Now more than ever, higher education and research leaders need proactive strategies to define their institution’s message in Washington, D.C. Please join us for our invite-only workshop designed for higher education and research leadership to learn, network, and discuss navigating a federal government in flux.
Workshop Topics Include
Attendees Will Leave With
Government Relations Workshop Facilitators
Andy Quinn
Managing Partner
Andy is a founding partner of McAllister & Quinn and manages a portfolio of clients that includes research universities, hospitals and health systems, public and private corporations, and associations. For more than twenty years, Andy has supported clients to represent their interests before Congress and executive branch agencies and pursue research funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and other federal agencies. Read more about Andy, here.
Kellianne Lauer
Senior Vice President
Kellianne is a Senior Vice President of McAllister & Quinn’s Research University Practice. She manages consulting services for R1 and R2 university clients and draws on her experience working directly with multi-disciplinary teams to pursue complex funding opportunities. Kellianne works strategically to address the research development needs of universities, supporting and enabling growth in their research enterprise and improving their ability to pursue and win extramural funding for groundbreaking research. Kellianne specializes in delivering services to strategically plan for funding opportunities; strengthen relationships with sponsors; design and deliver faculty training programs; and develop competitive proposals for large, complex federal funding opportunities. Read more about Kellianne, here.
Cameron Clemence
Vice President
Cam is a founding member and Vice President of McAllister & Quinn’s Research Universities Practice. Cam works with university leadership, research leadership, and government relations leaders to grow, develop, diversify, and future-proof their research and development funding portfolios. Cam leads teams who deliver strategic intelligence, capacity-building, and research development support along with many of the Practice’s government relations engagements. Cam regularly engages with key Capitol Hill and federal agency stakeholders and has experience developing successful appropriations and authorization requests. Read more about Cameron, here.
Jessica Zamiska
Vice President
Jessica Zamiska serves as Vice President at McAllister & Quinn, where she is a leader in the firm’s Research Universities Practice, managing a diverse portfolio of R1 and R2 institutions and overseeing a team that delivers integrated research development and federal relations support. She provides strategic guidance on federal engagement, proposal development, policy, strategic intelligence, and capacity building to position clients for success across competitive and appropriations-based funding pathways. Since joining the firm in 2018, she has helped clients secure over $260 million from federal agencies and private funders. Jessica also has experience working with hospitals and health systems, guiding them in accessing congressionally directed funding for capital and healthcare-related projects. Read more about Jessica, here.
Government Relations Workshop Speaker Panel 1.
Dr. Kelvin K. Droegemeier is Professor of Climate, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Science and Policy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He previously spent 38 years on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma, where he served for nearly a decade as Vice President for Research. He co-founded and directed one of the first 11 NSF Science and Technology Centers and served as Oklahoma Cabinet Secretary for Science and Technology as well as two terms on the National Science Board, the last four years as Vice-Chairman.
Most recently, Kelvin served as Director of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Science Advisor to the President, and Acting Director of NSF. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and AAAS. In 2026, he was appointed by the Secretary of War to the Science, Technology, and Innovation Board.
Elizabeth M. Ginexi, PhD, served the National Institutes of Health for 22 years as a Program Official, shaping biomedical and behavioral health research strategy. During her tenure, she managed a portfolio of 305 grants totaling $132 million across several institutes and centers, and co-authored 18 funding initiatives that generated 1,087 projects totaling $778 million spanning mental health, substance use prevention, pain management, data science, and health services research. Among her landmark contributions, Dr. Ginexi directed the $46 million NCI State and Community Tobacco Control Initiative across eight sites, building governance models and work plans while serving as Principal Investigator to evaluate program effectiveness and partnerships. She also co-launched the $40 million NIH/FDA Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science program, establishing the nation’s first tobacco regulatory science infrastructure through 14 national centers. Recognizing a critical gap in behavioral and social science analytics, she developed eight training programs that equipped more than 100 early-career scientists with skills in machine learning and predictive modeling. She further led the development of the NIH Whole Person Initiative from concept to full implementation, coordinating alignment across 18 institutes to create an integrated, multi-scale framework for health research.
Prior to her work at NIH, Dr. Ginexi served as a Senior Study Director at Westat, where she contributed to the development and implementation of community-based drug abuse treatment and prevention evaluations funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. She holds master’s and doctoral degrees in applied social psychology from The George Washington University, and completed postdoctoral training under two Public Health Service Grant National Research Service Awards — at Children’s National Hospital and the Center for Mental Health Policy at Vanderbilt University.
