Genetics Society of America
Early Career Scientist Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee
The Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee aims to provide an interdisciplinary opportunity for early career scientists interested in developing their skills in science policy and advocacy through workshops, career informational interviews, and networking events.
Learn more about the Early Career Leadership Program.
Advisors:
- Adrienne Hallett, advisor, Coalition for Life Sciences
- Elyse Hope, advisor, Science Philanthropy Alliance
- Nick Rhind, advisor, UMass Med School
Goals:
- Explore current policies and their implications for graduate and postdoctoral training, research funding, and the advancement of the scientific enterprise.
- Communicate with Society members, government representatives, and other scientists.
Ongoing Projects:
- Contribute to the ECS Weekly newsletter for early career scientists.
- Curate list of policy fellowship and training opportunities.
- Conduct policy interviews for publication to the GSA Genes to Genomes blog.
- Propose and organize virtual Hill Day events.
Current Members:
Angelica Previero
Co-Chair
Cameron Bennett
Co-chair
Bahaar Chawla
Member
Pavithra Venkataraman
Member
Sarah Ruttenberg
Member
Featured Project
Policy Fellowship Database
The Policy Subcommittee developed and curates this unique database to increase the accessibility of policy careers to scientists. The database includes a wide range of training opportunities in science policy and allows users to filter by required education, location, compensation, application deadline, and other features, making it easier to find opportunities that fit the unique needs of each applicant.
As part of this effort, the committee also interviews program officers and former fellows about the application process and fellowship experience from a variety of programs, publishing this valuable information in the “Inside View” blog post series.
Join an ECS Committee
Are you an early career scientist member of GSA? Apply for an ECS Committee to help shape the future of the GSA community and make your voice—and the voices of others like you—heard.
Learn more about Early Career Leadership at GSA
Early Career Scientist Leadership Program
Students, postdocs, and other early career scientists (ECS) are the future of the GSA community. To strengthen their voice in the Society, GSA developed the Early Career Scientist leadership and professional development program. This program provides rich opportunities for early career scientists to develop skills, gain leadership experience, network, and produce concrete deliverables that demonstrate their abilities.
GENETICS Peer Review Training Program
Peer-reviewers are vital to science, yet early career scientists in our field rarely receive formal training in how to be a good reviewer. GSA and GENETICS are addressing this gap with a program that gives early career members real-world peer review experience. Participants will receive online training, advice from GENETICS editors, and will become reviewers for manuscripts submitted to the journal.
Read the latest on Policy Fellowships on Genes to Genomes.
Developmental biologist chases big questions in a tiny fly
Michael O'Connor, recipient of the 2026 Edward Novitski Prize, tackles challenging questions in Drosophila development, following where the science takes him.
Yeast geneticist behind the 1,002 Yeast Genomes Project builds resources to connect genotypes to phenotypes
Joseph Schacherer, recipient of the 2026 GSA Medal, began exploring yeast genome diversity as a postdoctoral researcher. Now, his work, which grew to a total of 1,011 sequenced yeast genomes, serves as a springboard for...
From Arabidopsis to Zea mays, there’s a knowledgebase for that
In 2022, GENETICS debuted its first annual overview of selected knowledgebases. In continuance of that tradition, this year’s piece will discuss 12 knowledgebase updates with an emphasis on economically important plant Model Organism Databases (MODs)....