Podcasts about technology policy fellow

Welcome to Beyond the Thesis With Papa PhD, the podcast that delves into the diverse and impactful roles scientists can play beyond the lab.In today's episode, we explore the intersection of science and policy with our special guests, Adriana Bankston and Jamie Vernon. During our conversation Adriana and Jamie share their personal journeys from the lab to influential roles in science policy.Adriana's passion for policy was sparked during her academic career, leading to her pivotal role at Sigma Xi, while Jamie's trajectory saw him transition from being a molecular biologist to advocating for scientists' involvement in policy.Join us as we unravel the critical roles of scientists in policymaking, the launch of Sigma Xi's Civico, a groundbreaking platform connecting scientists with policymakers, and invaluable advice for early-career researchers looking to leave an impact beyond the thesis. Adriana Bankston is a Senior Fellow in Civic Science & Public Policy with Sigma Xi, where she leads a project that examines science policy engagement at the state level and determines the skills, knowledge, and resources required by scientists to successfully influence public policy.Prior to this role, Adriana was a Principal Legislative Analyst at the University of California Office of Federal Governmental Relations, where she served as an advocate for the university with Congress, the Administration and federal agencies. Adriana has had a number of roles leading to where she is today and in recognition of her contributions to the field, Adriana was named among the Top 20 in 2022 Advocacy practitioners by the Advocacy Association, and awarded the inaugural 2022 ARIS Emerging Broader Impacts Leader Award. Adriana earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology from Emory University.Jamie Vernon is executive director and CEO at Sigma Xi and publisher of American Scientist. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Sigma Xi's director of science communications and publications and editor-in-chief of American Scientist. He was also Sigma Xi's co-director of operations from 2014 to 2015. A molecular biologist by training, he transitioned from research in 2011 to serve as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow and an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow in the U.S. Department of Energy. For more than a decade, he has been an advocate for the use of science in decision making at all levels of government, business, and in our personal lives. He holds a B.S. in zoology from North Carolina State University, an M.S. in biotechnology from East Carolina University, and a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from The University of Texas at Austin. What we covered in the interview: How early-career scientists can effectively integrate policy relevance and societal impact into their researchSpecific opportunities and resources available for scientists to engage in policy work, such as fellowships, internships, and advisory rolesHow scientists  can navigate the transition from research to policy, and effective approaches for getting involved in policy work while pursuing a graduate degreeChallenges and benefits of scientists participating in policy discussions and advisory roles at the state and federal levelsHow the Civico platform aims to bridge the gap between science and policy, and what opportunities it offers for scientists at various career stagesManaging time effectively to balance graduate studies with engagement in policy work and advocacy efforts  This episode's resources: Civico Platform | WebsiteCivico Launch | VideoCivico Launch | Press Release Thank you, Adriana Bankston, thank you Jamie Vernon! If you enjoyed this conversation with Adriana and Jamie, let them know by clicking the links below and leaving them a message on Linkedin:Send Adriana Bankston a thank you mess...

Dr. Michael Nestor, Ph.D., is Board Director, of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable ( GUIRR - https://www.nationalacademies.org/guirr/about ), within the Policy and Global Affairs Division, at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The GUIRR is charged with improving the research enterprise of the United States by successfully resolving the cross-sectoral issues that prevent the U.S. research enterprise from reaching its full potential. This mission is achieved by convening senior-most representatives from government, universities, and industry to frame the critical issues, followed – when appropriate – by the execution of activities designed to address specific cross-sectoral impediments to achieving a healthy, vibrant research enterprise. GUIRR provides a unique forum for dialogue among top government, university and industry leaders of the national science and technology enterprise. Prior to this role at NAS, Dr. Nestor was a Scientific Engagement Lead at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS in Washington, D.C. where he was responsible for external scientific engagement with regional academic research institutions, start-ups, investment partners, and portfolio management, sourcing and evaluating innovative companies with the aim to foster a productive life science ecosystem and bring value to the pipeline of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. Dr. Nestor received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from The University of Maryland, School of Medicine, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and The New York Stem Cell Foundation, where he was also a Staff Scientist. He was also an NIH Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) Fellow at Rutgers University, focused on teaching in minority-serving institutions and helping increase the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in science. Dr. Nestor was also Director of Neural Stem Cell Research at The Hussman Institute for Autism where he led his own lab studying autism by creating brain organoids from human induced pluripotent stem cells. His lab developed a multiplexed high-throughput CRISPR and drug-screening platform. Dr. Nestor also served as Co-Chair of the Neural Stem Cell Working Group at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine and as a venture advisor to the UM Momentum Fund and the Abell Foundation. Further, he was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Office of Science at The Department of Energy (DOE). At the DOE, he was focused on synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, and biosecurity initiatives. He also launched his own human stem cell consulting company, Synapstem. Dr. Nestor's book, "Anticipatory Ethics and The Use of CRISPR in Humans" was published in 2022. Support the show

Today we're looking at food waste and loss on an international scale. Did you know that over 1/3 of the world's food is lost or wasted? In low- and middle-income countries, over 40% of food loss occurs before a crop even makes it to the market. This food loss undermines efforts to end hunger and malnutrition. Wasted food contributes 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing this challenge is critical to global food security, nutrition, and climate change mitigation. Interview Summary   Norbert: Ahmed, let's begin with a question for you. Can you tell our listeners why USAID has decided to prioritize addressing food loss and waste?   Ahmed: Thank you, Norbert. Food loss and waste is increasingly a part of our global agenda, whether we are talking about food security and nutrition, economic growth, or climate change. As you mentioned, 30 to 40% of food produced is either lost or wasted throughout the farm to consumer supply chain. Many of USAID partner countries lose up to 35% of their food annually at multiple points. In the field due to spoilage and damage, while being transported or stored, and when it goes unused by consumers. Nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meat are highly perishable and often lost due to bruising or spoilage, thus decreasing nutrient-rich foods in the market. These losses equate to one out of every four calories intended for human consumption, enough to feed 2 billion people. According to the World Resource Institute, just a 25% reduction in food loss and waste across the world would decrease the food calorie gap by 12%.   On the climate mitigation side, emission from food loss and waste create nearly 8 to 10% of all greenhouse gas emission. If food loss and waste was a country, it would be the third largest emitter. The global food crisis requires us to think about accelerated pace of change, and in many ways food loss and waste is a low-hanging fruit. The investment in time and energy to grow it are already made. Now we are maximizing its benefit. There really is a huge opportunity. Food loss and waste is a triple win. It will improve nutrition and food security. It will improve income for small order farmers, but also for others all along the supply chain, so it can be a force multiplier for job creation. It is a great entry point for our agenda for improving opportunity for women and youth, so it has an equity component, and it is important for addressing climate crisis.   Brenna: Nika, turning to you. I understand that part of your role at USAID is to produce a podcast called "Kitchen Sink Food Loss and Waste." What was the rationale and objective of creating the podcast, and what are your plans for the future?   Nika: The monthly USAID "Kitchen Sink Food Loss and Waste" podcast was an idea born from the USAID community of practice to increase awareness and promote knowledge sharing among USAID staff, implementing partners, and development professionals. The podcast began with a 101 episode, explaining what food loss and waste is, why we should care, and how we can reduce it. We have episodes featuring experts speaking on technical topics ranging from the role of the private sector and youth in reducing food loss and waste, to solutions that include post-harvest handling innovations and cold chain. In a special December 2022 episode with USAID's Dina Esposito, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, together with Senior Climate Advisor Ann Vaughan, the episode explores USAID's prioritization of food loss and waste, and the triple win opportunities inherent in food loss and waste programming, that engages women and youth while emphasizing nutrition.   We are now available wherever you listen to podcasts. Each episode has an audio-only format, as well as a video recording that can be found on YouTube. We hope to reach a wider audience, including organizations, private sector members, and individuals interested in reducing their own food loss and waste. We have some exciting upcoming episodes with different formats, including a food loss and waste storytelling episode with a dramatic reenactment similar to "This American Life," and case studies for missions.   Ultimately, it is our goal to increase the frequency of episodes to two per month, and to continue to feature high-level speakers and technical experts, including our inter-agency colleagues. The podcast has proven to be a great way to connect internally and externally, and has sparked excitement and interesting conversations. I love receiving emails from individuals I haven't previously interacted with because of their interest in the podcast. And we're always open to suggestions for topics and speakers, so I encourage anyone listening to reach out. The podcast is a new medium for us, and one that has not only been successful in raising awareness, but has also been quite fun to work on.   Brenna: Norbert and I have been doing this for a little bit, and it is really fun to talk to other people about food loss and waste, and thanks so much for sharing what you all are doing. It seems really fun to listen to a dramatic reading about food waste, so I'll have to watch for that in the future. Ahmed, turning to you now. Could you talk about what USAID is doing internationally to address food loss and waste and incorporate climate and methane mitigation?   Ahmed: Thank you for this question and I'm glad you asked it. At the UN Food System Summit last year USAID announced its commitment to address food loss and waste, including investing $60 million over five years in new research contributing to critical evidence-driven solutions to reduce food loss and waste. This includes support for Feed the Future, the US Government Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative led by USAID. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Post-Harvest Loss Reduction is working in with collaboration in Ghana to locally produce technologies that will thoroughly dry and safely store grains for future use. Technologies like this are critical as more than 750,000 metric tons of maize are lost each year to rot and disease across the country contribute to over half million metric tons of greenhouse gases. The Women Poultry Association has adopted these technologies to help them overcome those harvest challenges. With the proper drying and the storage of maize enabled by these technologies, farmers and association member, Josephine Evans, has been able to increase her flock of birds from 1000 to 50,000 over five years. Successes like these have helped farmers endure a historic climate change related maize shortage and continue providing animal source food to maintain food and nutrition security.   Additionally, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Processing and Post-Harvest Handling has been doing some exciting work with youth in Kenya, linking youth groups with agro-dealers to incentivize youth to sell food loss and waste reducing imports such as hermetic bags and moisture meters to smallholder farmers who were underserved by existing input supply chains. The Innovation Lab and their Kenya partners worked with over 300 youth and did a randomized control study to look at what was most successful. Youth were given a small amount of imports, for example, bags to sell to farmers. Youth with existing assets like motorcycles or small businesses made net profit of $75 a month, while youth with less assets only made $10 more a month and were less successful in sale. Figuring out how to make sure we can help uplift youth at all income levels will be important. These examples highlight how food loss and waste initiatives can be beneficial for growing the income of women and youth along with improving nutrition.   Additionally, we also invested supplemental funds provided by the US Congress in response to the global food security crisis. Part of these supplemental funds were used to fund food loss and waste partnership facility. It's currently open for application by small and medium enterprises in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Niger and Tanzania. These countries have been hard hit by Russian invasion of Ukraine and have high-level food loss and waste. So this targeted and timely investment can make real difference. Through the market system partnership, food loss and waste partnership facility, businesses can apply for matching grants that will increase the uptake and scaling of technologies and management practices that reduce food loss and waste with any emphasis in nutrition.   As USAID continues to invest in food loss and waste effort, we'll continue to link our work to other sectors. Food loss and waste is not just a climate adaptation initiative but also an important knock in effect for a climate mitigation, especially as reducing food loss and waste reduces methane emission. I think this is one of the most exciting co-benefit that also gets the broader community and world excited about reducing food loss and waste. Methane is emitted when food brought in the field and transport at market which happens there is not proper storage and of course when food is wasted and thrown out by consumers or wholesalers. According to the IPCC, methane accounts for 30 to 50% global warming. The United Nation Environmental Unit estimates that food loss and waste is associated with methane emission near 50 metric ton per year. Additional measures like a shift to renewable energy and reduction of food loss and waste can reduce methane emission by 15% by 2030. So if we can cut methane emission, as called for by the Global Methane Pledge, by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030 which could eliminate over 0.2 degrees warming by 2050 and really buy us more time to deal with other gases that are contributing to climate crisis and making the world a more dangerous place.   Brenna: Thanks so much for sharing those opportunities with us, Ahmed and all the progress that's already being made in this space.   Norbert: Nika, let's turn back to you. What is USAID doing to keep food loss and waste as a development agenda priority?   Nika: Thanks, Norbert. Happy to share how USAID is ensuring that food loss and waste remains a priority. We recently launched a food loss and waste community of practice, which brings together our Feed the Future Innovation Lab research partners, private sector businesses, the World Bank and Foundations, along with USAID staff in DC and in our missions to exchange ideas, identify priority focus areas and advance new partnerships. We also have six food loss and waste, "upstander missions." So named because they will no longer be bystanders to food loss and waste, but are ready to take action to advance this agenda within their food security portfolios.   At last year's COP27 climate conference there was not only an agriculture theme day, there were also six pavilions on food and an important emphasis on food systems featuring several food loss and waste panels. COP28 will include even more focus on food systems, which will create exciting momentum for food loss and waste. We would love to see food loss and waste as a standalone session or initiative at COP 28.   The US government has joined The Food is Never Waste Coalition, working with Champions 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030 and to reduce food losses by at least 25% with a goal of creating more sustainable and resilient food systems. USAID engages with our inter-agency colleagues including USDA, EPA, and FDA to promote strategic engagement on food loss and waste issues. We have several exciting international food loss and waste workshops in the planning phase for this year.   Of course, we are trying to amplify our messages and promote knowledge management, including through the USAID Kitchen Sink Podcast and by hosting food loss and waste theme months on the Agrilinks website to share learnings and success stories. Country specific data can really help move the needle forward. We're excited to be working with IFPRI, who has done a deep dive on the economic impacts of reducing food loss and waste. While there are some caveats to the research, cutting food loss and waste in half in Nigeria, for example, could increase GDP by one to 2%, while decreasing poverty and hunger by 4.4%. That's huge and that will get the attention of finance ministers and other policymakers who are essential to making changes.   Norbert: Wow! Thank you for that response and I'm so impressed by the systemic view that you all are taking both in terms of looking across the food supply chain and how your agency works with other agencies across the federal government and also other international organizations. That's really wonderful work. I would like to learn a little more about the link between food loss and waste and the food safety agenda.   Nika: I'm glad you brought up the food systems approach because that is definitely an emphasis at the agency and food safety is of course, part of that. I joined the agency as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the food safety division. So, the linkages between food loss and waste and food safety are near and dear to me and as we say in the food safety division safe food is saved food. In a world where as many as 830 million go to bed hungry every night and 420,000 die from unsafe food every year, we cannot afford to lose food due to poor post-harvest management and contamination. Moreover, nutrient dense foods, such as fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat are often highly perishable and lost due to bruising or spoilage, thus decreasing the availability of nutrient-rich foods on the market. Just a 25% reduction in food loss and waste across the world would decrease the food calorie gap by 12%. Improving cold chain logistics, storage facilities and food processing technologies can improve food safety and reduce food loss, improving agricultural led economic growth. Technologies to reduce food waste can also help improve food safety and shelf life. For example, practices or technologies that improve post-harvest handling and processing, transportation and cold chain can improve food safety and reduce food loss and waste due to spoilage. Food that is lost or unsafe cannot be sold. Leading to losses in revenue and impacts on food security and nutrition due to decreases in the amount of food available. Improving food safety systems improves food loss and waste efforts directly and indirectly while increasing access to nutritious food.   Bios   Nika Larian is a Food Loss and Waste Advisor in the Center for Nutrition within the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau of Resilience and Food Security. Dr. Larian is passionate about the intersection of nutrition, food safety, and climate sustainability. Nika is the producer of the USAID Kitchen Sink Food Loss and Waste Podcast and Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Coordination Plan (GNCP) Food Safety Technical Working Group. Previously, she was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow at USAID, working as a Food Systems Advisor. Nika received her Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Kentucky in 2019. Her doctoral research explored the effects of environment pollutants on human health, namely diabetes and obesity. Working at USAID, she has provided technical assistance and policy guidance on US Government nutrition strategies and engaged with colleagues across the interagency. Ahmed Kablan is a Senior Science Advisor, Center for Nutrition/Food Safety Division/Bureau for Resilience and Food Security/USAID. Dr. Kablan manages several research programs in the area of Nutritious and Safe Foods that includes the Food Safety Innovation Lab, Post-harvest Loss Reduction Innovation lab. Dr. Kablan leads the Nutrition Center's efforts on Food loss and waste, food safety and nutrition research; member of the Interagency Risk Assessment Committee (IRAC), member of the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research (ICHNR), member of the external advisory boards for the Partnership for Aflatoxin in Africa (PACA), the Food Systems for Nutrition Innovation lab, The Golden Rice & the Food Safety Innovation Lab. Dr. Kablan is a co-lead of the USAID Food Loss and Waste (FLW) community of practices, representing USAID on the UNFSS Food is never a waste Coalition and member of the interagency food loss and waste working group. Dr. Kablan leads the center for nutrition efforts on climate change and food systems and is a member of the USAID climate change technical working group and the USG Climate Change, Food Systems, Nutrition Security, and the Interagency Climate Change and Human Health Group (CCHHG) under the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Dr. Kablan has wide technical expertise in nutrition, food Safety, nutrition-related non-communicable diseases, double burden of malnutrition, metabolic syndrome, food safety & public health.  

