Lisa Marie Eddy

Project focus: The Fellow will support and grow the Science Policy Collaborative’s national network by assessing the needs of U.S. science policy programs, building partnerships to address top-priority deliverables, and connecting programs with one another and with international experts on the use of research evidence in policymaking. 

Lisa Eddy was Research and Education Coordinator at Virginia Sea Grant, housed at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at William & Mary, where she managed competitive grant programs, coordinated fellowship and internship pipelines, and built education and outreach initiatives—working both sides of the funding relationship as applicant and administrator. She served on the coordination committee for the Community Engaged Internship, a national Sea Grant program, and is active in the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Science-Policy Fellowship workgroup. Her path to this work is anything but linear: an undergraduate degree in wildlife biology, a stint with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, then law school and a legal career that began in maritime transportation law before she moved into solo practice with a strong pro bono focus—and eventually into federal grants administration and science policy. That mix of field biologist, lawyer, and program-builder shapes how she approaches the systems connecting science to the people who govern with it. A Long Island native, Lisa is happiest outdoors—hiking a trail or waiting out a bite on the water—bringing the same patience to her policy work.