Fellows

“I hope my report documenting the mental health and substance abuse crisis and the Evidence-based strategies to improve crisis response training will help the office better target stakeholders.”

Summer responsibilities: Frankie supported the Division of Clinical Quality Management

And the Office of Crisis Supports and Services. For the latter, he redesigned its Crisis Services program. He analyzed training data to identify locations in the Commonwealth that are in need of mobile crisis responders and helped develop a framework to measure equity, licensing standards, and utilization.

Background: In his current doctoral research, Frankie uses high-fidelity manikins and opioid overdose scenarios to measure rescuers’ resuscitation skills, including naloxone administration, ventilations, and chest compressions. Furthermore, he is working with an authorized comprehensive harm reduction program (otherwise known as a syringe exchange program) to test the effectiveness of an adaptive just-in-time intervention to increase the presence and administration of naloxone in contexts familiar to people who use or inject opioids.

“I saw firsthand how legislation is drafted and passed and how policy is formulated while gaining great connections with government officials. Overall, this fellowship was priceless.”

Summer Responsibilities: During her summer, Denise researched computer science education in Virginia and laboratory schools. She mapped interest in laboratory schools among the state’s higher education institutions and provided documentation to support proposed new facilities. She additionally prepared office and policy-related documentation for the secretariat.

Background: Denise’s research looks at potential issues associated with virtual learning and experimentally tests the possibility of using technology-generated course content. Her findings research will be published at the 24th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction conference proceedings. Denise was a High-School Coding Competition instructor for the New Jersey Chapter of the Black Data Processing Associates, where she taught and mentored high school students for the national competition.

“Having the opportunity to attend a SCHEV meeting and to present my findings to staff gave me a look behind the scenes at state policymaking.”

Summer Responsibilities: As a member of the team reviewing student support services at institutions across the state, Jennifer immersed herself in background information, attended listening sessions, and created sets of recommendations—one for policymakers and the other for institutions—many of which were included in the final report.

Background: Jennifer’s research focuses on understanding and overcoming barriers to accessing mental healthcare for autistic children and their families, particularly in underserved rural areas such as southwest Virginia. Her work has specifically focused on novel methods of service delivery in rural regions, such as mobile clinics and telehealth. In addition to research, Jennifer has the opportunity to work as a graduate clinician, delivering low-cost therapy and assessment services to children and families in the local community.

“The knowledge I gained about policymaking helped me master the skills needed to become a better policy advisor and analyst, negotiator, and communicator.”

Summer Responsibilities: Amit used his security and privacy research background to analyze consumer data policies related to the Internet of Things (IoT), NextGen TVs, and accessibility tools for higher education. He recommended measures to strengthen consumer privacy in these areas and created primers to help policymakers better understand key concepts.

Background: Amit is researching security and software engineering with his co-advisors, Dr. Adwait Nadkarni and Dr. Denys Poshyvanyk. Through his research, he creates systematic soundness evaluation frameworks that can help improve software security testing tools. His recent works on this topic have been accepted and published in top-tier security venues such as ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security and IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. Furthermore, he received CoVA CCI Dissertation fellowship for his research.

“I am appreciative of the exposure I gained through the fellowship program and for the opportunity to interact with a range of state agencies.”

Summer Responsibilities: Dreon collected information from state agencies to create trackable metrics reflecting their implementation of Executive Order 17, which mandates that Virginia executive agencies implement recycling policies. As part of his work, he identified ways for them to comply more efficiently with the order.

Background: At Virginia State University, Dreon is currently working on his thesis in which he looks into frustration detection. His research consists of exploring the reasons behind the difficulty in learning programming concepts and the application thereof. Outside of academia, Dreon will be starting a full-time position as a Systems Engineer in the fall.

“This program has profoundly affected my research aspirations. I plan to continue my involvement with the policymaking community, drawing on the knowledge and skills honed during this fellowship.”

Summer Responsibilities: Duc focused on a new floodplain module, the Dam Safety Information System, which provides essential data for the National Flood Insurance Program. As part of his responsibilities, he reached out to stakeholders, collected essential data sets, reviewed ordinances, and updated DCR’s templates and letters.

Background: Duc’s research, supervised by Dr. Venkataraman Lakshmi and supported by the National Science Foundation, focuses on water resources management using remote sensing techniques to enable sustained collaboration and support equitable decision-making and solution adoption on risks of flooding and saltwater intrusion. His work has been presented at prestigious conferences, such as the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in 2022 and published in well-known journals such as the Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, Remote Sensing, and Water.

“I learned that science policy is simultaneously a slow and fast process and that the future of renewable energy depends on improved solar energy policy.”

Summer Responsibilities: Reilly helped revise Virginia House Bill 206, which outlines the DEQ’s Small Renewable Energy Permit-by-Rule program for solar projects of less than 150 megawatts. He researched such issues as the environmental impacts of solar farms, solar siting in adjacent states, agrivoltaics, and carbon emission offsets from solar energy.

Background: Reilly’s research focuses on flooding in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the implications of climate change relating to this issue, with the main regions of interest being the Potomac River and James River. He also has experience with modeling the co-benefits of fossil fuel emission reductions at the county level of Virginia, which was the basis for a moderate-scale research project he contributed to with the Virginia Climate Center.

“One of the most valuable parts of this fellowship is the opportunity to meet and work with so many like-minded individuals.”

Summer Responsibilities: While working directly with Assistant State Forester Terry Lasher on the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Teri attended several stakeholder meetings that provided insight into behind-the-scenes policymaking and conducted a literature review on the value of a carbon life-cycle analysis when evaluating the use of biomass as fuel.

Background: Teri’s academic focus has been on evidence-based decision making, sustainability analysis, and creating mitigation and adaptation plans for areas impacted by climate change. Teri has gained valuable experience as an adjunct supervising instructor for introductory biology labs, a lab manager, and a graduate assistant while at Christopher Newport University. She is passionate about environmental science and is eager to work with local policymakers to make a positive impact on the community.

“My experience as a COVES fellow has been immensely rewarding, strengthening my desire to pursue a career that harmonizes academia, industry, and policy.”

Summer Responsibilities: Nishat contributed to a white paper on facilitating the commercialization of university-based intellectual property. This involved comprehensive research, interviews with stakeholders, and analysis of best practices. The outcome was a series of recommendations for founder-friendly IP licensing policies and practices in Virginia universities.

Background: Nishat is currently a research fellow at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center, where she is supervised by Dr. Sachin Shetty. Her research interests are diverse and include artificial intelligence (ai), deep learning, and machine learning applications, with a focus on trustworthy AI. She believes we’re going through a transformative era where the emergence of AI is changing the way we look at life and it’s imperative to integrate policy to regulate AI for the greater good of humankind.

“I greatly appreciated the opportunity of working alongside ORS staff and hope to continue my journey in policy research.”

Summer Responsibilities: As a COVES fellow, Geovani helped ORS create a quality assurance measurement that could be used to assess recovery residences throughout the state. To produce his report, he researched government agencies with similar initiatives, examined national standards for recovery residences, and joined ORS staff for site visits.

Background: Geovani’s research interests are in the area of addressing mental health disparities among racial-ethnic minoritized communities, improving mental health utilization, investigating systemic factors (e.g., public policy) impacting mental health access, and substance use.