Alumni Board

Chris Avery, Ph.D., is the Manager for Global Climate Assessments at ICF, an international science consulting firm based in Fairfax, VA. Currently, Dr. Avery serves as the Senior Manager for the National Climate Assessment at the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). In this role, he manages the development, review, and publication of the National Climate Assessment. Prior to his current position, Dr. Avery worked as a Senior Advisor and director of communications for the National Council for Science and the Environment. Before that, Dr. Avery worked as a Senior Advisor in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Dr. Avery worked with DOE’s clean energy technology division to facilitate engagement with state and local governments, non-governmental organizations, renewable energy industries, and the Department of Energy’s National Labs. He advised high-level Administration officials and external stakeholders on strategy, policy, and public engagement opportunities. His fields of policy expertise include climate, energy, environment, and clean technology.

Dr. Avery was a 2011-2012 ACS Congressional Science Policy Fellow, working in the United States Senate as a science advisor. Dr. Avery worked for Senator Chris Coons on the Senator’s energy and environment legislative team, with additional involvement in federal procurement and scientific integrity issues. He also served as a Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academies, and worked for the Board on Science, Technology & Economic Policy. He participated in multiple projects related to intellectual property, energy technology, greenhouse gases, tax codes, standards setting and water rights. Dr. Avery earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry and a graduate certificate in science, technology, and public policy from the University of Michigan.

Michelle Brechtelsbauer is Director of Stakeholder Relations at the Energy Impact Center, a DC-based think tank working to spur a nuclear energy revolution to combat climate change. She has spent her career leveraging her background in engineering research and expertise in science policy to accelerate deployment of carbon-negative energy technologies. Michelle was previously a policy analyst at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, coordinating Federal energy and environmental policy under two administrations. Michelle holds an MPP from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Alabama.

Liz Dreyer is a Consultant in the Detroit office of Boston Consulting Group. Since joining BCG, she has primarily worked with clients in the industrial goods and automotive spaces, including in topics such as Battery Electric Vehicles and Autonomous Vehicles. Recent work includes analyzing the impact of CO2 regulations in order to predict how many new Electric Vehicles will be sold globally through 2030. Additionally, Liz has experience coaching clients through large-scale change initiatives. In her leisure time, she enjoys kayaking, baking, gardening, and reading.

During his time at UM Joe Labuz was an active participant in the STPP program while completing his PhD in Biomedical Engineering, publishing on dual use science, conducting original research in Higher Education management, and organizing a 50+ person symposium on policy issues in biotech and the life sciences. Joe currently manages client development for the Pharmaceutical and Medical Products Practice of McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, where he regularly draws on the multidisciplinary thinking and technical/non-technical communication skills he honed as an STPP trainee. He continues to follow issues of science and technology policy pertaining to pharmaceutical approval and regulation, higher education, and especially public transit having ridden 44 different metro systems worldwide (and counting!).

Esha is a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation (STC) at the Department of State. Her portfolio includes ITER (formerly the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor),  quantum information sciences, Malaysia, APEC, and she is a member of the China Team.  Esha received her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from the University of Michigan, and a BS and MEng in Bioengineering at Cornell University. Prior to joining STC, she served as legislative staff in the California State Legislature and as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Dr. Kevin Reed is an Associate Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. Prior to coming to Stony Brook University, Dr. Reed was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO and spent time as a Science Policy Advisor in the U.S. Senate through the American Geophysical Union Congressional Science Fellowship. Dr. Reed received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Michigan, where he also completed a Graduate Certificate in Science, Technology, and Public Policy and a B.S. in Physics. At Stony Brook University Dr. Reed founded and leads the Climate Extremes Modeling (CEM) Group, which focuses on investigating how societally-relevant extreme events, such as hurricanes, may change in the coming decades. This research aids in advancing our scientific understanding of the impacts of climate change, as well as developing new methodologies to better translate state-of-the-art science for climate adaptation applications and policies.

Jackson Voss (MPP/STPP'18) is a policy researcher at the Kathleen Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana - Lafayette, where he studies and writes about state and local policy on a wide range of issues, from healthcare and workforce development to energy and environment. Having been raised by a virologist and attorney, the ways in which science and technology interact with government and politics were always an area of interest, leading Jackson to seek his certificate in Science, Technology, and Public Policy while studying for his Masters of Public Policy at the Ford School. In particular, Jackson is interested in how science and technology affects and is affected by politics. Whether one considers changes in political and economic behavior in response to climate change and automation of labor, or is concerned with the ways in which politics drives the creation of certain medical technologies or influences the use of artificial intelligence, it is an exciting (and distressing) time for policymakers in this space - making programs like STPP all the more important. Prior to his work at the Blanco Center, Jackson worked for U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Michigan) as a member of his Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee staff, where he worked mainly on the federal property, transportation infrastructure, and appropriations portfolios. Before coming to the Ford School, Jackson worked on political campaigns and local economic development across the American South.

Melvin Washington II is passionate about research informed policy solutions for low-income communities and communities of color. He credits the STPP program with helping to sharpen his systems-level thinking through the study of the socio-political factors shaping contemporary issues of S&T policy. Melvin previously served as a political appointee within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Research, Education, and Economics mission area. He is currently putting his passion to practice at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York. At Vera, Melvin works in jurisdictions across the U.S., with a variety of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, on innovative policy solutions designed to safely reduce the use of jail incarceration, increase community engagement, and improve racial equity in local justice systems. Melvin holds a master's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in political science from Wake Forest University.