The AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF) is the premier opportunity for outstanding scientists and engineers to learn first-hand about public policy while contributing valuable knowledge and analytical skills to address today’s most pressing societal challenges. STPF fosters a network of STEM leaders who understand government and policymaking. Fellows gain invaluable knowledge of and experience with processes and priorities that drive public policy as well as a holistic understanding of our nation’s scientific enterprise.
Join us on July 16 at 2 p.m. ET for the third of a six-part live chat series with fellows. Learn how fellows have been impacting science policy for 47 years. Get an insider’s look at the application and interview process. Learn about fellowship opportunities in all three branches of government: legislative, judicial and executive, and the unique 2020 placement opportunities: The Roger Revelle Fellowship in Global Stewardship.
View the full chat schedule here.
The AAAS S&T Policy Fellowships are open to U.S. citizens who hold doctoral level degrees in any of the following:
- Biological, Physical or Earth sciences.
- Social and Behavioral sciences.
- Computational and Information sciences.
- Mathematics and Statistics.
- Medical and Health Sciences.
- Engineering disciplines (applicants with an M.S. in engineering and three years of professional experience also qualify).
The application deadline is November 1.
CHAT PARTICIPANTS
MODERATOR
Olivia Monahan, STPF Project Director
FELLOWS
Margaret Callahan, 2017-18 American Mathematical Society Congressional Fellow, Office of Senator Amy Klobuchar and 2018-20 Executive Branch Fellow, U.S. Department of State, Office of Analysis, Planning, Programs and Learning and the Office of Advanced Analytics
Margaret Callahan is currently a conflict analyst and second-year Executive Branch Fellow in the Office of Advanced Analytics (AA) in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) at the U.S. Department of State. Margaret is AA’s lead analyst for the Western Hemisphere and co-lead of the CSO’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. Before starting at State, Margaret was the American Mathematical Society / AAAS Congressional Fellow working in the office of Senator Amy Klobuchar on education and workforce development issues. Margaret earned her Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Case Western Reserve University in 2016. Her research focused on a novel Bayesian statistical approach for estimating parameters of multi-scale models, focusing on biomedical applications. Before graduate school, Margaret served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya where she taught secondary school math and life skills.
Brandy Huderson, 2019-21 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation, Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings
Brandy Huderson is a proud graduate of the millennial class of Xavier University of Louisiana, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Biology/Pre-Med in 2000. In 2005 she joined Dr. Mike Aker’s lab in the Dairy Science Department of Virginia Tech to begin working towards a PhD. Her PhD work focused on better understanding endocrine regulation and the extracellular matrix’s role in prepubertal mammary gland development. In 2010 she began a postdoctoral fellowship at Tulane School of Medicine in the Cancer Biology Lab of Dr. Brian Rowan. She followed this up with another postdoc at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of the District of Columbia. She has an active an dynamic teaching load, ranging from Biology I to Endocrinology, and Tumor Biology. Her research program uses both animal and cell culture models to study steroid receptor activation as well as normal and malignant cells.
Kanya Long, 2017-18 Roger Revelle Fellow in Global Stewardship, World Bank, Agriculture Global Practice
Kanya Long, Ph.D., M.H.S., is Assistant Professor in the new University of California San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. Dr. Long’s epidemiological and laboratory research has focused on mosquito-borne virus transmission dynamics, with work demonstrating natural transfer of dengue virus from asymptomatic and presymptomatic humans to Aedes aegypti and suggesting the potential for Mayaro virus, a pathogen enzootic in the Amazon Basin, to be hosted by Aedes aegypti in an urban cycle. In addition, Dr. Long has almost 20 years of experience managing public health field studies, including community- and clinic-based disease surveillance and rapid diagnostic testing. Following her year as AAAS Roger Revelle Fellow in Global Stewardship and Health Specialist in the Agriculture Global Practice at the World Bank, her work has shifted to developing public health policies that will limit pathogen transmission. Currently, she works at the forefront of policies to address testing and possible release of gene drive organisms and to reduce community spread of SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Long holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Texas Medical Branch and M.H.S. in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and completed postdoctoral training in vector biology at the University of California Davis.
Pate Skene, 2016-17 Judicial Branch Fellow, Federal Judicial Center, FJC Research Division
I am a neurobiologist and lawyer who studies the neuroscience of social or legal decisions. Before attending law school, I did my graduate and postdoctoral training in molecular biology and neuroscience and spent more than 30 years studying genes involved in brain development, plasticity, and cognition. In 2010, I took a leave to attend law school and shifted my research to focus on the cognitive neuroscience of legal and policy decisions. As the 2016-17 STPF Judicial Fellow, I worked at the Federal Judicial Center studying the way the courts evaluate forensics and other scientific evidence. Since returning to Duke, my scientific research continues to focus on the cognitive neuroscience of legal and social decisions. My legal work focuses on standards for evaluating scientific evidence in the criminal justice system, civil litigation, and regulatory agencies.