2022 Graduate Student Policy Award Recipients Meet with Congressional Staff

2022 GSPA recipients from Alabama, North Carolina and Florida meet with staff from Rep. Kat Cammack’s office.

The 2022 Graduate Student Policy Award Cohort met virtually with over 40 Congressional offices on Feb. 16 and 17. Students asked for increased funding for the National Science Foundation, shared the importance of NSF funding to their own careers and the value of their own research. The visits came as Congressional appropriations were working to finalize the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget for the federal government and starting work on the FY 2023 budget.

Before the Hill visits, students received policy and communications training and developed messages about the value of ecological research with each other and ESA staff. Next, the GSPA cohort will meet with a panel of ESA members working in policy and government in April.

GSPA student from Southern California met with a representative from Rep. John Garamendi’s office.

This year’s award recipients are from universities across the US: Amanda Alva (Auburn University), Isabella Betancourt (Stony Brook University), Ian J. Brackett (Ohio State University), Jessica A. Bryzek (West Virginia University), Abigail J. Costigan (Stony Brook University), Amelia-Juliette C. Demery (Cornell University), Julie Donohue (Western Colorado University), Anastasia Dulskiy (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Sarah Gao (University of San Francisco), Benjamin Gerstner (University of New Mexico), Devon Gorbey (University at Buffalo), Jessica E. Griffin (University of California, Davis and San Diego State University), Elijah Hall (University of California, Riverside), Andrew M. Hoyt (Trent University), Kristen M. Jovanelly (Dartmouth College), Amanda L. Komasinski (University of Georgia), Katie LaPlante-Harris (University of Missouri), Abigail Lewis (Virginia Tech), Samuel A. Mahanes (University of California, Irvine), Zachary Malone (University of California, Merced), Claudia I. Mazur (Boston University), Kelly B. McCrum (University of Georgia), Cassandra Maria Luz Miller (University of New Mexico), Benjamin Moffat (University of Miami), Tim D. Morris (State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry), W. Kody Muhic (Old Dominion University), Jessica G. Murray (Utah State University), Laura P. Nicholson (University of Florida), Rounak Patra (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Rachel E. Pausch (UC Santa Cruz), Samuel P. Reed (University of Minnesota), Mae Rennick (University of California, Santa Barbara), D’amy Steward (University of Guam), Colin P. Sweeney (The Ohio State University), Corinne Sweeney (University of Georgia), Krti Tallam (Stanford University), Tara Ursell (University of California, Davis), Leena L. Vilonen (Colorado State University), Lynn Von Hagen (Auburn University), Heidi R. Waite (University of California, Irvine), Matthew Walter (University of Delaware), Tanner A. Waters (University of California, Los Angeles), Nicholas Wright-Osment (University of Alabama), and Sophie Zhu (University of California, Davis).

Read more about this year’s GSPA cohort in the press release.