Adriana first got involved in science policy in 2016 as Co-vice Chair of the NPA Policy, Education and Advocacy Writing Team as part of the Advocacy Committee. During this time, she co-wrote a Policy Statement on the FLSA and postdocs, and a proposal for a publicly-available, opt-in repository of postdoc policies and practices from NPA member institutions.

 

During her postdoc, Adriana was a member of ASCB’s Committee for Postdocs and Students (COMPASS) Career Development Subcommittee, where she moderated Science Policy and Science Communication panels at the annual meeting.

 

From 2017-2019, Adriana was an Associate Member of the ASCB Public Policy Committee, which educates Congress and the Administration about the importance of basic biomedical funding and policy. With ASCB, she co-wrote several Policy Statements on NGRI and the bioeconomy.

 

In 2019, Adriana was selected as a Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Policy & Advocacy Fellow, a position housed in the Advocacy & Training Department, which works on SfN’s federal and grassroots advocacy efforts and oversees the Society’s scientific training offerings. While at SfN, she drafted a Congressional testimony in support of NIH & NSF Funding (FY20), as well as Policy Responses on reducing administrative burden and improving the BRAIN Initiative.

 

Currently, Adriana is a Principal Legislative Analyst with the University of California (UC) Office of Federal Governmental Relations, where she serves as an advocate for UC with Congress, the Administration and federal agencies, and is responsible for legislative analysis and advocacy for federal policy impacting university research. In this role, Adriana has contributed to UC priority documents and letters on research and graduate education and developed language related to Pell grants for graduate students.

 

She has written letters to support legislation on research and the STEM workforce on behalf of UC, and contributed to sections of community letters including on Racial Equity and Diversifying the STEM Workforce (AAU’s response to NSF); STEM education and innovation for equity for a letter to the Biden Administration on FY23 (CNSF’s letter to OMB and OSTP); and detailing the needs of graduate and professional students in a letter to CA Senators asking them to defend the research funding in the reconciliation package. She has drafted social media language on the importance of graduate students for the research enterprise to support the launch of the Congressional GRAD Caucus.

 

Adriana has drafted a Congressional testimony for a hearing on the NSF for the Future Act, including sections on DEI and workforce development. She also led a number of Capitol Hill Advocacy Days and Hill meetings in support of research funding and workforce development, including for the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching (CARET) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). A number of these events were focused on early career researchers, including the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Advocacy Days and a Congressional briefing focused on Impacts of COVID-19 ​on UC’s Early Career Researchers​ taking place in 2021 where she played a leadership role.

 

On the legislative front, Adriana drafted a STEM pipeline amendment to include postdoctoral researchers as eligible recipients of the professional development supplement, which was included in NSF for the Future Act in 2021. The bill as a whole passed the House by a vote of 345-67 in June 2021. Subsequently, NSF for the Future Act was incorporated into the America COMPETES Act of 2022, which passed the House by a vote of 222-210 in January 2022. Then, it was incorporated into the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which passed the House by a vote of 243-187, and the Senate by a vote of 64-33. In August 2022, the legislation was signed into law by President Biden, which was highlighted in The Hill and other media outlets.

 

In a working group with several other universities, Adriana participated in meetings, performed research, followed legislation and drafted talking points for UC in relation to NSF budget percent set-asides for Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) programs in related legislation. She sent a Hill note to the CA Delegation to include signers on the EPSCoR letter which was drafted by the group and obtained a total 95 signatures, in May 2022. The letter was highlighted in several articles and press releases in the media.

 

As co-chair of the Events Committee for The Science Coalition since 2022, Adriana helped with planning and organizing a panel discussion on Building the U.S. Research Workforce: The Role of Federal Research Investment. She led the UC System’s nomination for Senator Feinstein’s 2023 Champion of Science Award. Adriana was elected to The Science Coalition Board of Directors starting January 2023.