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Sci on the Fly
April 6, 2026
Surviving and Thriving during the AAAS STPF Executive Branch Finalist Week
Congratulations on making it to finalist week! Finalist week can be very busy and hectic, particularly as you request and navigate interviews with host offices you are interested in. My goal with this post is not to overwhelm you, but to offer several strategies for starting finalist week off on the...
Sci on the Fly
January 28, 2021
Reporting Tricks and Communication Tips for Scientists in Government
This summer I had the exciting opportunity to write environmental science stories for a newspaper as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow. The Mass Media Fellowship pairs early career scientists with newspapers, science magazines, radio stations, and other media...
Sci on the Fly
January 27, 2021
A Message from the new Executive Editor for the Sci on the Fly Blog
Write it down. Write it all down. That’s one great piece of advice my mentor gave on the first day of my fellowship, and it’s allowed me to chronicle my accomplishments and failures (or, ‘opportunities’) throughout my fellowship years, and something I like to...
Sci on the Fly
November 15, 2020
Community is Key at The Innovation Station
The importance of community has been clear to me since I was young. I grew up in a small town and witnessed the power of community in situations as frivolous as high school homecoming or as serious as devastating floods. Communities thrive when they come...
Sci on the Fly
October 28, 2020
Finding Your Science Policy Path
By Steph Guerra The following is an excerpt of a blog post by STPF Executive Branch Fellow Steph Guerra, originally published at Addgene.org on September 22, 2020. “But, seriously, what even is science policy?” I have been asked this many times throughout my...
Sci on the Fly
October 22, 2020
Reflecting on One Exceptional, Partly Virtual Year on Capitol Hill
This blog post was originally published on September 25, 2020 at InSight by IEEE: https://insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/ieee-usa-congressional-fellowships/ Serving as a 2019-2020 IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow on Capitol Hill has been an honor and a privilege...
Sci on the Fly
October 3, 2020
Pathways to Climate Justice – A Roadmap to Confront Race, Equity, and Justice for Addressing Climate Change
Authors: Andrew Fang-1, Nicole Scharko-1, Crystal Upperman-2 1 AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow 2 Senior Scientist, Aclima The following summarizes a panel discussion addressing climate change, health, and environmental justice during the AAAS Science &...
Sci on the Fly
September 9, 2020
What They Won’t Tell You About Working in Government: Advice to New Fellows From an Alum
The final stage before one fully steps into the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF) is an intense two-week orientation where incoming fellows receive a crash course in science policy. Traditionally, it is one of the only times when STPF fellows...
Sci on the Fly
July 20, 2020
A Local Community Needed a Scientist. A Dynamic Fellow Duo Answered the Call.
A Fresh AAAS STPF Candidate: Dr. Erin McDuffie (@atmosph_erin). Erin: Rewind to late April, Finalist Interview Week for the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF). It was Monday afternoon and my first virtual interview had just ended with staff...
Sci on the Fly
July 13, 2020
Enough already: It's time to stop giving intelligent assistants female names and voices
For several years now, I’ve been railing against the increasing number of intelligent assistants that have female names and voices — Siri, Alexa, Cortana. Even Bank of America has jumped on the bandwagon with their assistant, Erika. Only Google is a welcome...
Sci on the Fly
May 4, 2020
Testing for COVID-19: A visit to a pop-up testing center
Dry cough, headaches, body aches, a stabbing pain along my ribs, and chills. In mid-March, as stay-at-home orders were first being implemented due to SARS CoV-2, a slew of symptoms hit me like mid-sized sedan - not bad enough to wipe me out, but just to leave...
