Career Chat, AAAS Sci & Tech Fellowships, Thurs, 6/13
Career Chat: Q&A with AAAS Science & Technology Fellows
Thursday, June 13
3:30 – 5:00 pm
Alumni Hall Café area
Vanderbilt alumnus Joseph Rustick will share his personal experiences at the EPA as a AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Executive Branch fellow. Come learn about the opportunities, process, and outcomes provided by this storied program. He will be joined by Teddy van Opstal, alumnus and current postdoc at Vanderbilt, who was recently selected as a AAAS Fellow.
This unique fellowship allows participants to learn about policymaking and implementation while contributing their knowledge and analytical skills to policymakers. The Fellowship is open to those with doctoral degrees in STEM and social science disciplines, and the application window for 2020 – 21 is open now. Learn more about the fellowships at: www.aaas.org/program/science-technology-policy-fellowships
Dr. Joseph Rustick is currently an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow hosted by the EPA Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, Radiation Protection Division (RPD). As a fellow, Dr. Rustick has been working on an individual project involving the creation of a stakeholder decision support framework to help determine the informational and input needs of various stakeholder groups in response to a radiological dispersal incident. He is interested in developing a greater understanding of the role and influence of science within policy making in relation to risk assessment and stakeholder participation, and has been working with RPD staff as an observer related to regulation of transuranic waste disposal and emergency radiological response. Prior to this fellowship, Dr. Rustick served as a subject matter expert investigating retrieval technologies and methods, best practices, worker protections, and lessons learned from current and past exhumation campaigns of disposed radioactive waste. He received a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University, and a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Rensselaer
Dr. Teddy van Opstal will begin his AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship this fall. He will be a Biotechnology Fellow at the Department of Defense as part of the Human Systems Directorate. Dr. van Opstal completed his PhD in Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, an MSc in medical biotechnology from Wageningen University, and a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Virginia.