As the nation's primary supporter for research in the physical sciences, the DOE Office of Science (SC) has an unparalleled opportunity - and responsibility - to generate awareness, understanding, and support for scientific discovery and basic energy research. SC's Office of Communications and Public Affairs is charged with providing strategic counsel and tactical support for:
- Message iteration and refinement: We articulate and disseminate enterprise-level messages about basic research for use by SC and DOE leadership and stakeholders.
- Content identification and generation: We systematically identify opportunities to develop new content and share existing content about SC's research portfolio.
- Media placement and amplification: We help media outlets understand and report SC-sponsored basic research.
- Public engagement and participation: We identify SC's key publics and understand their information-seeking behaviors in order to keep them informed about our work.
- Environmental scanning: We regularly monitor media, legislative, and stakeholder communications to advise senior office and agency officials about emerging news and public affairs issues and concerns.
General Inquiries
Email: news@science.doe.gov
Twitter: @doescience
Director (Acting)
Allison Eckhardt
Allison is the acting director of the Office for Communications and Public Affairs. Allison also leads OCPA's outreach and media team to identify Office of Science research stories and engage interested audiences through multiple platforms. She also works with the media to facilitate stories, and with senior program and scientific staff to prepare for interview opportunities. She also monitors news and trade publications for issues and stories of interest to the Office of Science, and works with the national laboratories under SC stewardship on honing pitches to national media.
Media Outreach Manager
Nathan Clark
Nathan is responsible for building and expanding regional, local, and hyper local media interest in the Office of Science’s science programs. He manages several of the office's media outreach platforms and monitors the effectiveness and engagement with the Office of Science news. He also coordinates the external publicity for the National Science Bowl with regional and state media and congressional leaders.
Virtual Events Manager
Adrian Gaskin Hill (Contractor)
Adrian is responsible for the end-to-end delivery, customer experience, and production of webinars and hybrid events from a technical standpoint. He collaborates with leadership, support, and technical staff to supervise and provide an overall direction for the Virtual Events program.
Media and Outreach Specialist
Cassie Hill (Contractor)
Cassie is the communications liaison for the 10 Office of Science national laboratories. In this role, Cassie manages and tracks information, news releases and stories from our labs and partners.
Communications Specialist
Sandra Allen McLean
Sandra is responsible for identifying, curating, or creating lay-language content about Office of Science-funded research for DOE web sites, popular and trade media, and stakeholder education. She develops for public use narratives on research, especially R&D conducted jointly between labs or between labs and other research partners, or using the Office of Science user facilities. She also serves as liaison to program specialty areas.
Web Communications Specialist
Dean Pettersson (Contractor)
Dean manages and maintains the Office of Science website. As part of the editorial team, he ensures that the content on those communications channels is refreshed regularly, and conducts frequent environmental scans in order to find articles and technologies that can be amplified and featured. Dean also gathers and analyzes site metrics, creating regular web reports and making recommendations for optimizing site usage based on those results. Finally, Dean serves as the first point of contact for website visitors, responding to emailed questions and/or redirecting them to appropriate parties.
Project Manager, Social Media
Shannon Brescher Shea
Shannon leads OCPA's content team to find and tell unique stories about the Office of Science's research. These stories, which span multiple laboratories or disciplines, provide science stakeholders with a broad understanding of the Office's mission and accomplishments. After writing or editing these pieces, she collaborates with the outreach team to strategically publicize them through traditional and new media outlets. She also leads the community of practice for the national laboratories' science communicators, the Science Public Outreach Community (SPOC).
Internal Communications Manager
Natalie Soldan (Contractor)
Natalie coordinates the Office of Science internal communications portfolio. She is responsible for planning, developing, and providing guidance for internal messaging. Natalie makes sure the Office of Science stays up to date on the information coming from internal and external sources. Natalie manages the Office of Science GovDelivery subscription, an avenue for outreach to external stakeholders and the public.