By Dr. Isabel Warner
On September 24th, Dr. Isabel Warner traveled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to meet with Pennsylvania state policy fellows from the Governor’s Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, the William and Hannah Penn Fellowship, and Govern for America. Dr. Warner presented about the MOST Policy Fellowship and her career in science policy alongside Dr. Tomotaroh Granzier-Nakajima, a former MOST Policy Fellow and a current American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow, and Dr. Liana Vaccari, a former Eagleton Science & Policy Fellow who currently works for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
During the panel, Dr. Warner explained how the MOST Fellowship provides services for the Missouri state legislature like the Congressional Research Service does for Congress. She taught Pennsylvania Fellows about the Missouri state legislature, giving an overview of its structure, the length of session, and the term limits placed on representatives. She discussed how these factors affect the dynamics of the legislature and the legislative session itself, and the role MOST plays in this ecosystem.
Dr. Warner gave an overview her background as a community organizer and founder of a civic education non-profit, and how her experiences as a microbiologist at a state public health laboratory during multiple disease outbreaks and later during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic informed her decision to pursue a career at the intersection of science and policy.
The panelists stressed the importance of learning to manage up, time management, and communicating overwhelm to superiors. Dr Warner joked that “the best thing about my job is the capacity for work-life balance, especially compared to grad school, but I would be lying if I said I had learned how to say ‘no’ and not over-work myself.”
Dr. Granzier-Nakajima emphasized the importance of MOST’s State Tour, where Fellows travel around the state meeting with legislators and partners in their districts. It provides an opportunity to familiarize incoming Fellows with the state, and a chance to speak directly to community members and organizations about issues and challenges they’re facing.
Dr. Warner also highlighted the opportunities MOST has given her to present her policy research and promote MOST. She cited the Empower Missouri Summit, National State Conference of Legislatures (NCSL) Summit, the Governor’s Conference on Economic Development, and STL Datafest in St. Louis as public opportunities to highlight MOST’s model and discuss Science Note research with potential partners and community organizations. In addition, she mentioned the opportunities MOST has had to present work directly to legislators and legislative staff, at informal breakfasts, partner meetings, and official MOST events.
Overall, Dr. Warner said “I had a wonderful time getting to visit Harrisburg and connecting with the other panelists and the three cohorts of Fellows. They asked some interesting questions, and I think it was a great discussion, with a good breadth of experience on the panel. I hope what I said will be of some use to them and more importantly I hope they have a great year as Fellows! It’s an exciting time to be in science policy and I think they have a great opportunity ahead of them.”