism. He received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland, School of Medicine (UMSOM) and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the NIH and The New York Stem Cell Foundation, where he was also a Staff Scientist. Michael was a NIH IRACDA Fellow at Rutgers University and is a Venture Capital Consultant at the UMSOM Momentum Fund/Department of Technology Transfer.

Dr. Lydia Olander:
Dr. Lydia Olander directs the Ecosystem Services Program at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. She also serves on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board and the secretariat of The Bridge Collaborative. Prior to joining the Nicholas Institute, she spent a year as an AAAS Congressional Science and Technology Fellow working with Senator Joseph Lieberman on environmental and energy issues. Before that she was a researcher with the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Department of Global Ecology, where she studied the biogeochemical impacts of logging in the Brazilian Amazon and utilized remote sensing to extrapolate regional impacts. She received her PhD from Stanford University, where she studied nutrient cycling in tropical forests and earned a master’s degree in forest science from Yale University.

Tim Profeta:
Tim Profeta is the director of Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Profeta’s areas of expertise include climate change and energy policy, the Clean Air Act, and adaptive use of current environmental laws to address evolving environmental challenges. Prior to his arrival at Duke, Profeta served as counsel for the environment to Senator Joseph Lieberman. As Lieberman’s counsel, he was a principal architect of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act of 2003. In addition to his role at the Nicholas Institute, Profeta is a member of the Climate Action Reserve Board of Directors and is a member of The American Law Institute. Profeta also holds an appointment as an associate professor of the practice at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Profeta earned a J.D., magna cum laude, and a master’s in environmental management in resource ecology from Duke in 1997 and a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University in 1992.