SSN Member Spotlights

"I now tell other scholars: Your expertise may be more relevant than you think. In academia, breadth can be critiqued, but in policy, it’s an asset. Be open to seeing your work through a wider lens." - Demetri Morgan, University of Michigan

"I would not be doing this column were it not for SSN, and that really needs to be communicated. People need to take seriously the opportunities and the intellectual power that SSN brings to translating academic work and research work into public engagement." - Noreen Sugrue, Latino Policy Forum

"At the meetings, we discussed recent legislation on data science literacy and ethical AI use, shared how our research supports these efforts, and explored ways to build ongoing partnerships to advance this work." - Justin Ballenger, Morehouse College

“In academia, we spend a lot of time writing papers and doing research, which is important, but I’ve always wanted my work to have a tangible impact. If my research can play even a small part in a bill being presented, deliberated, and passed, that’s incredible.” - Alexandria Drake, University of Puget Sound

“Regardless of the election results, we all have to get up the next day and keep working toward what we think is important. The goal is to prepare students for the day after the election.” - Amel Ahmed, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

"I’ve always felt academia can be isolating, with journal articles reaching only a limited audience. SSN seemed like a place where I could learn to better engage the public and make my research accessible to more people." - Nancy Erendyda Aguilera, University of Missouri-St. Louis

“The SSN National Convening and the congressional meetings really lit a fire under me in terms of feeling like, as an academic, I really need to be doing more to talk to lawmakers, but also just the public in general about why policy matters.” - Tiffany Joseph, Northeastern University 

"Partnering with John was a terrific experience...Our collaboration shows how academia and industry can join forces to drive change, shape policies, and hopefully, transform workplace cultures in tech." - Andrea Mohamed, QuantumBloom

"During these past legislative sessions, Prof. Raj and I worked together to develop bipartisan legislation based on empirical data and research to protect, educate, and support the citizens of Louisiana," - Louisiana State Senator Gary Carter

"There’s always luck involved in the right factors coming together to create a policy window. I think as a researcher, all you can do if you're passionate about an issue is do the work and get it out there so that people know it exists." - Julia Sass Rubin, Rutgers University 

“The more we can tangibly see people working together, the more hope and optimism we have that that can function. It feels like the more removed we are or the more removed our leaders are, the more abstract it gets and the more we're allowing other sources of information to influence our perceptions.” - L.J. McElravy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 

"[My] advice to faculty in other states would be, if you're sitting there and you're thinking, this cannot happen to you, it can absolutely happen to you and you need to be awake and you need to be paying attention to these issues because we were kind of asleep in Florida a little bit." - Rebecca Newman, Valencia College 

“I think public comment opportunities are a really good way to try to highlight the work that you’ve done, bring it to a larger audience, and especially, bring it to an audience that is likely to care about the work and do something about it.” - Tejas Narechania, University of California, Berkeley 

"The research completed by Professor Swanstrom and his team allowed the Home Repair Network to jumpstart a lot of the work that we aim to do over the next several years." - Constance Siu, Executive Director, North Newstead Association

“[The policy memo] helped to elevate our message to our colleagues in the food is medicine space here in Illinois, [leading] to opportunities for further advocacy in the space.” — Saria Lofton, University of Illinois, Chicago

“We see Sane Ukraine's work as preventative against PTSD, depression, anxiety, and all the outcomes of prolonged traumatic stress.” - Kristina Bohdanova, Ukraine Catholic University 

“SSN’s workshop was really valuable to me in that it concretized the process of building these relationships, breaking it all down into small tasks." - Niki vonLockette, Penn State University

“I don't think we could have gotten the bill over the finish line without [Jones’s] contribution.” - Leah Nelson, Research Director at Alabama Appleseed

"SSN provides me with a network of experts who can help me successfully initiate and build relationships with state representatives, allowing me to provide the scientific basis for bills associated with my expertise." - Hanne Hoffmann, Michigan State University 

“Ken’s work was absolutely essential to the Greenville News project…It was a great illustration of how academic research can reach out from campus and have a ripple effect across the entire community.” - Fred Clasen-Kelly, investigative reporter

“I connected with SSN’s Neda Maghbouleh, after finding her published research on this topic. Her scholarship is helping us move toward our goals of using inclusive and relevant race and ethnicity categories in our work."  – Fernando De Maio, Vice President of Health Equity Research and Data Use

“Conceptualizing health care, especially in the emergency department, as a site of primary intervention in intimate partner violence would save lives and improve the health and well-being of all communities across the U.S.” - Earl Smith, University of Delaware 

“Attention moves on so quickly. To maintain relationships and to have a presence in the policy world, you have to be always coming to the table with a statement. You need to be there constantly, pumping things out or doing interviews.” - Michael Haedicke, University of Maine

“Tuition-free programs must remain accessible and affordable for all types of students and should be designed with a promise to reduce the national student debt and the cost of college attendance in American society.” - Roy Chan, Lee University

“The easiest, most politically viable, and most effective way to expand turnout and make local democracy more representative is to shift the timing of local elections so that officials in cities and suburbs are elected at the same time as presidents, governors, and legislators, at times when voter interest and turnout is at a peak.” - Zoltan Hajnal, University of California, San Diego

“Teachers do not leave the classroom because of low salary; they leave because they feel undervalued. They do not leave because of the students; they leave because of conflicting expectations that make it difficult, if not impossible, to serve them. To improve teacher retention and curb shortages, Alabama educators and policymakers must enact policies that address the root of teacher dissatisfaction.” - Andrew Pendola, Auburn University 

“To address violence in urban communities we must first invest resources, financial and human capital, in the most violent and historically under-resourced communities in the United States.” - Johnny Rice II, Coppin State University 

“In the aftermath of Roe’s being overturned, supporters of the move want to pretend that abortion access can be surgically extracted from women’s health care decision-making as a whole. Nothing could be further from the truth.” - Jamie Abrams, American University

“In order to best support STEM students, and especially, to help underserved students thrive in these programs and open the door for high-paying careers, university leaders should take deliberate steps forward to adjust the course requirements and supports that are in place.” -Lara Perez-Felkner, Florida State University 

“Our research and that of others reveals the complicated lives of pregnant young people and suggests that they are the ones best able to identify the people in their lives who can help them make decisions about a pregnancy.” - Lee Hasselbacher and Catherine Hennessey, University of Chicago.

“The need for expanding the Good Samaritan law is urgent. To stem this grim tide of death, we must do more, and we must empower everyone, especially those most likely to witness overdose deaths, people who use drugs and their loved ones, to keep people alive.” - Professor Winifred Tate, Bangor Daily News

“Access to high quality, affordable health care offered to all, in ways that convey dignity and respect, has great potential to amplify the voices of those who are most economically and racially marginalized in American society, to build their power, and to create a more robust democracy.” - Jamila Michener, Cornell University

“Real progress toward racial equity in the United States must be based in an American public with a more accurate conception of the complex and constant role of race and racism in our nation.” - Michael Kraus, Yale University

“The administration needs to send test kits and masks to every American household…mailing masks and test kits is not rocket science. It will save lives. And compared to the costs of an ongoing pandemic, it will cost pennies on the dollar.” - Harris Solomon & Martha Lincoln, Washington Monthly

“Without a judiciary as diverse as the country it judges, litigants cannot help but question the quality of justice as they stand before a bench that excludes citizens like themselves.” Sally Kenney, The Hill

“Without access to care, women and their families have to suffer through these challenges which can impact maternal, infant, and family well-being as well as work productivity for both parents,” - Sarah Verbiest, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Belinda Pettiford, Department of Health and Human Services.