Marlit Hayslett serves as the Director for Communication Training and Strategy in the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Virginia. Her role is to coach graduate students on how to share their research with audiences such as the public, media, industry, and policymakers. Prior to coming to UVA, Marlit was the founding director of the Office of Policy Analysis and Research (OPAR) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute where she led research projects on state-level science policy. In this role, she also served as a liaison between researchers and state legislators.

Marlit earned a B.S. and an M.S. in International Affairs and an M.S. in Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She completed her PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Georgia in May 2020 where her dissertation compared how science was communicated on three policy issues in the US and the EU.

Matthew is currently an American Chemical Society/AAAS Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow, where he is working on education and health policy in the office of Senator Tina Smith. In the summer of 2020, he was an AAAS Mass Media Fellow at The Raleigh News & Observer, covering stories on COVID-19 and other science topics. Matthew completed his PhD in materials science and engineering at UVA in 2019, where he was active in the Science Policy Initiative and the Graduate Engineering Student Council.

Ans Irfan is a global public health practitioner who serves as a principal investigator and faculty at George Washington University. He is also a Policy Director with a nonprofit focusing on translating evidence to public health practice. As a mixed-methods scholar, his multidisciplinary work focuses on achieving global health equity. In his free time, he is a full-time dual doctorate student.

Fellowships: Fellow, Health Policy Research Scholars Program — Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Agents of Change Fellow — Environmental Health News; Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Fellow — National Academy of Sciences; Science & Technical Fellow — Center for Health, Environment & Justice; Health Equity Fellow — Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (Tufts specific fellowship program).

Nicole Jefferson has a passionate interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Art, and Mathematics. Early in life, Ms. Jefferson’s involvement in 4-H from that of camper to camp counselor taught her the importance of team-building and responsibility for others, as well as herself. During undergraduate school, Nicole served as Lead Designer for a Formula One race car team heightening her leadership skills and creative edge, while constantly challenging her to think and innovate outside of the box.

Likewise, serving as a Community Engagement and Outreach for VA House of Delegate Lashrecse Aird; a Community Round Table member of Governor Northam's Committee on Race, Equity and Inclusion; and a videographed interviewee for the US Senator Tim Kaine Re-election Campaign (https://youtu.be/geS7q9qJSG8); most recently serving as a COVES Fellow for VA State Senator Ghazala Hashmi has broadened her abilities to understand the political processes on both the local, state and national levels.

Finally, as a founding partner of OvrActv Imagination (www.OvrActv.org), a non-profit Engineering Ideation Consulting Company, Nicole has developed and continued to hone leadership, business, managerial, marketing, research, and networking skills. Ms. Jefferson holds a Mechanical Engineering Technology B.S., Computer Science M.S., and plans to pursue an Engineering Education and Policy Ph.D. in the fall.

Kat holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from UVA and a M.A.S. in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is currently a Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow placed in the United States Senate, where she works on ocean policy and legislation for Senator Roger F. Wicker (R-MS).