Dr. Sandeep Patel, Ph.D. is Director of the Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures ( DRIVe - https://drive.hhs.gov/ ) at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority ( https://aspr.hhs.gov/AboutASPR/ProgramOffices/BARDA/Pages/default.aspx ), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, principally against bioterrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, as well as pandemic influenza and emerging diseases. Dr. Patel is committed to advancing high-impact science, building new products, and launching collaborative programs and initiatives with public and private organizations to advance human health and wellness. As the DRIVe Director, Dr. Patel leads a dynamic team built to tackle complex national health security threats by rapidly developing and deploying innovative technologies and approaches that draw from a broad range of disciplines. Dr. Patel brings extensive experience in public-private partnerships to DRIVe. Prior to joining the DRIVe team, he served as the HHS Open Innovation Manager. In that role, he focused on advancing innovative policy and funding solutions to complex, long-standing problems in healthcare. During his tenure, he successfully built KidneyX, a public-private partnership to spur development of an artificial kidney, helped design and execute the Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative, designed to catalyze innovation, double the number of organs available for transplant, and shift the paradigm of kidney care to be patient-centric and preventative, and included a Presidential Executive Order signed in July 2019. He also created the largest public-facing open innovation program in the U.S. government with more than 190 competitions and $45 million in awards since 2011. Prior to his tenure at HHS, Dr. Patel co-founded Omusono Labs, a 3-D printing and prototyping services company based in Kampala, Uganda; served as a scientific analyst with Discovery Logic, (a Thomson Reuters company) a provider of systems, data, and analytics for real-time portfolio management; and was a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He also served as a scientist at a nanotechnology startup, Kava Technology. Dr. Patel holds a US patent issued in 2005 and has authored over a dozen peer-reviewed articles in areas such as nanotechnology, chemistry, innovation policy, and kidney health. Dr. Patel earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and has a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis. Support the show

Dr. Xu Simon is smart. Being that she works in the Boston area, you could say she is "wicked smaaht". She earned her BA in Biochemistry from Rice University and, in 2008, completed her PhD in Biophysical Chemistry and Molecular Structure at MIT. After conducting postdoctoral studies in structural biology at Brandeis University, she served for two years as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow. She currently serves as Chief Technology Officer at Enozo Technologies in Andover, MA and owns an independent speaking, consulting, and mediation business focused on helping executive and technical professionals resonate together for maximal impact.You can find out more about her and check out her Ted Talk at www.XuFits.comTo support your favorite podcast on Mental Health & Meaning, pick up some meaningful The Meaning Project Podcast merch in our store at https://the-meaning-project-podcast.creator-spring.com/And finally, if you would like to support our efforts to improve the podcast and maybe even connect with Dr. Dan in different ways, become a Patron on our Patreon page at: https://www.patreon.com/themeaningprojectpodcastTo contact Dr. Dan go to www.DanielAFranz.com

Episode 64. Cara Altimus is a Senior Director at the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Managing Director at BD2 Discoveries. She completed her completed a PhD and postdoc in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and is a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow.

“When you have a question and you go looking for the answer — it's critical to own that journey.” Nidhi Hebbar is a Product Manager at Google, focused on tackling misinformation and promoting media literacy. In her role, Nidhi builds products that help improve information literacy by empowering people to evaluate information for themselves. Nidhi Hebbar is a Product Manager at Google, focused on tackling misinformation and promoting media literacy. In her role, Nidhi builds products that help improve information literacy by empowering people to evaluate information for themselves. A Florida native with Indian heritage, she was struck at a young age by how access to quality education changes the course of your life. Throughout her career, Nidhi has worked in a number of roles at the intersection of education and technology. Her work has served learners from Stockholm, Singapore, India and Kenya. While she was a student at Columbia University, Nidhi co-founded an education nonprofit that taught public speaking and debating skills to young people at underserved schools in New York City. As a Technology Policy Fellow at the Aspen Institute, she co-founded The EdTech Equity Project to address racial bias in education technologies using AI in schools by bringing schools, students, and industry together. This episode is sponsored by the Department of Health & Human Services, who's encouraging you and your community to make sure you've got the COVID-19 Vaccine & Booster. We can do this, together. Find vaccines and boosters near you @ VACCINES.gov Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout history, kings, queens, governments, churches, and donors have funded contests and awarded prizes for solving the most difficult problems of the day. Today, as we stand on the precipice of huge problems and opportunity, with everyone looking around going “What can I do?” the utility and relative inclusivity of prizes like these remains compelling. And there's one group that's driving them more than anyone – XPRIZE. My guest today is Dr. Marcius Extavour. Marcius is the Chief Scientist & Executive Vice President of Climate and Energy at XPRIZE. Marcius moved to XPRIZE after over a decade of working at the intersection of science,  policy, education, and technology development. He served as Director of Government and Corporate Partnerships in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. Dr. Extavour is active in science and energy policy more broadly, having held positions at the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resource as the OSA/SPIE/AAAS Congressional Science & Technology Policy Fellow, and at the Council of Canadian Academies, a science policy consultant to the Government of Canada. The beauty of a problem like climate change, COVID, or antibiotics is that it affects everyone on the planet. We're all invested in the outcome whether we're actively participating or not. The beauty of a contest like XPRIZE is the goal is clear and measurable, but the “how we get there” is not. It seeks active participants from likely players and the most unlikely of sources, dreamers of every kind who want to help in a very specific way, and to put a dent in the universe, odds be damned. Marcius's passion for bridge-building and problem-solving are evident in our conversation, and his work and team-building incredibly inspire me. We have to imagine a better future, and then take our best shot at it. ----------- Have feedback or questions? http://www.twitter.com/importantnotimp (Tweet us), or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at https://www.importantnotimportant.com/podcast (importantnotimportant.com/podcast). ----------- INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/a/8952/9780441013593 (Dune) by Frank Herbert Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club (https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club) Links: Follow Marcius on https://twitter.com/extempo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor (Twitter) Connect with Marcius on https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcius-extavour-51621216/ (LinkedIn) Check out https://www.xprize.org/ (XPRIZE) Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.importantnotimportant.com (importantnotimportant.com) Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ImportantNotImp (twitter.com/ImportantNotImp) Follow Quinn: http://twitter.com/quinnemmett (twitter.com/quinnemmett) Edited by https://anthonyluciani.com (Anthony Luciani) Produced by https://twitter.com/willowbeck_ (Willow Beck) Intro/outro by Tim Blane: http://timblane.com/ (timblane.com) Find our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-stats (https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-stats) Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors (https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors)

