Nicholas Montoni
#N/A
I’m a queer Jew and I’m a science policy advisor. //
I’ve always been interested in using science for social good. My doctoral research focused on theoretical studies of light-harvesting metal nanoparticles. While this was fascinating and challenging, I wanted to work with more of a human element. Throughout graduate school I participated in outreach and education work, such as founding the University of Washington chapter of oSTEM and coordinating volunteer events for the Clean Energy Institute. I now work as a policy advisor, collecting and synthesizing scientific research to provide the best available information to policymakers, enabling them to write fair, sound, and equitable laws. Equally important to me is representation of marginalized and minoritized groups at all levels of STEM. Empirical evidence suggests that diverse groups of problem-solvers are better than homogeneous groups. Besides the fact that our institutions ought to represent society, we as scientists should care about diversity because it will make our work better.