Michael D. Hall, Ph.D. is a biomedical scientist specializing in Department of Defense (DOD) funding mechanisms, strategic portfolio management, and program lifecycle execution. As a former Health Science Program Manager Prostate Cancer Research Program within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), Dr. Hall provided strategic leadership over a grant portfolio exceeding $500 million in active funding, including direct oversight of more than $100 million in new awards annually. His federal portfolio spanned the full translational continuum, managing investments ranging from early-stage basic research through to early-phase clinical trials and oversight of the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials
Consortium’s federal operating funds.
Dr. Hall’s administrative expertise encompasses the end-to-end grantmaking architecture: authoring funding opportunity announcements, leading strategic vision-setting initiatives, and managing the DOD’s two-tier review system spanning peer review and programmatic review panels. Throughout his tenure at the CDMRP across the Prostate, Lung, and Kidney Cancer Research Programs, he served as a Grants Officer Representative, advising the contracting division, overseeing scientific scope-of-work modifications, steering complex award negotiations, and mitigating duplication of funding.
Dr. Hall currently serves as the Director of Measurement and Evaluation at ZERO Prostate Cancer, where he designs data-driven evaluation frameworks to optimize health equity initiatives in prostate cancer. His foundational career in biomedical research includes a Ph.D. in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University, eight years as a Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and three years developing biotherapeutics in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Hall leverages his deep operational knowledge of federal agency priorities and process to advise university grants offices, Principal Investigators, and research institutions on navigating competitive grant strategies, funding alignment, and post-award portfolio management.
Principal and Co-Founder
Halpern Strategic Services LLC
Dr. Barton H. Halpern, Principal and Co-Founder of Halpern Strategic Services, LLC, is a strategic and highly skilled Global Defense & Research Leader with extensive experience in spearheading advanced military technology, research and formal DoD acquisition programs. He is adept at driving significant innovative advancements in science and technology and overseeing substantial funding, ensuring cutting-edge capabilities for NATO forces. His past positions as a Senior Executive Service Tier -1, Director Army Research Office (ARO), Chairman NATO Army Armaments Group (NAAG) and Acquisition leadership experiences at Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, and Network (PEO-C3N) have demonstrated his international recognition and accomplishments. Halpern has received numerous awards for exceptional contributions to defense and research fields including most recently the Department of the Army Distinguished Civilian Service Award and induction into the Shore Regional High School Hall of Fame. He demonstrated exceptional leadership and was recognized for pivotal contributions to defense modernization and research excellence.
Dr. Halpern received his Ph.D. in Organization and Management – Capella University, Minneapolis, MN, his M.A., Technology Management – Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ and. B.S., Mechanical Engineering – University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT.
Dr. Rachel Melnick currently serves as NIFA’s Acting Associate Director for Programs. Prior to that, she served as Acting Deputy Director and a Division Director for the Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment (IBCE) at USAD NIFA. Dr. Melnick has previous experience worked at an international scientific nonprofit and was a National Program Leader at USDA NIFA. She received her B.S. in Biology from the Bloomsburg University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Penn State University.
Dr. Mamta Patel Nagaraja is a senior science and engineering expert at The Aerospace Corporation and founder of Vyoma Science & Engineering. She spent more than 20 years at NASA, where her career spanned human spaceflight, space biology, planetary science, and science leadership. She has advised senior NASA leadership, led scientific programs, and worked directly on missions from both Mission Control and the science side. She is also a two-time NASA astronaut interviewee and recipient of several NASA awards recognizing her contributions to space science and exploration.
John Rapp is the founder and principal of Cairn Strategic Consulting, where he advises organizations on federal policy, budgeting, program strategy, and government engagement. Before founding Cairn, John spent more than two decades in federal service, including serving as Budget Director and Chief Risk and Performance Officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In that role, he helped oversee the development and execution of USDA’s approximately $265 billion annual budget and advised senior department leaders on appropriations, policy, performance, and operational risk.
John previously served as Budget Director for the U.S. Forest Service and held leadership positions with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the State of Louisiana. Throughout his career, he worked at the intersection of scientific and technical programs, agency decision-making, and congressional funding. He brings an agency insider’s perspective on how universities can engage federal officials effectively and position ideas for budget and program support.
Government Relations Workshop Seaker Panel 2.
Tara A. Schwetz, Ph.D. is the Senior Director for External Science Partnerships at Danaher Diagnostics and a nationally recognized scientific strategist and collaboration builder. Previously, she served in senior leadership roles at the National Institutes of Health, including NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives and acting NIH Principal Deputy Director. She was the Assistant Director for Biomedical Science Initiatives within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she helped develop and launch ARPA-H.
