Miles Arnett

President (he/him)

As president of PSPDG, Miles manages relationships with outside organizations and alumni, leads long-term strategies, coordinates financial planning, and supports the development of PSPDG’s leadership team.

Miles is a PhD student in the Bioengineering department at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently researching cellular memory in the Raj Lab, and particularly how cancer cells develop resistance to targeted therapies. Outside of the lab, he hopes that his work as part of PSPDG will get more scientists thinking about how their work can positively impact society, and is otherwise keenly interested in election law, astronomy, and Boston sports. After graduation, he hopes to continue working in science policy, either as a career or as a supplement to academic research.

 

Vivian Xu

Vice President (she/her)

Vivian supports PSPDG’s President by coordinating partnerships with external policy organizations and leading communications for PSPDG.

Vivian completed her BS in Neuroscience at UCLA and her MS in Toxicology at Columbia University. She is now a PhD student in the Pharmacology Graduate Group at Penn. While at UCLA, she held several leadership roles at the Daily Bruin where she ran the arts and entertainment section of 50 individuals. She now applies her media experiences to advance science communication and outreach of PSPDG’s programming and mission.

 

Megan Wynalda

Treasurer

As the Treasurer of PSPDG, Megan oversees finances for all three branches of the group. She also seeks new funding opportunities for PSPDG, manages its grants, and coordinates member reimbursements and purchase orders.

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Kenji Yeoh

Science Policy Chair

As science policy chair, Kenji develops and organizes policy initiatives and events, by bringing together teams of passionate scientists to learn and teach each other the fundamentals of science policy.

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Maria Maltepes

Science Communication Co-Chair

Maria oversees and helps teams develop science communication initiatives and events, including training workshops, media production, and career exploration. She also helps coordinate collaborations between PSPDG's SciComm teams and other student groups.

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Diego Mendez

Science Communication Co-Chair

Maria oversees and helps teams develop science communication initiatives and events, including training workshops, media production, and career exploration. She also helps coordinate collaborations between PSPDG's SciComm teams and other student groups

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Dimitris Boufidis

Science Diplomacy Chair (He/him)

Dimitris creates events to promote science in diplomatic settings, educate members on international relations and foreign policy, and promote STEM as a crucial part of foreign affairs.

Dimitris Boufidis is a Bioengineering Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania, working at the intersection of neural tissue engineering and flexible bioelectronics. Originally from Greece, he graduated from the University of Sheffield with the 2022 Chancellor’s Medal Award. He’s been recognized as a top 100 “Leader of Tomorrow” in the biotech industry (GS2020, Cambridge UK), national winner of the UK’s Student Employee of the Year 2020, and his volunteering work has been featured on The Guardian and BBC News. He’s a TEDx Speaker, passionate about STEM outreach, and an aspiring science policy and diplomacy professional. He is currently the Science Diplomacy Chair of the Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group (PSPDG).

 

Emily Xu

Media and outreach coordinator

As Media and Outreach Coordinator of PSPDG, Emily leads communication campaigns and maintains PSPDG’s online presence to promote our organization and disseminate program outcomes.

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Kaeri Martinez Medina

President Emerita (She/Her) | contact

As the President Emerita of PSPDG, Kai provides advice and support to the President and Executive Leadership team in long-term strategizing, financial planning, managing relationships with outside organizations, and developing PSPDG’s future leaders.

Kai is originally from Chicago, Illinois. After completing her undergraduate degree in biology at Brown University, she chose to purse her Ph.D. in virology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on the biology of mRNA translation, RNA viruses, and host strategies to combat viral infectious diseases. As the science diplomacy chair within PSPDG, she hosts seminars dedicated to the intersection of diplomacy and science (pandemics, technology and AI). Along with other members of PSPDG, she is working to increase STEM student's proficiency in diplomacy, policy, and communication.

Katie Mossburg

President Emerita (she/her) | contact

As the President Emerita of PSPDG, Katie provides advice and support to the President and Executive Leadership team in long-term strategizing, financial planning, managing relationships with outside organizations, and developing PSPDG’s future leaders.

Katie grew up in West Virginia, and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University. She is now a fourth year PhD student in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on developing ultrasmall metallic nanoparticles as novel contrast agents for breast cancer imaging.

 

Walker Gosrich

President Emeritus (He/Him) | contact

As President Emeritus of PSPDG, Walker provides advice and support to the President and Executive Leadership team in long-term strategizing, financial planning, managing relationships with outside organizations, and developing PSPDG’s future leaders.

Walker hails from the far reaches of upstate NY, and earned his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University at Buffalo. He is currently a PhD Candidate in the GRASP Lab at University of Pennsylvania, researching the coordination of multi-robot teams via graph theory and machine learning. His policy interests are in regulation of autonomous weapons, and in the governance of AI and its use in large-scale human-facing systems.

 

Lindsey Fernandez

President Emerita (She/Her)|Postdoctoral Fellow | contact

As the President Emerita of PSPDG, Lindsey provides advice and support to the President and Executive Leadership team in long-term strategizing, financial planning, managing relationships with outside organizations, and developing PSPDG’s future leaders.