Can restoring animal populations in the ocean sequester CO2? This question has generated a lot of conversation and was explored in depth in the 2022 in the National Academy of Sciences report on Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal. Chapter 6 of that report covered ecosystem restoration and how much CO2 it can potentially sequester. The report found the fully restoring ocean ecosystems would draw down CO2 equivalent to 5% of annual human emissions. In 2019 Alex Trembath and Seaver Wang at the Breakthrough Institute wrote an article about the concept of “Negative Emission Whales” in response to a that large whale populations would drawdown significant amounts of CO2. Trembath and Wang balked at this report and cited other, less ambitious figures assessed by other research. They also focus on the limited ability of existing methods to quantify the CDR ability of this approach. Today we're joined for the first time as a regular co-host by Shannon Valley. We're happy to welcome her as a monthly science guest! Shannon has been a researcher of paleoceanography and marine biogeochemistry, has served on Joe Biden's NASA transition team and is currently a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at USAID (US Agency for International Development). This week Radhika, Jane, Shannon discuss a wide range of topics related to ocean habitat restoration. Can it pull down CO2? Can we measure the sequestration? And should we still do it ASAP even if those measurements aren't yet possible? On This Episode Jane Zelikova Shannon Valley Radhika Moolgavkar Resources NASEM Report 30 x 30 Breakthrough article on “Negative Emissions Whales” Connect with Nori Nori's Twitter Join Nori's Discord to hang out with other fans of the podcast and Nori Nori's other podcast Reversing Climate Change Nori's CDR meme twitter account --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carbonremovalnewsroom/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carbonremovalnewsroom/support

In this week's episode, both our storytellers set out to do the right thing, but you know what they say about good intentions. Part 1: During the pandemic, science journalist Maddie Bender signs up to be a contact tracer. Part 2: Veterinarian Leslie Brooks decides to make an exception to the rules for one pet owner. Maddie Bender is an innovation reporter at The Daily Beast and a science journalist whose work has appeared in STAT, Scientific American, VICE, Smithsonian Magazine, and other outlets. She holds an MPH from the Yale School of Public Health in microbial disease epidemiology and lives in Boston with her cat, Maisy. Leslie Brooks is a veterinarian by formal training. She is a writer, humanitarian, and advocate by informal experience. Her goals as a veterinarian are to contribute to improving human relationships through enhancing the human-animal bond and promoting the concept of One Health. She worked as a “cat and dog doctor” for a decade, including volunteering much of her time working with individuals experiencing homelessness or crisis who have pets. She is currently a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the US Agency for International Development, where she is using her transferable skills as a veterinarian in the policy realm and a humanitarian context. A goal of hers is to talk more openly about mistakes and failures to change the narrative of how we view success. She lives in the DC-metro area with her husband and 5-year-old son, Mehdi. She loves to paint abstractly, bike around the city, being an amateur photographer, and dancing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode Summary1. Dr. Soso is a badass. She has traveled the world using STEM as her guide. Her road is unlike anyone I've heard so far. From the zoo to the jungles of India. But that just goes to show you the power and reach of being in the world of STEM. 2. There is still a need for STEM exposure and opportunities in communities of color. We have to be invested in ensuring that our children have the same opportunities as all other children. 3. We know our children are brilliant and need the opportunity to showcase it. 4. We still need to provide opportunities for our college graduates. We have to hold companies accountable for the still dismal numbers of minorities on the payroll at ALL levels of the leadership pipeline. Dr. Simone Soso Bio.Dr. Soso is a Program Manager and Research Associate at the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network. At QEM, she performs project management leadership of grants, development of grant proposals, outreach and recruitment of STEM experts to engage in workshop implementation for Minority Serving Institution (MSI) STEM faculty proposal development and training, and capacity building. Prior to joining QEM, she was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (Science and Technology Policy) Fellow at the National Science Foundation for two years. She had a placement with the NSF ADVANCE program where she was responsible for evaluating programs in the Education and Human Resources Directorate and presenting findings to policymakers, scientific professionals, and other stakeholders. Dr. Soso is the developer and former project manager of the National Science Foundation's STEM Diversity and Inclusion Video Exhibition Challenge (STEM DIVE). This NSF-wide initiative showcased the work of NSF-funded projects that focused on diversifying the STEM workforce. Dr. Soso has over ten years of experience in the development, implementation, evaluation, and data analysis of scientific-educational programs and research projects. Dr. Soso has worked on many projects focused on enhancing the recruitment, retention, sustainability, and career development of students traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Dr. Soso is a trained animal ecologist with expertise in lion and tiger scent-marking communication. She earned her B.S. degree in Animal Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, an M.S. degree in Animal Health Science from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Iowa State University.Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonebsosophd Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Dr. Alison Brown talks to us about her research in cultural nutrition and racial and ethnic health disparities. Alison Brown, MS, PhD, RDN is a public health nutrition researcher committed to addressing diet-related health disparities through research, community engagement and empowerment, and systems change. Dr. Brown serves as a Program Director at the National Heart Lung Blood Institute where her work centers on the social determinants of health and nutrition health disparities. She is the Past Chair of the National Organization of Blacks in Dietetic and Nutrition, a former AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Diversity Leader, and American Society of Nutrition Science Policy Fellow. “I think it's really important to look at when working in diverse communities of different cultural backgrounds to really look at the participants' needs and what they really need to really adapt their diets.” Question of the Day: What role does community play in your nutrition choices? On This Episode You Will Learn: Cultural Nutrition Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities DASH Diet Cardiovascular Disease Connect with Yumlish! Website Instagram Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Connect with Alison! Instagram LinkedIn Key Points: 00:00 - Intro with Shireen! 01:18 - Can you talk to us about how you realized your passion for nutrition and specifically your work in culturally informed nutrition? 06:01 - How much of your work is focused on communities of color? 09:58 - What is the role of community and social determinants of health in the creation and success of cultural nutrition programs? 14:24 - Can you speak to research related CVD and culturally appropriateness of diets? 16:46 - Your recent research focuses on the root causes of racial and ethnic health disparities. How did you uncover the need for this kind of research? What solutions do you hope to see as a result of yours and others' research in this area? 18:02 - How can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your work? 18:50 - Outro with Shireen! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yumlish/message

Our second episode features Dr. Šeila Selimović, Program Manager at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the US Department of Health and Human Services. After her PhD training in condensed matter physics at Brandeis University and a postdoctoral fellowship in tissue engineering at Harvard Medical School / Brigham & Women's Hospital, Dr. Selimović joined the Department of State as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. Our conversation follows Dr. Selimović's career path from graduate school to leading a number of funding agency programs at the National Institutes of Health and now at BARDA, helping bridge the gap between unique federal areas of interest, interdisciplinary research, and supporting future bioengineering endeavors. As the conversation continues, we learn from Dr. Selimović about the importance of branching outside of your intended career trajectory to explore new and exciting opportunities that may come along the way.

In this episode, we will be interviewing Dr. Jennifer Shieh, Chief Scientist and Program Manager Office of Innovation and Technology Office of Investment and Innovation U.S. Small Business Administration. She advances technology commercialization through the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs, building partnerships and coordinating policy across the 11 participating Federal agencies. She served as the Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where she led national efforts to improve the transfer of federally-funded technologies from lab-to-market, advance Federal agency coordination on R&D infrastructure, and champion open innovation through prizes and citizen science. Previously, she managed the Small Business Program for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and served as a Program Director at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) SBIR Development Center, having joined NCI as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. She was involved in product and customer development at Syapse, a precision medicine-focused startup, and mobile games startup Subversus Interactive. Dr. Shieh studied the brain and cognitive sciences at MIT then earned her Ph.D. in neurosciences at Stanford University. She is co-author of the textbook Guide to Research Techniques in Neuroscience. Visit the page: https://www.sbir.gov/about/leadership --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/governmentcoins/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/governmentcoins/support

In this episode, we will be interviewing Dr. Jennifer Shieh, Chief Scientist and Program Manager Office of Innovation and Technology Office of Investment and Innovation U.S. Small Business Administration. She advances technology commercialization through the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs, building partnerships and coordinating policy across the 11 participating Federal agencies. She served as the Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where she led national efforts to improve the transfer of federally-funded technologies from lab-to-market, advance Federal agency coordination on R&D infrastructure, and champion open innovation through prizes and citizen science. Previously, she managed the Small Business Program for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and served as a Program Director at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) SBIR Development Center, having joined NCI as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. She was involved in product and customer development at Syapse, a precision medicine-focused startup, and mobile games startup Subversus Interactive. Dr. Shieh studied the brain and cognitive sciences at MIT then earned her Ph.D. in neurosciences at Stanford University. She is co-author of the textbook Guide to Research Techniques in Neuroscience. Visit the page: https://www.sbir.gov/about/leadership --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/governmentcoins/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/governmentcoins/support

