SEEDS: Stories of Ethics, Engagement, and Dialogue in Science
About
ComSciCon is embarking on a project funded by the Kavli Foundation and the Rita Allen Foundation to create a resource for early-career scientists who want to make sure their work has impact beyond the ivory tower.
The SEEDS project is collecting stories about researchers who engage with the ethical and societal implications of their research––something that few academic institutions explicitly support. In creating a repository of those researchers’ stories, the SEEDS team will share valuable insights into how scientists can start to do boundary-spanning work, so as to inspire more scientists to make the leap.
This project will have several outputs:
- A series of public webinars about engaging with the ethical and societal dimensions of basic science research
- Programming within the ComSciCon Flagship 2025 and 2026 conferences on topics in ethical science communication
- A final publication that will share the stories of case study subjects written by early-career writers in the SEEDS Writing Program. The publication will also detail project takeaways through engaging writing and visuals
Read more about the inspiration for SEEDS from the Kavli Foundation: https://www.kavlifoundation.org/news/ethics-the-spublic-and-the-early-career-researcher
SEEDS Team
Program Leads
Emily Costa
Postdoctoral Fellow and Civic Science Associate, RockEDU Science Outreach, The Rockefeller University
Meredith Schmehl
Open Science Strategy Program Coordinator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Database Lead
Harshil Kamdar
Staff Scientist at Insight M, Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Salata Institute for Climate & Sustainability
Nathan Sanders
ComSciCon Co-Chair
Case Study Editors & Content Developers
Sarah Donofrio
PhD Candidate, Baylor College of Medicine
Lauren N. Girouard
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard University & University of Michigan
Programming Managers
Julie Fornaciari
Program Manager, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Wasundara Athukoralalage
Finance Coordinators
Elena Lin
Postdoctoral scholar in immunology
Guy Whittall-Scherfee
Co-Treasurer, ComSciCon
Communications Lead
Risa Aria Schnebly
PhD candidate, Arizona State University
Case Study Writers
Swati Ravi
Physics PhD Candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Olivia Barnhill
PhD Candidate, University of California San Francisco
Dylan Jow
Kavli Fellow, KIPAC Stanford University
Rimika Jaiswal
PhD Candidate, University of California Santa Barbara
Lila Levinson
Science Writer, Bionews
Emily Twedell
Visiting Assistant Professor, Macalester College
Zulmary Manjarres
Research Associate.
Neuroscience Department
University of Texas in Dallas
Alyssa N. Montalbine
MAB Candidate, Emory University
Christian Cazares
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, San Diego
Maya Foster
PhD Candidate, Yale University, Yale School of Medicine
Jennifer Baker
Postdoctoral Researcher, Dartmouth College
Rachel Yang
PhD student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Case Study Subjects
C. Adeene Denton
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, Southwest Research Institute
Brad Tucker
Associate Professor, Australian National University
Crystal Ng
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Tova Holmes
Associate Professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Camila dos Santos
Associate Professor
Cancer Center Program co-Leader, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Edauri Navarro Pérez
Postdoctoral researcher, Arizona State University
Charlotte Vaughn
Assistant Research Professor, University of Maryland
TingWu
Professor,
Department of Genetics,
Harvard Medical School
Gina Poe
Professor & Director of Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles
Stephanie Diem
Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Narayan Sankaran
Assistant Professor, Neuroscience Department, University of San Francisco
Savannah Thais
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, The City University of New York
ComSciCon 