Adriana Bankston is an advocate for the research enterprise and supporting the next generation STEM workforce. By day, Adriana is a Principal Legislative Analyst at the University of California Office of Federal Governmental Relations, where she serves as an advocate for the university with Congress, the Administration and federal agencies.
In addition to working at UC, Adriana is a Fellow with Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), and a Biomedical Workforce & Policy Research Investigator at the STEM Advocacy Institute (SAi), working on cultivating the next generation workforce through science policy. She is also part of the AAAS Section X Steering Group (Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering).
As CEO & Managing Publisher of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance, an internationally recognized, open access, and peer-reviewed policy research publication, Adriana empowers early career scientists, engineers, and policy professionals in publishing their work and participating in science policy debates.
Adriana’s work in science policy has appeared in Issues in Science & Technology, Inside Higher Ed and the Union of Concerned Scientists Blog. In 2022, Adriana was awarded the inaugural ARIS Emerging Broader Impacts Leader Award. She also received the Top 20 in 2022 Award For Excellence in Advocacy from The Advocacy Association.
Adriana earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology from Emory University.