Show Summary:Everyone knows that engineers are nerdy guys with glasses and scientists always have crazy hair! Our STEM Career Chat with bioengineer Dr. Georgia Lagoudas is here to help students break down the stereotypes around STEM careers by showing them that anyone, including them, can be an engineer or scientist! Whether she's sleeping on snow (not something she was used to having grown up in Texas) or fangirling in an elevator with movie stars and senators, Dr. Lagoudas discusses what it's like to be a Congressional Science and Technology Policy Fellow and how you don't necessarily have to narrow your life path down to one fork in the road.Links from the Show:Space Club Career Chats: Dr. Lagoudas Georgia Lagoudas, AAAS Congressional Science & Technology Policy FellowFinding Student Sparks: 10 Easy STEM Career Classroom Activities Learn more about getting your students involved with Space Club here! THE STEM SPACE SHOWNOTES: https://www.vivifystem.com/thestemspace/2021/46-stem-career-chat-with-bioengineer-dr-georgia-lagoudasTHE STEM SPACE FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thestemspace/VIVIFY INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/vivifystemVIVIFY FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/vivifystemVIVIFY TWITTER: https://twitter.com/vivifystem

The session from the BioHealth Capital Region Forum focuses on a vision for a new science entity, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). This new NIH Institute would accelerate biomedical innovation and adoption of technologies and approaches to revolutionize healthcare and medicine. Tara A. Schwetz, Ph.D. is the Assistant Director for Biomedical Science Initiatives in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She is currently on detail to OSTP from her role as Associate Deputy Director (ADEPD), National Institutes of Health (NIH). During her tenure as ADEPD, Dr. Schwetz also served as the acting Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Prior to assuming these roles, she was the Chief of the Strategic Planning and Evaluation Branch in the Office of the Director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Dr. Schwetz led several efforts while at NIAID, including conducting an evaluation of the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance to facilitate evidence-based decision-making and developing the NIAID Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Research. Previously, Dr. Schwetz served as the Senior Advisor to the Principal Deputy Director of NIH (DEPD), where she coordinated efforts such as Reimagine HHS, the NIH rigor and reproducibility activities, and the first NIH-Wide Strategic Plan. Dr. Schwetz also served in the dual role of the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Interim Associate Program Director and the Special Assistant to the DEPD. Prior to these roles, she was a Health Science Policy Analyst at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, where she helped develop the National Pain Strategy. Dr. Schwetz started her career at NIH as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at NINR. She received a BS in biochemistry with honors from Florida State University and a PhD in biophysics from the University of South Florida, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University.

Learn about the background and career of Dr. Sophia Anong and her research Learn what is consumer economics, fintech, and financial inclusion. Learn about the terminology “unbanked or underbanked” and how it affects people financially. Learn about “contactless payments” and their origin Dr. Sophia Anong is an Associate Professor of Consumer Economics at the University of Georgia where she has been on faculty since 2010. Dr. Anong was also on the faculty at Virginia Tech from 2006 to 2010. She holds a B.S. from the Africa University in Zimbabwe, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics, and a Ph.D in Family and Consumer Economics, both from Purdue University. Dr. Anong's research and outreach focus on financial access and consumer economic well-being with respect to mobile money in African countries and fintech in the U.S. Dr. Anong has published in several outlets including the Handbook of Consumer Finance Research, International Journal of Consumer Studies, the Journal of Consumer Affairs, and the International Journal of Bank Marketing. Starting this September (2021), Dr. Anong will be a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development serving as a Digital Ecosystem Advisor. Support the show: http://www.cooleyfoundation.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Ambika Bumb is a Science and Technology Policy Fellow working in the Crisis Management and Strategy Office at the U.S. Department of State. Within this office, she was part of several tasks forces that played major roles during the coronavirus pandemic, including the Repatriation Task Force that brought home American citizens stranded abroad during the early months of the pandemic. This repatriation effort was unprecedented in many ways but was executed quickly and efficiently. For their work, the US Senate passed a bipartisan resolution commending the Crisis Management and Strategy Office and the Department of State presented with the Distinguished Honor Award. In this episode Dr. Bumb talks about the challenges that she and her colleagues faced while bringing Americans home, and about how diverse parts of her academic and professional life seemed to converge in her work at the Department of State.

Operations research, analytics, data science, and other related disciplines enable individuals and organizations to transform data into insights that facilitate better, more informed decision-making in order to save lives, save money, and solve problems. And in no place is informed decision-making more important than at the highest levels within the U.S. government, where every day policymakers are making decisions and shaping policy that will impact our day-to-day lives. But how can we ensure that the individuals making these important decisions have the tools or awareness they need? By connecting them with resources and people who are knowledgeable about O.R. and analytics. Over the past several years, the INFORMS advocacy program has focused on elevating the work and expertise of INFORMS members and, positioning them as subject matter experts in the national media and the policy ecosystem surrounding the federal government in Washington, DC. As part of this ongoing effort, INFORMS collaborates with other professional associations and societies to extend its reach and impact. This includes the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), whose Science & Technology Policy Fellowships, known as the STPF program, provide opportunities to outstanding scientists and engineers to learn first-hand about policymaking while contributing their knowledge and analytical skills to the federal policymaking process. For this episode I am pleased to welcome two fellows in the STPF program, Rachel Levy, a Science and Engineering Fellow in the Senate sponsored by the American Mathematical Society, and Regina Pope-Ford, a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation in the Engineering Directorate's Engineering Education and Centers Division.

Dr Roberto Delgado has a doctorate in Biological Anthropology from Duke University, where he did research on the social behavior and calls of male orangutans. So how did he end up becoming the Program Director for the Arctic Observing Network (AON) in the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs – as far removed from the jungle of Borneo as one could imagine? Roberto tells about the journey his career took from great apes to AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, to the National Institutes of Health - where he focused on resilience and well-being among Arctic, American Indian and Alaska Native communities.  Finally, his career took him to National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs where in addition to the AON program he co-leads the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee's (IARPC) Environmental Intelligence Collaboration Team and is helping to manage NSF's “Navigating the New Arctic” Big Idea. In this episode Dr Delgado tells us about his journey from PhD student to AAAS STP fellow, to working in the Federal Government on pressing Arctic issues.      Participants :   Roberto Delgado, Ph.D., Anthropologist 2013-15 Executive Branch Fellow at the US National Science Foundation   Host:   Chris Parsons, Ph.D., Ocean conservation science 2020-2021 Executive Branch Fellow at the US National Science Foundation Twitter: @ecmparsons   Editor:   Editor: Ashley Scarlett, Ph.D., Marine biologist and science communication specialist Twitter: @DrScarlettSmash   Producer/Executive Producer:   Chris Parsons, Ph.D., Ocean conservation science 2020-2021 Executive Branch Fellow at the US National Science Foundation Twitter: @ecmparsons   Image credit: Kate Ruck

Collaboration between science and policy is essential to create meaningful legislation and international agreements on climate change and other important issues. We talked to Dr. Julian Reyes, climate scientist and AAAS STP Fellow at the U.S. State Department, about his current work, his career path, and why it is important to have scientists at the policy table. AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship List of U.S.-based policy fellowships Julian Reyes on LinkedIn Carbon Brief --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/eccf/message

Dr. Andrea Stathopoulos is a neuroscientist and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow with NSF. Her specific role happens to include a fair amount of science communication. She would like to speak about how and why she transitioned away from academic science (research & teaching) and pursuing something else. She used to do Neuroscience research in graduate school and taught biology at a small liberal arts college for a few years after that. Listen in to learn more about why Andrea left academia and what her current role looks like now.

