MOST welcomes new cohort of policy fellows.
By: Madalynn Owens
This month, MOST Policy Initiative welcomes our second class of policy fellows to the team. The new fellows completed orientation last week, which included a visit to Jefferson City for veto session on Wednesday.
Tomotaroh Granzier-Nakajima will join MOST as the Energy & Environment Policy Fellow; Alan Moss will be our Education & Workforce Development Policy Fellow, and Ramon Martinez III will work as the Health & Mental Health Policy Fellow. In addition, Zack Miller will join the team as the inaugural MOST Graduate Policy Fellow. Our new fellows will join current, second-year legislative policy fellows, Jill Barnas (Human Services, Public Safety & Corrections) and Eleni Bickell (Agriculture, Natural Resources & Conservation).
Tomotaroh Granzier-Nakajima, Energy and Environment Policy Fellow
Tomotaroh completed his undergraduate education in math and physics while minoring in Japanese. He continued his education with a graduate degree in physics at Pennsylvania State University. Some of his research at this level revolved around using hydrogen fuel cells to create clean energy that only gives off water and heat.
His dissertation research at Pennsylvania State University focused primarily on modifying graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms. Graphene is considered the world’s thinnest, strongest, and most conductive material, and has a variety of known and proposed uses.
“I believe that my background with this sort of research, and in physics, gives me a good understanding for the energy and environmental policy I’ll be focusing on,” Tomotaroh said.
Tomotaroh knew that he wanted to investigate other avenues for his degrees and expertise in physics.
“In graduate school I wanted to develop a better understanding for how my career could impact the world, and that’s how I got to exploring different potential career paths,” Tomotaroh said. “The one that was most interesting to me was science policy.”
After discovering his interest in science policy, Tomotaroh joined a science policy group at Penn State. The group provided public comments on legislation and made submissions to science policy journals to bring awareness to issues in technology and data privacy. After being involved with this group, Tomotaroh joined the National Science Policy Network, where he learned about the MOST Policy Fellows Program.
“I’m really interested in getting to meet all the players involved with getting a piece of legislation enacted and seeing how all those pieces fit together,” Tomotaroh said. “I come from a strong science background, and there’s a lot of unknowns for me right now, especially in areas such as agriculture but I’m excited to learn everything I can from this process.”
Alan Moss, Education and Workforce Development Policy Fellow
Alan began his professional career in science at Iowa State University studying plant ecology and corn genetics. Before his college career, he was constantly surrounded by nature while growing up in rural Iowa.
“Growing up in rural Iowa, there was a lot of hanging out in the country by yourself,” Alan said. “I would always bring my family dog with me on walks where I just explored nature. I was always very interested in nature growing up.”
After college, Alan joined the U.S. Peace Corps as a Science Educator in Sierra Leone. In this role, Alan was involved in a variety of science communication and public health communication. His time in Sierra Leone was during the country’s Ebola outbreak, much of his outreach covered topics in public health. Alan focused on education in areas such as malaria, sanitation, Ebola prevention, and maternal health.
“I was one of the first volunteers after the civil war in Sierra Leone,” Alan said. “There were a lot of cultural practices I needed to learn, especially that you can’t just travel to a new place and tell people things and expect them to listen.”
Alan said his experience growing up in rural Iowa also helped him discover best practices for science communication and outreach. Through his experiences in Sierra Leone and Iowa, he hopes to be a better science communicator in Missouri, especially with people who may not have backgrounds in science.
After returning to the United States, Alan attended Saint Louis University for his graduate degree and Ph.D. where he worked in collaboration with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Kunming Institute of Botany in China. He spent three summers living on a Himalayan Mountain studying bumblebee diversity, particularly the factors that allow over 100 types of bumblebees to coexist in the only other hotspot for biodiversity at this level outside of the tropics.
Alan is excited to work with legislators, teachers, and scientists to improve education in Missouri as well as incorporate the lessons he learned with science outreach growing up and throughout his experience abroad.
“I’ve lived in Missouri for seven years now and I’m excited to give back to the people of Missouri.”
