Dr. Max O’Connor, a science and technology policy fellow working in the Colorado Capitol, describes her journey from the laboratory to working with the state legislature as a guest speaker on Feb. 23 for the third annual David L. Garin Science Policy Lecture. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)

For graduate students in the University of Missouri–St. Louis Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, using their scientific knowledge to make a positive impact outside the laboratory may at one time have felt like a pipedream. But Max O’Connor – a science and technology policy fellow with the Institute for Science & Policy in Colorado – is proof that such a career is possible.

Serving as the featured speaker for the third annual David L. Garin Science Policy Lecture held Monday afternoon in Benton Hall, O’Connor presented a blueprint for putting a chemistry PhD to use in the policy realm. In a talk titled “From the Lab to the State Capitol: Transitioning to Science Policy as a Chemistry PhD,” she detailed her personal journey as a chemistry major experimenting on organic dipeptides in a lab at Brown University who became a member of the inaugural cohort of the Colorado Science & Technology Policy Program. That position has her engaging with members of the Colorado state legislature to inform policies that promote environmental and technological progress.

“Training in the sciences gives you so many great skills beyond just your technical knowledge of a given system, and these are really, really valuable skills when it comes to creating good policy,” said O’Connor, who graduated from Brown in 2016 and earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder in December 2024. “So, whether or not you are creating policy or just providing information that informs policy, I think that you’re such a tremendous resource to that system as a scientist that it’s really important for us to be engaged.”

That importance cannot be overstated, said Garin, who established the lecture series named for him to encourage scientists to get involved in policy discussions. Garin said he believes strongly that that those who are blessed with knowledge have a responsibility to share what they have learned.

“It doesn’t mean having to go to Washington,” said Garin, now an emeritus professor who spent more than three decades serving in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMSL before his retirement in 1999.

Max O’Connor, who earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder in December 2024, is part of the inaugural cohort of the Colorado Science & Technology Policy Program, allowing her to inform policies promoting environmental and technological progress.

Garin stressed that scientists becoming involved with policy decisions on the local or state level is critical to those governing bodies achieving better outcomes. Garin said he believes that scientists understand more aspects of an issue than what is sometimes dispensed to the general public or explored by legislators and that this understanding obligates them to explain how policy must rely on science, not just to be informed but to be effective.

Professor Keith Stine, the chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said he was very impressed by O’Connor’s lecture and was hopeful it would open the eyes of PhD students to the possibility of applying their scientific expertise in a different way to directly impact the general public.

“I think this kind of career pathway applies very nicely to chemistry because chemistry is a science that impacts on many different areas,” Stine said. “There’s chemistry related to energy, related to food safety, related to the environment, related to health. Chemistry is a discipline that has branches that go out in so many different areas that I think that a person with a good chemistry background in this field could make a lot of impact.”

For Sriharsha Mamillapalli, a second-year PhD student in organic chemistry, O’Connor’s speech reinforced the need to tailor a scientific message to resonate with the target audience.

“I feel like this is a starting point to how I can translate my research into a language that people can understand how important this research is,” he said.

O’Connor said establishing that connection with the masses could go a long way toward rebuilding people’s trust in science.

“Most of the general population doesn’t know what the scientific process looks like, what peer review looks like, what research looks like, and it makes sense that it’s misconstrued or maybe not fully understood,” she said. “For me, I think building relationships is something I enjoy doing, but it’s also something that is really, really important for this, because, more so than people adhere to data, they really, really latch to stories and personal experiences. I think for scientists to be able to share their skills and their knowledge through storytelling and through connection is going to be a lot more impactful for us to build that trust in science. I know for me, I feel called to do that.”