Matt Kuhn, DVM, PhD is an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow supporting the US Department of Defense in effectively publishing defense research. Matt has worked in non-clinical veterinary medicine in various capacities throughout his career.  Today we talk about his path into non-clinical veterinary medicine, his take on work/life balance, and alternative careers for veterinarians.   mattkuhndvm@gmail.com National Association of Federal Veterinarians - https://nafv.org/ American Association of Industry Veterinarians - https://aaivet.org/  

On this episode, co-hosts, Matthew Wellington and Lance B. Price, along with U.S. PIRG’s Sydney Riess, interview Matt Kuhn, DVM, PhD, a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Kuhn’s expertise lies in dairy medicine, and his work has focused on the prevention of disease and the reduction of antibiotic use in cattle. In this episode, you will learn about the various challenges that farmers and veterinarians face with regards to antibiotic use on farms as well as the steps that both scientists and policymakers can take in order to effectively tackle antibiotic misuse and overuse.

Episode Summary:1) You do not have to have it all figured out. You do not have to be the smartest or brightest. What you need to be is willing enough to go on the journey, persevere, be curious and have drive.2) Dr. Brown is REALLY SMART!!! LOL!!! Her story isn't a straight one of nerd for life (and there ain't nothing, NO THING, wrong with being a Nerd!!). She stayed true to herself at every level even while she was walking it out in real life.3) We talked about some of the instances of racial injustices from our past. It made me realize just how long we've been in this fight. Doesn't mean we give up; instead it means we acknowledge the past but fight for the future.4) I love, LOVE what she said about Scale of Impact!!! I'd not thought of the work that I do that way before. It was clarifying for me and I hope for you. What is the scale of your impact? How are you measuring it and what does it mean? Dr. Quincy Brown Bio:Quincy Brown, Ph.D., is a Program Director for STEM Education Research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Her project portfolio includes the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and investigating innovations in Preservice STEM teacher education, investigating STEM mentoring practices, and supporting the AAAS Emerging Researchers National Conference.She was previously a Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. There her portfolio included Agricultural Entrepreneurship, STEM Education, and the My Brother's Keeper STEM+Entrepreneurship initiatives. She spent two years an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation in the CISE Directorate. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Drexel University. She is a recipient of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) CI Fellows Postdoctoral Research Fellowship award and was a National Science Foundation GK-12 and Bridge To the Doctorate Fellow.Dr. Brown was also a Professor of Computer Science at Bowie State University. Her research interests included Mobile HCI, CS Education, and Broadening Participation in Computing. In 2011 she founded Girls Who Will, a summer program for middle and high school girls. Through her research she sought to identify methods of facilitating human interaction with advanced technologies to support learning. Her projects included exploring the ways in which young children use touch and gesture interactions with mobile devices, first responders' use of mobile devices during emergency evacuations, and modeling inquiry behaviors on mobile devices.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quincy-k-brown?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3B8VlrjSp5RlS7CFswwT9UuA%3D%3DTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/quincykbrownSupport the show (https://cash.app/$drtoshia)

“I think it is incredibly important that staff at all levels get regular exposure to their [transit] system. Doing so, gives you a greater perspective and will help you be more effective in your job.” This week on Transit Unplugged, Paul Comfort hosts three of Mass Transit magazine’s 40 Under 40 honorees who have been recognized as outstanding young individuals actively making a difference in the public transit industry. Guests include Alice Grossman, an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Jerome Horne, a Ridership Experience Specialist at IndyGo; and Tyler Means, the Manager of Solutions Engineering at TransLoc. Together with Paul Comfort, each guest shares their journey in the public transit industry thus far, projects they are working on or are most proud of, and their vision for the future. If you want to know more about the remaining 38 honorees on this year’s 40 Under 40 list, check out the Mass Transit website here.

Episode Summary1) Navigating an environment that has not been made for you or to support you is difficult at best. It is left to you to figure out how best to exist in this world, unfortunately. 2) Professional networks ARE so important to helping Black women and other minority women in finding that balance and sense of self in this world3) The work that Iris and others are doing is soooooooooooooo important, however they cannot do it alone. Allies are needed, but not the superficial, surface level ones that don't actually mean what they say or do anything outside of saying meaningless words. We need people who are going to be in this fight to change this environment for the long haul. Dr. Iris Wagstaff Bio:She is a scientist, educator, mentor, researcher and STEM advocate. She currently serves as a STEM Program Director in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Department of AAAS where I manage a $15 Million Dollar portfolio focused on broadening participation in STEM, workforce development ,and inclusive technology and innovation ecosystems. She served as a 2015-2017 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the DOJ National Institute of Justice Office where I developed and led an agency-wide diversity and inclusion initiative. She is a native of Goldsboro, NC with a BS and MS in Chemistry from UNC-Greensboro and NC A&T State Universities respectively; and a PhD in Science Education from North Carolina State University. Iris worked as a research chemist at the Dow Chemical Company for 15 years leading analytical project teams and company-wide diversity initiatives. She has over 20 years of STEM outreach and advocacy developing informal science programs, mentoring, resourcing parents, leading k-12 STEM teacher professional development, and building strategic partnerships between industry, academia, and community organizations.She is also a social scientist with a research focus on examining factors that predict science self-efficacy, science identity, and STEM career intent in underrepresented/under-served youth populations. She serves on the Boards of several organizations that include the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), the Chemical Society of Washington (CSW), and Science, Engineering, and Math Links (SEM). She is an adjunct chemistry professor at UNC-Greensboro where she leads diversity and inclusion efforts to broaden participation in the chemical sciences. She has received several honors that include the 2019 DC Metro HBCU Alumni Alliance Award for Education, the 2019 AERA Science Teaching and Learning Research Award, the 2019 BEYA Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award, the 2018 NOBCChE Presidential Award for Mentoring, the 2017 Women of Color in STEM K-12 Promotion of Education Award, and a 2016 nomination for the NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iris-r-wagstaff-ph-d-57140717?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BhOrS0zRAQ6uPmifs2I0T%2FA%3D%3DSupport the show (https://cash.app/$drtoshia)

SPEAKERS Jennifer Pahlka Founder and Former Executive Director, Code for America; Former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer; Co-Founder, the U.S. Digital Response Raylene Yung Former Engineering Director, Facebook; Former Head of Engineering & Product, Stripe; Technology Policy Fellow, The Aspen Institute; Co-Founder & CEO, U.S. Digital Response Raphael Lee Former Engineering Manager, Airbnb; Former Vice President of Engineering, Lob; Core Team Member, The U.S. Digital Response DJ Patil Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist; Head of Technology, Devoted Health; Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Moderator In response to the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, this program took place and was recorded live via video conference, for an online audience only, and was live-streamed from The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 28th, 2020.

Ira Pastor, ideaXme life sciences ambassador, interviews Dr. Todd Haim, Chief of the Office of Small Business Research at National Institute on Aging. Ira Pastor Comments: On several recent shows we’ve been discussing some of the novel, alternative funding pools that have been emerging in and around the biotechnology space, specifically related to some un-met medical needs that we have been focusing on in relation to the show, particularly on the age-tech and longevity biotech fronts. We have had guests join us from the $125 Million Healthy Ageing Challenge program of UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) and the $30 Million Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. We’ve also talked to folks at the XPrize Foundation specifically related to their upcoming inducement prize contest for therapeutics for the diseases of aging. Small Business Innovation: Today we are going to head into the federal innovation research and development arena and into some of the novel public / private sector partnership opportunities that exist between small businesses and / or nonprofit research institutions, and the U.S. government. The Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) program, is a United States government program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration (SBA), intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development, where funding takes the form of contracts or grants, and recipient projects must have the potential for commercialization and must meet specific U.S. government R&D needs. The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program, is a parallel program to the SBIR program, but differs from SBIR in that places a greater emphasis on the potential for commercial success, and it requires that universities, federal laboratories, or nonprofit research centers, team with businesses to get products into the marketplace. Approximately $2.5 billion is awarded through these programs each year. Dr. Todd Haim I’m honored to be joined by Dr. Todd Haim, who is Chief of the Office of Small Business Research at National Institute on Aging (NIA), which is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), which leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. Dr. Haim oversees the development and evolution of this office with the goal of improving both the quantity and quality of the SBIR/STTR applications. Prior to this role, Dr. Haim was Program Director at the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) SBIR Development Center, where he evaluated and managed SBIR & STTR grants and contracts focused on the development of novel cancer therapeutics, preventative agents, and drug discovery technologies. Prior to starting in the SBIR Development Center, he was a Research Associate and Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences. Previously, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Pfizer in which he actively led Pfizer’s research efforts in a collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis that illustrated a mechanism for altered cardiac contractility due to excess fatty acids. Dr. Haim graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine with a PhD in Biomedical Research, specialising in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and obtained a certificate in Technology Commercialization from John Hopkins’ Carey Business School. He has received several prestigious awards and honors including the 2014 NCI Leadership Development Award, a 2014 and 2017 NIH Director’s Award and the NJ Governor’s Award for Volunteerism in the Field of Health. On this show we will hear about: Dr. Haim's background, how he developed an interest in biomedical sciences, physiology and cellular biophysics, and aging. A general overview of the NIA and it's functions within the U.S. National Institutes of Health. An overview of the NIA SBIR /STTR system. Technological areas of specific interest to the NIA program and to Dr. Haim himself. Credits: Ira Pastor interview video, text, and audio. Follow Ira Pastor on Twitter: @IraSamuelPastor If you liked this interview, be sure to check out our interview about the Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge! Follow ideaXme on Twitter: @ideaxm On Instagram: @ideaxme Find ideaXme across the internet including on iTunes, SoundCloud, Radio Public, TuneIn Radio, I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. ideaXme is a global podcast, creator series and mentor programme. Our mission: Move the human story forward!™ ideaXme Ltd.