Ramon Martinez III, Health & Mental Health Policy Fellow
Ramon earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He then moved across the country to the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) to further pursue biochemistry and molecular biology. Ramon was involved in the NIH’s Initiative for Maximizing Student Development Program that focused on developing diverse scientists that can bring their skills to biomedical research. Through this program and their professional development events, Ramon learned he wanted to continue on his educational path.
“I didn’t necessarily know what I wanted to do at the time, but I knew it would require a graduate degree,” Ramon said. “I knew I wanted to have more of a biomedical focus, so I kept my application in pharmacy or pharmacology programs because I wanted something that would have translation. I wanted hands-on experience with clinically relevant material.”
His dissertation work focuses on studying acquired resistance to drugs, something that makes cancers such as melanoma so difficult to treat. This research focuses on novel therapeutic agents that can selectively regulate cell signaling, which may prove a promising alternative to current standard therapies in use.
Throughout his time at UMB, Ramon was involved in half a dozen professional societies as well as an active member of the student government. He was a representative and executive board member for both graduate students and the university as a whole. Ramon has been interested in the decision-making process and policy ever since he started graduate school.
“This essentially helped me learn how to professionally discuss issues and come to an agreement about solutions that satisfy both parties while explaining the experience and knowledge I bring to the table,” Ramon said.
In addition to the policy aspect of the fellowship, Ramon is interested in promoting science accessibility throughout his time with MOST.
“One of the important aspects I want to be able to learn from this policy fellowship is how to talk about science,” Ramon said. “Not just talk about science well but to simplify it in a way that is accessible to a multitude of different types of populations.”
Ramon also is looking forward to diving into healthcare and health policy for underserved communities including minorities and rural areas.
“Learning what issues are important to rural communities and minoritized communities is incredibly important when we are informing legislators and writing science notes, especially at a large-scale level,” Ramon said. “It’s important to understand how broad strokes in policy impacts individuals and individual communities.”
Zack Miller, Graduate Policy Fellow
Zack Miller is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Missouri (MU) who seeks to better understand the impacts of climate change on important ecological interactions, such as pollination. Zack says his interest in nature was inspired by his experiences outdoors during his childhood.
“I grew up near a creek and was super fascinated by everything that would move and [I would] try to catch it and keep it in a tank,” Zack said. “I loved flipping over old rotten logs and watching centipedes scurry away. I’ve just always been amazed at the diversity of life.”
He earned his undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies at Truman State University and later joined the U.S. Peace Corps as a Sustainable Agriculture Extensionist in Paraguay for over two years.
“In Paraguay, I was passionate about using ecological design principles to attract biodiversity to agricultural spaces. I saw pollinators as a link between these systems.”
His research uses acoustic techniques paired with long-term climate and floral data to research how shifts in climate impact bumblebee health and their pollination services, emphasizing the use of non-lethal methods for studying important pollinators. Zack seeks to inform conservation and management practices to better understand how to preserve these vital pollinators for years to come.
Zack has always been passionate about communicating science. He currently serves on the executive team of Science on Wheels, an MU-based organization run by volunteer graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Science on Wheels aims to introduce Missourians to local scientists through engaging presentations and casual discussion panels. A primary aim of Science on Wheels is to spur discourse between scientists and non-scientists.
“There’s obviously a big disconnect between scientists of all sorts and the general public so we’re trying to deliver it in a personable way that is less intimidating for the general public,” Zack said.
Zack’s interest in science policy was spurred by his desire to make change in the world, and inform that change with science.“I was originally attracted to policy because of the impact that it can have, decisions that can impact thousands of people or even the whole country,” Zack said. “The gravity of problems that we face as a country right now demand large-scale action, so policy seemed like the way to do that.”
His fellowship with MOST Policy Initiative is funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. The funding is intended to support scientists that are learning new skills and experiences that complement their primary academic research, for Zack this means getting his feet wet in the world of policy.
“I intend to spend my career engaged in this work, aiming to help transform Missouri into a more beautiful, safe, and productive place for all beings.”
