Nikita Lad
Ph.D. Candidate, Environmental Science and Policy
George Mason University
With over four years of experience in Regulatory Compliance, Nikita’s research interests lie in sustainability science, social equity, program evaluation, co-production & boundary spanning, and science policy. Nikita is from India and has a Master's in Bioanalytical Science and BS in Microbiology. As part of her doctoral work, she is currently working on developing a sustainability assessment tool that would aid in understanding the efficiency of the various university-wide sustainability initiatives. Nikita has a keen interest in environmental social science and evidence-based policymaking. She hopes that her research will aid policymakers in making laws that encourage sustainability literacy and culture within higher education. To that end, she was Virginia state's science policy fellow placed at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, where she advised the state government regarding funding for basic research. She is the Founder and President of the Science Policy Network at Mason, a graduate student organization that aims to provide foundational science policy training and engagement opportunities for early-career scientists. Through the National Science Policy Network’s Science Diplomacy program, she was placed at the Diplo Foundation where she helped develop a curriculum that educates diplomats about the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).