Director, Strategic Policy Initiatives and Government Affairs

Lora Lee Martin has extensive experience working at the interface between academia, industry and the policy sectors. She has led the development of the first state science and technology policy fellowship in the nation; a program that places Ph.D. scientists and engineers in the California state Legislature. Throughout her career she has been involved with projects ranging from climate change, biodiversity, and oceans, to land use, groundwater remediation, and military base conversion. All have involved working at the interface of science and policy.

Ms. Martin has also worked extensively to integrate governmental and private support of research with regional economic development initiatives. She has worked consistently at the junction of federal, state and local governments and has numerous successes in impacting legislation and program directions to support important science and technology research agendas. Her work has included helping to launch multiyear, multi-institutional research collaborations in areas such as marine technologies and groundwater remediation. She led the creation of the University of California's Monterey Bay Education, Science, and Technology (MBEST) Center; an inter-disciplinary and multi-institutional center intended to draw upon the research expertise of multiple higher education and research institutions to enhance regional economic development. Her work has focused on leveraging the innovation catalyzing energies of universities, national labs, and other research institutions to foster job creation, and to enhance educational and research opportunities.

Ms. Martin holds a B.S. in zoology from UC Davis and an M.B.A. from UC Berkeley. Her years of experience include work in the corporate, political, nonprofit, and academic arenas; six of those years were spent in Washington, DC.