In this episode of the Sci on the Fly podcast, Terrence Mosley, an engineer and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Department of Energy, speaks to Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect within the Building Technologies Office at DOE. Mr. Rashkin has been a long-time advocate for energy efficiency, sustainability, and resilience within the housing industry. He created the Zero Energy Ready Home program, received the prestigious Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership, and is the author of “Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry: How It Got Here, Why It’s Broken, and How to Fix It.” In this interview, Mr. Rashkin discusses the DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes program, his strategies for transforming the new homebuyer consumer experience, and the need for ultimately disrupting the housing industry. This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

Research and technology create immense value for the world through the results of their hard work. Important innovation and discovery are done in labs around the world, but there is another equally important landscape for businesses and startups who are working in innovative technologies, and that is the connection between people.  Dr. Christie Canaria is a Program Director in the Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) Development Center at the National Cancer Institute. She provides programmatic support to small businesses applying to the SBIR and STTR programs and has areas of expertise in biological imaging, biosensors, and nanotechnology.  Dr. Canaria was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, and she began science policy work in Washington DC in 2013. Previously, Christie managed an optical microscopy facility at DOE Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as an imaging expert and neurobiologist. She was also a coordinator and imaging expert at the Caltech biological imaging center.  Dr. Canaria earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to that, Dr. Carnaria earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego. What You’ll Hear On This Episode of When Science Speaks [00:41] Mark introduces his guest, Dr. Christie Canaria [03:05] How Dr. Christie came to be Program Director [06:12] Communicating scientific ideas to the public [08:11] The SBIR programs are the engine for innovation [11:12] Dr. Canaria’s programs provide funding in the form of grants and federal contracts to small businesses that have innovative projects with high commercial potential [13:33] How Dr. Canaria and her program choose the companies they work with [17:04] There is a lot of value in the program [19:09] What the future holds for the program [21:32] Dr. Canaria could not have predicted her career path Connect with Dr. Christie Canaria I-Corps at NIH FAQ for I-Corps at NIH LinkedIn for Dr. Christie Canaria AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF) The engine of innovation Innovation is a major factor in the development of small businesses. That innovation involves risk, however, and not all entrepreneurs and business owners are ready to take put their hard-earned company on the line. Being a startup company is always difficult, and having a business that is trying to innovate with cutting edge technologies is no different.  The SBIR Programs that Dr. Christie Canaria are a part of are what they like to call America’s Seed Fund. They provide early-stage funding for biotech companies, many of whom are startups. Companies like this can be started in a lab and are looking for traction and money to get off the ground. The National Cancer Institute, which is a part of the NIH, funds many of these small businesses that are working on the next generation of technologies in the field of cancer research. The value in connections Part of the process for going through the SBIR program is interviewing 100 people. That can seem like a lot of work, but there is incredible value for companies to gain in going through that process. That process inherently leads to a sharing of ideas that can lead to “aha” moments. Perhaps one the entrepreneurs will end up applying their technology to a different disease than they were initially studying, leading to a breakthrough that would not have otherwise happened. It is a networking process that can be fruitful for the businesses as well as their research. In one example that Dr. Canaria gives in this episode, she worked a team that had interviewed over 160 people during the eight-week program. Their network was naturally expanded through those efforts, and about a year after the program it paid off. Because of the connections made during I-Corps, they were able to connect with another party that became a multi-million dollar strategic partner and investor. Learn more about Dr. Christie Canaria on this week’s episode of When Science Speaks. Connect With Mark and When Science Speaks http://WhenScienceSpeaks.com https://bayerstrategic.com/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/BayerStrategic On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bayer-Strategic-Consulting-206102993131329 On YouTube: http://bit.ly/BSConTV On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdanielbayer/ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bayerstrategic/ On Medium: https://medium.com/@markbayer17 Subscribe to When Science Speaks on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher

In this episode we speak with Eva Garen, Director of ELTI, Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative. ELTI focuses on capacity development in human-dominated mosaic landscapes, primarily in Latin America and Indonesia, teaching the people who manage landscapes to restore and rebuild biodiversity. Much of ELTI's work is in tropical regions that were once forested, and one of the reasons ELTI's programs are so important is that only 9.8% of tropical forest is protected.  In Latin America, ELTI primarily works with farmers and cattle ranchers, while in Indonesia they primarily work with coal companies charged with environmental restoration of their mining sites. ELTI provides field-based training that are experiential. In one case study with cattle ranchers in Panama, the field-based training on how to create a silvopastoral system was eagerly received because in the dry season, in the tropics, cattle with only access to grass will die from starvation. With the combination of diverse trees fruiting at different times providing nuts with proteins, a silvopastoral system provides the necessary food to keep them alive. Eva underscores the complexity of power dynamics and need to work with the local organizations and individuals in order to understand the local economic, cultural and political practices. ELTI also has online coursework that has reached over 1000 individuals around the world. Eva Garen, Ph.D. is the Director and Principle Investigator of ELTI, Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative. Based at Yale University, she has spent almost twenty-five years working on the social aspects of conservation and development in the tropics. Previously Eva worked as a technical advisor on the social aspects of REDD+ with Conservation International's Science and Knowledge Division. Eva also worked with USAID's Forestry and Biodiversity Teams in Washington D.C. as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The post Episode 76: Interview with Eva Garen, Director of Environmental Leadership Training Initiative appeared first on The Sustainability Agenda.

