Keegan Wesley

Project focus: The Fellow will work to better understand the gaps in pathways of professionalization for science communication and public engagement. 

Keegan Wesley is a science and society leader with more than 15 years of experience directing multistakeholder initiatives that integrate scientific evidence into policy, research, and funding decisions. She specializes in bridge-building, connecting siloed sectors and disciplines to strengthen the infrastructure (interfaces, networks, policies, and expertise) that sustains a robust scientific enterprise. Her work has informed how research is supported, governed, communicated, and applied to address complex societal challenges. Most recently, Keegan directed the Science Public Engagement Partnership (SciPEP), a five-year collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and The Kavli Foundation that helped establish the field and practice of basic science communication. Earlier, at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, she led more than 50 advisory studies and workshops and shaped consensus guidance across environmental and public health issues adopted by government agencies, nonprofits, and universities in the United States and abroad. Keegan is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recognized for her national leadership connecting basic science and society. She holds an M.S. in public health and a Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. Outside of work, Keegan fosters kittens for her local animal shelter, raises funds to expand native biodiversity at her local botanical garden, and spends weekends cheering on her three boys at their soccer matches. Across all of it, she is guided by the same goal: leaving people and the planet better than she found them.