STPF Speed Networking

The Annual Meeting started off with a speed networking event for fellows and alumni. Attendees enjoyed some light refreshments while rotating through five rounds of speed networking. We hope you met up with old friends and left with new ones!

Special Session

Alum Arati Prabhakar presented in a special session, where she spoke about the power of science, technology, and innovation and how that power has been integral to progress. As much as we have achieved, there’s much more to be achieved and a ways to go to fulfill our aspirations.

Alumni Lounge & Coffee Chats

In this alumni-exclusive space, there were daily coffee chats, refreshments, swag, and outlets for alumni to recharge. Different decades of classes came together for their class photos and alumni were invited to attend the happy hour in the Alumni Lounge featuring a drink created by our very own Communications Director Kat Song, the “STPF Forever!” Recipe here

In case you missed the coffee chats:

Richard Scribner and Joel Primack chatted about the growth of STPF, from 4 to 4,000: Founders Tell All.
Alum Kristin Lewis chatted with Dan Barry and alums Michael Fernandez and Kim Montgomery about science policy efforts at all levels, from local to global.
10 alumni shared projects they’re involved with or working on at the very first Alumni Innovation Showcase. The speakers were: Adam Shapiro, Alex Dehgan, Anna Quider, Drew Story, Hanny Rivera, Janet Chen, Julian Reyes, Kevin Cooke, Roberto Delgado, Stephanie Davis. See below for their information.

Alumni also joined us for class photos! Download here

Innovation Showcase Info

STPF@50 Scientific Sessions

Throughout the AAAS Annual Meeting, the STPF@50 scientific sessions highlighted the advances in the development of science policy as a discipline and its adaption and application across professional sectors.

The first STPF@50 scientific session was about science policy, knowledge and skills featuring STPF director Rashada Alexander, Andrew D. Maynard, and Rob Stanley. Panelists discussed the evolution of science policy as a discipline, as well as how it could embed this knowledge in more areas and levels of government and localities.

Another session addressed the impacts of scientific evidence on policymaking through science policy fellowships, featuring Skip Stiles, alum Ali Douraghy, alum Jon Kaye, Louis Riggs and STPF Project Director, Olivia Monahan.

Current STPF fellow Christopher Jackson and alums Ian Simon, Benjamin Zaitchik, and Arti Garg chatted about taking their skills and careers out of the lab and into their communities.

In the last session, “The Future of Science Policy: An Expanding Universe,” Deborah Stine, Joel Primack, and alums Rebecca Aicher, Arti Garg and Alex Dehgan discussed the important role of engaged scientists and the future of science policy in the unique opportunities to infuse multidisciplinary scientific evidence into the policymaking process.

STPF@50 Celebratory Mixer

If you were among the nearly 600 (!) souls gathered to celebrate, we hope you had a great time. Whether or not you were able to attend, we hold you in spirit and hope you’ll stay connected with STPF as we move toward the next fifty years!

See the new video that kicked off the event, highlighting the impact of the program on US policy and individual lives. Watch to the end to learn how you can pitch in to help support more fellows for better policy.

We also unveiled a fantastic series of video shorts featuring STPF alumni and other key figures in STPF history including Nobel Laureate Steven Chu, former NIH Director Francis Collins, Senator Sherrod Brown, and AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh.

Lastly, thank you to Arizona State University for sponsoring this event. Here’s to bringing more years to science policy! 🥂