For more than a decade at NIH, Dr. Schwetz held leadership positions across multiple Institutes, such as serving as the acting Director of the National Institute on Nursing Research, and led or co-led major NIH-wide efforts, including the Communities Advancing Research Equity for Health (CARE for Health) clinical research network, the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program, and the first ever NIH-wide strategic plan. Dr. Schwetz previously served as Vice President of the Board for the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization and as co-chair of the Foundation for NIH’s Accelerating Medicines Partnership®, and she currently sits on the Milken Institute’s FasterCures ENRICH-CT Coalition. She holds a B.S. in biochemistry from Florida State University, a Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of South Florida, and completed postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt University.
Joseph “Joe” Simon brings over 32 years of combined military and federal civil service with U.S. Army Counterintelligence (CI). His distinguished career culminated in his role as the Army’s senior CI Executive, where he led the first significant reform of Army CI in over 40 years. Joe’s expertise spans counterintelligence, counterterrorism, insider threat, and global risk management, establishing him as a leader in national security strategy.
Joe is the Founder and CEO of Simon Group, LLC, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) specializing in counterintelligence, risk management, and national security solutions for government and private sector clients. Having spent years protecting the Army’s most sensitive technologies from foreign adversaries, Joe and his team bring deep expertise in research security, including NSPM-33 compliance. His ability to bridge public and private sector security needs continues to shape Simon Group’s mission-driven approach to counterintelligence, research security, due diligence, and risk management.
Dr. Gurdip Singh is the Divisional Dean for the School of Computing at George Mason University. He was previously Division Director for Computer and Network Systems in the CISE Directorate at National Science Foundation. He has also served as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University and as Department Head of Computer Science at Kansas State University.
Dr. Singh earned his MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from SUNY, Stony Brook in 1989 and 1991 respectively, and his B. Tech degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1986. His research and teaching interests include real-time embedded systems, sensor networks, network protocols and distributed computing.
Tobin (Toby) Smith is Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy at the Association of American Universities (AAU). In this role Toby oversees AAU’s government relations activities and advocacy efforts, matters relating to higher education and science and innovation policy, and AAU’s international activities. Toby previously worked as a federal relations representative for the University of Michigan and MIT. He began his career on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant to Congressman Bob Traxler (D-MI).
Toby writes and speaks widely on issues of science policy. He is the co-author of a 2008 book on national science policy titled, Beyond Sputnik – U.S. Science Policy in the 21st Century. Toby is a member of the Council of Experts for the NSF sponsored Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) and serves as co-chair of the Engaging Scientists and Engineers in Policy (ESEP) coalition. He is active in AAAS where he is honorific fellow and officer of the Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering section (Section X). He has also been an active and engaged with Virginia Cooperative Extension and as 4-H volunteer at the local and state level and is previously was president of the Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center Board.
Toby holds a master’s degree in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University, and a Bachelor’s of General Studies (BGS) degree from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Tabak, is a National scientific, administrative, and educational leader, highly skilled in leading large, decentralized organizations and both program and policy development. He served as the Principal Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Deputy Ethics Counselor of the Agency from August 2010 to February 2024. Dr. Tabak served as Acting NIH Director from December 20, 2021, to November 8, 2023.
Dr. Tabak joined NIH as the Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a position he held from 2000-10. Prior to joining NIH, he was the Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Dentistry and Biochemistry & Biophysics in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester, New York.
Throughout his career, Dr. Tabak led an active NIH-funded research laboratory studying glycoprotein biosynthesis and function in addition to his administrative duties. He is an elected member the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academies. Among many honors, Dr. Tabak is the recipient of 4 honorary doctorates, the Research America John Edward Porter Legacy Award, and the ASBMB Howard K. Schachman Public Service Award. He earned his undergraduate degree from City College of New York, a D.D.S. degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Buffalo.
Dr. Matt Turek is currently a Chief Scientist at STR, a national security company. He spent seven-plus years at DARPA, from July 2018 to October 2025, as a program manager, Deputy Office Director, and briefly Acting Office Director of the Information Innovation Office (I2O), now the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO).
Before DARPA, he worked in computer vision and medical imaging, across roles at GE Medical Systems, GE Global Research, and Kitware, Inc. He holds a PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Masters from Marquette University, and a Bachelors from Clarkson University.
Jill Welch is a public policy leader with more than two decades of results advocating on a broad range of issues, including immigration, democracy, education, foreign relations, national security, and the economy. Recognized as one of the nation’s foremost policy experts on international education policy, she has testified before Congress and has been quoted frequently in global media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the U.S. for Success Coalition. She has also held leadership positions at the United States Institute of Peace, the Presidents’ Alliance, and NAFSA. She holds a Master of Public Administration with a focus on Executive Leadership from American University and a BA in political science and French from Berry College.
Dates: Oct. 20-21, 2026
Location: McAllister & Quinn 1625 Eye Street, Suite 750 Washington, DC 20006
Fee: $2,000 per registrant
Registration: Registration is available on a first-come, first-served basis