Students work to narrow the gap between scientists and society
Erratum: Angela DePace, associate professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Scientific Citizenship Initiative, was incorrectly identified in the Sept. 16 Daily Gazette newsletter. We regret the error. As a science-minded and politically active youth growing up in central Oklahoma, Kayla Davis was fascinated with both science and policy. When Oklahoma made record budget cuts to education in 2016, however, her fascination bloomed into a desire to work at the intersection of these two worlds. “The state’s decision to sacrifice education spending, especially spending that would help enrich the learning experience of students interested in STEM fields, was heartbreaking to me,” said Davis, now a seventh-year graduate student in Harvard’s Biological and Biomedical Sciences program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). So, while studying mitochondrial regulation in the lab of Harvard Medical School (HMS) neuroscientist Tom Schwarz, Davis also actively explored science policy. She cofounded the...