Inspired by the marshaling of the nation's research and development forces during the space race, I pursue opportunities to contribute to science policy on a national scale. I find value in work that serves a greater mission, collaborating with teams, and learning new skills in a routinely evolving work environment.I am currently the Director, Research Policy for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. From 2021-2022, I was selected as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow to work with the National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) team as they manage investment programs to build the STEM capacity, capability, and competitiveness of historically under-awarded regions of the US. I analyzed previous program expenditures for trends related to program objectives and collaborate with staff on the communication of EPSCoR with stakeholders. My findings were used to inform future strategic visioning activities.Before transitioning to public policy, I worked as a researcher in astrophysics and a member of the COSMOS Collaboration, an international collaboration studying the largest contiguous area observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. I used data from many space- and ground-based telescopes such as Hubble, Herschel, GALEX, and Keck to examine how the environment surrounding a galaxy affected how the galaxy generates new stars. During my time as a postdoctoral researcher at KU, we used data from the SOFIA telescope to determine how galaxies remove their cold gas supply, and this result was featured on NASA's news feed with a custom artist concept generated for its publication. These experiences enabled me to develop my collaboration and analytic research skills while immersing me in a field with a rich science policy history.National R&D objectives are only worth pursuing if the taxpayer can recognize their benefit. My outreach experience includes four months as a NASA Intern working for Space Camp, where I educated 4th and 5th graders on basic physics and spaceflight history. At RIT, another graduate student and I started the YouTube channel `OutestSpaceTV' to communicate space-related news to the general public. I was also regularly invited to speak on the history of the earliest days of the space race to general audiences. I continued to broaden my communication experience through the American Astronomical Society Ambassadors program, speaking on the local Rochester radio station WXXI, and volunteering at numerous public education events such as ImagineRIT.