Fellows

“The COVES Policy Fellowship exposed me to a variety of science policy career pathways and helped me develop the skills necessary to pursue a career in policy advisement.”

Summer Responsibilities: Sarah assessed the effectiveness of Virginia’s current efforts to address health care workforce shortages. Using publicly available data and interviews with stakeholders, she developed a detailed inventory of health workforce programs that included information about their goals, reach, costs, and overall effectiveness.

Background: After earning her master’s degree, Sarah worked in private practice as a licensed psychotherapist and autism evaluation consultant for several years before joining her current program. Her current research focuses broadly on exploring the associations between patient-provider interactions, medical distrust, and health disparities in pediatric and young adult illness populations. She is passionate about the translation of health research into sustainable community-focused programs and health policies.

“The COVES Policy Fellowship has shown me the importance of educational policy in shaping curricula, teaching methodologies, and student outcomes.”

Summer Responsibilities: Jasmine collaborated with the Virginia Department of Education’s Science Instruction Team to review Standards of Learning (SOLs) and associated resources that support K-12 science education in Virginia. Among other activities, she reviewed the SOLs for Anatomy and Physiology and surveyed Virginia scientists on their career pathways.

Background: Jasmine’s research interests include the effects of childhood trauma and stress on health outcomes. More specifically, she is interested in the immunological and genetic effects of traumatic stress in youth who have been exposed to violence either directly or indirectly. She hopes to use her research to further the understanding of the impact of traumatic events on youth development overall and inform prevention/intervention efforts.

“The fellowship has inspired me to think about my own research in a broader context of helping the public and the community at large.”

Summer Responsibilities: Kaushal’s project was designed to help the Department of Education expand opportunities for teaching computer science in K–12 classrooms. He compared the computer science education policies of Virginia with other states, analyzed such factors as the types of computer science courses available, and provided data-driven recommendations.

Background: Kaushal’s main research interests are in understanding the security and privacy threats in modern operating systems and building tools that help in their mitigation. His research has been published in various conferences such as ACM and IEEE. His paper on the study of security vulnerabilities in smart home platforms won the ‘best paper award’ at ACM CODASPY’19, and also received wide media coverage. Currently, he is the lead graduate student of the Secure Platforms Lab, supervised by Dr. Adwait Nadkarni.

“I am profoundly grateful to the COVES Policy Fellowship, mentors, and colleagues who enriched this transformative journey. This experience ignited my passion for meaningful research.” 

Summer Responsibilities: To shed light on the lack of perinatal services available to rural Virginians and to encourage effective interventions, Zhenyi leveraged tools like ArcGIS, R, and Microsoft Access and discovered a significant correlation between longer travel times to health care providers and lower education levels with a higher likelihood of low birth-weight infants.

Background: Zhenyi focuses on developing advanced, data-driven algorithms for automated detection and extraction of global and local structures of protein landscape. He has worked as a graduate teaching assistant, providing tutoring and grading for introductory and advanced statistics courses, as well as a physics algorithm engineer in Beijing, China. In his free time, Zhenyi enjoys playing violin and was a member of the Great Woods Symphony Orchestra at Wheaton College.

“COVES’ weekly speakers were critical in allowing me to learn more about science policy, science communication, and jobs in these fields.”

Summer Responsibilities: To help ensure the stability of Virginia’s dams, Juli identified several sources of federal funding for dam safety. She documented their requirements, other states’ use of these funds, and the possibility of securing FEMA funding under the National Dam Safety Program.

Background: Juli’s master’s degree research project focuses on potential cybersecurity threats in the maritime industry. She has examined specific sources of vulnerabilities including humans, offshore and onshore systems, and maritime vessels, then scrutinized through the lens of selected, documented maritime cybersecurity incidents from around the globe. Such findings qualitatively show the extent to which cybersecurity risk threatens the maritime industry and other dependent segments including critical infrastructures.

“My work tangibly furthered the nonprofit organization’s mission of making innovative and life-saving care available and accessible to those in need.”

Summer Responsibilities: Shelita wrote a white paper reviewing innovative financing that could be used to encourage manufacturers to develop therapies for rare diseases. Her paper was part of Virginia Bio’s efforts to defeat prescription drug legislation that would lead to price caps and potentially discourage innovation.

Background: During Shelita’s academic career, she has had the opportunity to gain invaluable research experience as an undergraduate research assistant for various projects funded by the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 2022, the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity selected her for its ninth cohort of HBCU Scholars. Currently, Shelita is a member of Dr. Haynes Schniepp’s Diatom Group at William & Mary.

Mikala a M.S graduate student studying Computer Science at Virginia State University estimated to graduate December 2024. Mikala received her B.S in Computer Science summa cum laude at Virginia State University after 2.5 years of college. Her M.S thesis project centers on the development of applications using virtual and augmented reality devices. Post academia, Mikala wishes to make a positive impact on the world through software development.

Mark Schwartz is a 4th-year Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. After growing up in the Chicago area, Mark earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Saint Louis University. His current research focuses on improving drug delivery and enhancing the effects of immunotherapy on breast cancer. Outside the lab, he currently serves as the president of UVA’s Science Policy Initiative and has worked on projects in HIV policy. With interests in health policy, particularly in health disparities, Mark looks forward to bringing tools developed during his time at UVA into the COVES Fellowship this summer.

Gates Palissery is a PhD Candidate in the Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health program at Virginia Tech. Before coming to VT, she earned her B.S. in Neuroscience and Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and worked as a lab manager at Northwestern University. Her interests in social behaviour and the brain led her to the labs of Drs Pearl Chiu and Brooks Casas, where her dissertation research focusses on risky social decision making in individuals with borderline personality disorder. She looks forward to pursuing a career that combines her passion for science communication and education with her scientific background. When she’s not in lab, Gates can be found training for her next marathon, working on her next novel, or geeking out about pretty much anything, especially The Flash and Moon Knight.

Prianka Mandal is a Ph.D. candidate in the computer science department at William & Mary. She is advised by Dr. Adwait Nadkarni and a member of the Secure Platforms Lab (SPL). Her research interest focuses on the usability of security and privacy in smart computing platforms. She systematically analyzes smart platform security and privacy practices and explores stakeholders’ perceptions of the practices. Prianka completed her Master of Science in Software Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prianka is looking forward to applying her knowledge and research skills toward real-world policymaking as a 2024 COVES fellow.