 

Erin K. Reagan

President Emerita (she/her) | contact

As the President Emerita of PSPDG, Erin provides advice and support to the President and Executive Leadership team in long-term strategizing, financial planning, managing relationships with outside organizations, and developing PSPDG’s future leaders.

Erin grew up in rural Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Physics from Hofstra University and recently completed her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she researched the use of mRNA vaccines for preventing infectious diseases. She currently serves as an Eagleton Science and Politics Fellow placed within the New Jersey Legislature.

 

Past Leadership

 

Throughout PSPDG’s history, we’re grateful to have been led by extremely motivated and hard-working individuals. Our previous leaders have devoted time, energy, and skill to the vision and activities of the group, and given current and future leadership the framework to succeed in our endeavor to share science with the world.

  • Kaeri Martinez Medina - President

    Rose Albert - Vice President

    Georgia Mies - Treasurer

    Miles Arnett - Science Policy Chair

    Dimitris Boufidis - Science Diplomacy Chair

    Gabriel Vega Bellido - Science Communication Chair

  • Katie Mossburg - President

    Devin M. Burris - Communications Coordinator

    Hersh Sanghvi - Treasurer

    Stefan Peterson - Science Policy Chair

    Kaeri Martinez Medina - Science Diplomacy Chair

    Amanda N. Weiss - Science Communication Chair

    Rose Albert - External Organizations Liaison

    Walker Gosrich - President Emeritus

    Lindsey Fernandez - President Emerita

    Erin K. Reagan - President Emerita

  • Lindsey Fernandez - Co-President

    Walker Gosrich - Co-President

    Alison L. Knasin - Communications Coordinator

    Katie Mossburg - Science Policy Co-Chair

    Stefan Peterson - Science Policy Co-Chair

    Amanda N Weiss - Science Communication Chair

    Hersh Sanghvi - Treasurer

    Shannon L. Wolfmann- President Emeritus

    Erin K. Reagan - President Emeritus

  • Shannon L. Wolfman - President

    Walker Gosrich - Science Policy Chair

    Julia Han Noll - Science Communication Chair

    Amanda Weiss - Interim Science Communication chair

    Stephen Mell - Communications Coordinator

    Lindsey Fernandez - Treasurer

    Erin K. Reagan - President Emerita, Racial Justice Deputy

  • Erin K. Reagan - President, Racial Justice Deputy

    Shannon Wolfman - Science Policy Chair

    Tori Lovins - Science Diplomacy Chair

    Alisa “Alice” Sukhina - Science Communication Chair

    Stephen Mell - Communications Coordinator

    Alexandra Maldonado-Lopez - Treasurer, SACNAS Liaison

    Julia Han Noll - Podcast Director, Science Communication Workshop Series Deputy

  • Erin K. Reagan - President, Policy Co-chair, Video Director

    Shannon Wolfman - Policy Co-Chair

    Tori Lovins - Diplomacy Chair

    Krystal Haislop - Communications Officer

    Alexandra Maldonado-Lopez - Treasurer

    Julia Han Noll - Podcast Director

  • Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy

    Erin K. Reagan — President, Policy Chair, Diplomacy Chair, Treasurer, Video Director

    Reno Kriz — Vice President

    Ambika Natesan — Communications Chair

    Camille Testard — Podcast Director

    Anne Fosnocht — Blog Director

  • Adrian Rivera-Reyes — Co-president of Science Policy, founder

    Enrique Lin Shiao — Co-President of Science Diplomacy, founder

    Ian McLaughlin — Co-President of Science Communication, founder

  • Science Policy Group

    Adrian Rivera-Reyes — President

    Jamie DeNizio — Vice President

    Liana Vaccari — Treasurer

    Ian McLaughlin — Communications Coordinator

    Science Diplomacy Group

    Enrique Lin Shiao — Chair and Founder

    Liana Vaccari — Vice Chair

    Ryan Mayers — Head of Operations

    Martin Iwanicki — Webmaster

    Sharon Kim — Secretary

    Jonathan Rumley — Treasurer

    Matthew Moronta — Head of Communications

    Benjamin Schmitt — Director of Alumni Engagement

  • Penn Science Policy Group

    Adrian Rivera-Reyes — President

    Michael Allegrezza — NSPG Liaison

    Annie Chen — Discussion Group Coordinator

    Shaun O’Brien — Advocacy and Postdoctoral Affairs Coordinator

    Ian McLaughlin — Communications Chair

    Penn Diplomacy Group

    Enrique Lin Shiao — Chair and Founder

    Alexandra Delaney — Vice Chair

    Stephen Goldstein — Head of Operations

    Seleeke Flingia — Webmaster

    Sarah Sneed — Secretary

    Martin Iwanicki — Treasurer

    Benjamin Schmitt — Director of Alumni Engagement

  • Penn Science Policy Group

    Michael Allegrezza — President and Founder / NSPG Liaison

    Chris Yarosh — Vice President

    Katy Ong — Treasurer / Co-Discussion Group Coordinator

    Shaun O’Brien — Advocacy and Postdoctoral Affairs Coordinator

    Ian McLaughlin — Communications Chair

    Annie Chen — Co-Discussion Group Coordinator