Former American Cancer Society grantee Neha Pankow already had a transdisciplinary background in engineering, biophysics, and cancer cell biology. Now she’s added policymaking to the mix. As a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation, she’s helping to develop policy for gender equity, STEM education, and the pursuit of interdisciplinary science. 3:20 – On how and why she became a AAAS fellow: “I would say I’ve been interested in policy-related issues for most of my life, but I was definitely a scientist inside, and I never knew how to bridge those two things. For me the AAAS fellowship is doing exactly that.” 10:30 – On how her experience has opened new doors: “And I thought this too as a graduate student and as a postdoc, that any kind of sidestep from my career meant that I was going to be throwing away everything that I had done until that point of time. And that’s absolutely not true. Especially for the AAAS fellowship I’ve seen friends and alumni who have either go back to academia because that’s what they wanted to do, I’ve seen people who have gone into working for nonprofits, people who work for federal agencies…”

How can Batman identify and capture the various species of Man-Bats that have descended on Gotham? Find out on this week's episode of School of Batman! Our guest this week is Susan Tsang, who has a PhD in Biology from the City University of New York. Susan is currently a Science & Technology Policy Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science hosted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. You can find out more about Susan's research on Twitter at https://twitter.com/batgirl_susan. __________________ Impact Moderato by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-fre…isrc=USUAN1100618 Artist: incompetech.com/ Cool Vibes - Film Noire by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-fre…isrc=USUAN1100863 Artist: incompetech.com/ Mechanolith by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-fre…isrc=USUAN1100879 Artist: incompetech.com/

In this episode Dr. Holly Summers, a plant biologist and current AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the US Department of Agriculture speaks further with Dr. Mónica Feliú-Mójer. Dr. Feliú-Mójer is a neurobiologist by training and Director of Communications and Science Outreach at Ciencia Puerto Rico, and associate director for diversity and communication training at iBiology. Here she will discuss key events in her life that drove her to pursue a career in science and to further seek out an opportunity with Ciencia Puerto Rico. Dr. Feliú-Mójer will also discuss how empowering people through the scientific method and the use of critical thinking skills can help to create agents of change, which can dramatically impact how communities effectively deal with local problems.   This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

In this episode Dr. Holly Summers, a plant biologist and current AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the US Department of Agriculture, speaks with Dr. Nalini Nadkarni, an ecologist at the University of Utah. Dr. Nadkarni begins with the story of how she became interested in the forest canopy, and the delicate nature and importance of the canopy to a healthy tropical forest. They then discuss how her work has helped to inspire and develop non-traditional community outreach programs working with prison inmates, allowing inmates to contribute to the scientific process through meticulous restoration work involving plant and animal life. Last and probably most unexpectedly, Dr. Nadkarni describes how she got inspired to launch a line of clothing that features botanically correct images of nature.     Participants   Host: Holly Summers, Ph.D., Plant Biology 2017-18 Executive Branch Fellow at USDA   Nalini Nadkarni, Ph.D., Ecology Professor of Biology, University of Utah    Executive Producer   Carlos Faraco, Ph.D., Neuroscience 2016-18 Executive Branch Fellow at National Institutes of Justice   This podcast does not necessarily reflect the views of AAAS, its Council, Board of Directors, officers, or members. AAAS is not responsible for the accuracy of this material. AAAS has made this material available as a public service, but this does not constitute endorsement by the association.

This week, we present two stories of encounters with wild animals, from a seal named Crystal in Antarctica to a flatulent rhino in South Africa. Part 1: Science writer Ed Yong is confronted by a flatulent rhino while on safari. Part 2: In Antarctica, scientist Gifford Wong attempts to save a seal that has gone into “dive mode.” Episode transcript at http://www.storycollider.org/2017/8/11/zoology-stories-about-wild-animals _______________________________ Ed Yong is a science journalist who reports for The Atlantic, and is based in Washington DC. His work appears several times a week on The Atlantic's website, and has also featured in National Geographic, the New Yorker, Wired, Nature, New Scientist, Scientific American, and many more. He has won a variety of awards, including the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award for biomedical reporting in 2016, the Byron H. Waksman Award for Excellence in the Public Communication of Life Sciences in 2016, and the National Academies Keck Science Communication Award in 2010 for his old blog Not Exactly Rocket Science. He regularly does talks and radio interviews; his TED talk on mind-controlling parasites has been watched by over 1.5 million people. I CONTAIN MULTITUDES, his first book, looks at the amazing partnerships between animals and microbes. Published in 2016, it became a New York Times bestseller, and was listed in best-of-2016 lists by the NYT, NPR, the Economist, the Guardian, and several others. Bill Gates called it "science journalism at its finest", and Jeopardy! turned it into a clue.   Gifford Wong is an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow working at the Department of State. He previously served in the Senate as the American Geosciences Institute Congressional Geoscience Fellow. He received his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College, his Honours in Antarctic Studies from the University of Tasmania at Hobart, and his Bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. He has done fieldwork in Greenland and Antarctica, co-developed and co-instructed a graduate-level science communication course at Dartmouth, and thinks penguins and unicorns are cool. Every now and again he is on Twitter as @giffordwong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we present two stories of medical crises, from New York in the 1980s to the present-day opioid epidemic. Part 1: During his residency training, pediatrician Ken Haller comes across a disturbing X-ray. Part 2: Neuroscientist Maureen Boyle's relationship with her sister, who struggles with drug addiction, becomes even more complicated when she begins working on drug policy. Episode transcript at http://www.storycollider.org/2017/8/4/epidemic-stories-of-medical-crises _______________________________ Ken Haller is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. He is President of the Missouri Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves on the boards of the Missouri Foundation for Health and the Gateway Media Literacy Project. He has also served as President of the St. Louis Pediatric Society; PROMO, Missouri’s statewide LGBT civil rights organization’ and GLMA, the national organization of LGBT health care professionals. He is a frequent spokesperson in local and national media on the health care needs of children and adolescents. Ken is also an accomplished actor, produced playwright, and acclaimed cabaret performer. In 2015 he was named Best St. Louis Cabaret Performer by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and he has taken his one-person shows to New York, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco. His special interests include cultural competency, health literacy, the relationship of medicine to the arts, the effects of media on children, and the special health needs of LGBT youth. His personal mission is Healing. Ken is also a member of The Story Collider's board. Maureen Boyle is the Chief of the Science Policy Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse or NIDA. She is a neuroscientist who has spent the last 7 years working on behavioral healthcare reform and drug policy. Prior to joining NIDA she was a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.  Before getting involved in policy she studied the biological basis of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. When she wants to get out of her brain she runs, does yoga, and tries to apply Pavlov's lessons to her bulldog puppy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Kelly Fleming is a chemical engineer, AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, and Policy and Advocacy lead for 500 Women Scientists — a grassroots advocacy organization started by four women in science following the 2016 election. By mid-November, the group had grown to 500 who signed onto an open letter pledging to stand up for scientific integrity and for women, minorities, immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA. Today, over 17,000 women have pledged their support. The Science Soapbox team sat down with Kelly to chat more about 500 Women Scientists' mission and how, with outreach, she hopes to promote an inclusive and diverse scientific community to solve global challenges. For show notes, visit sciencesoapbox.org/podcast and subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher. And while you're there, leave us a rating or review! Twitter: twitter.com/science_soapbox Facebook: facebook.com/sciencesoapbox Photo courtesy of ClimateTruth.org.

Have you ever tried buying a ticket online to a popular event? Maybe you got up early or stayed up late so you could grab a ticket right as they went on sale, only to find out they sold out almost instantly? Of course you could probably get one on StubHub or from another scalper, but that can be expensive. Who is to blame for this travesty? According to your elected officials, it's the robots. That's why Congress recently passed the BOTS Act, which would ban robotic scalpers in hopes of lowering ticket prices. It sounds good, in theory, but will it actually work? What are the unintended consequences? Joining Evan to discuss this is Anne Hobson, Technology Policy Fellow at the R Street Institute. For more, you can read her her op-ed here.

Xavier University of Louisiana alumna and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Danielle Haney discusses her path from XULA to a career in science policy and health education, the value of HBCUs in preparing future scientists, and her work as a non-profit advocate for spurring youth interest in the sciences.

Nathan Boll was an excellent physics student -- up until the day he suddenly dropped out. Nathan Boll is a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the National Academy of Sciences and a Space Policy Graduate Fellow in the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He has a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Montana Western and an M.S. in Space Science from the University of Michigan. Nathan’s work is primarily focused on the development of international cooperation for the exploration and development of space, and in supporting STEM education initiatives, such as the NASA Space Academy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ecologist Jessica Henkel finds the keys to her research truck missing, as it's parked on a remote beach with one of the biggest tides of the season about to come in. Jessica is a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the National Academy of Sciences and a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University. She has a B.A. in English from Stony Brook University and a M.S. in Conservation Biology from the University of New Orleans. Jessica is interested in how environmental and anthropogenic change and habitat degradation are impacting the coastal habitats of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the communities that rely on them. Her dissertation research investigates the migration ecology and physiology of near-arctic breeding shorebirds that stopover in coastal habitats on the Gulf of Mexico. When not wearing mud boots or waders, Jessica can be found advocating for coastal issues or marching in the Mardi Gras parades of her adopted city of New Orleans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices