Two alumni of the PhD program in chemistry at Emory University have been awarded the prestigious AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF). The AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship program, established in 1973, aims to foster evidence-based policymaking by placing scientists and engineers in federal agencies and congressional offices. Fellows serve yearlong assignments in the federal government and represent a broad range of backgrounds, disciplines, and career stages.
As fellows, Drs. Diane Karloff and Evelyn “Evy” Kimbrough will enhance their professional growth while also contributing an expert scientific perspective to the formulation of public policies.
Diane Karloff
Diane Karloff is working in the Executive Branch at the Department of Defense. In her role, Diane will apply her expertise in chemical biology to inform defense policies and strategies. In particular, her placement focuses on countering the proliferation of chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons worldwide. She is also passionate about STEM education and building a diverse STEM workforce, which she will continue to advocate for during her fellowship.
Diane pursued her degree at Emory as a member of the Heemstra Group (now at University of Washington in St. Louis.) Her research background includes profiling the ligandability of the human mRNAome and developing RNA-targeted chemical probes. During her time at Emory, she was also Outreach Chair for Emory’s chapter of the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) and a founding member of the Student Advocacy for Full Engagement (SAFE) Committee. Diane also served as the Associate Editor of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance for two years.
Evelyn “Evy” Kimbrough
Evelyn “Evy” Kimbrough has been placed at the education branch of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NCATS’ mission is more treatments, for all people, more quickly.” To carry out this mission, NCATS uses interdisciplinary and team-based science to facilitate the transition of new scientific discoveries from the research lab to clinical trials. In her role, Evy will be developing seminars and workshops focused on translational and team science. Additionally, Evy will contribute to the NIH’s mission to recruit and retain a diverse commmunity of scientists by attending conferences that serve scholars historically excluded from STEM disciplines and providing support to scientists within NIH programs.
At Emory, Evy was a member of the Dunham Group where she used structural biology to study how tRNA modifications impact the ability of the ribosome to maintain the correct mRNA reading frame during translation. During her time at Emory, she was also a member of the Executive Board of the Emory Science Advocacy Network (EScAN), Pi Alpha Chemical Society (PACS), and the Emory Chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS).