The Briefing Signal
Founding CEO of Letters to a Prescientist on the impact of the Sandbox Fellowship
Fanuel Muindi interviews Lucy Madden, founding CEO of Letters to a Pre-Scientist (LPS), an organization connecting middle school students in low-income schools with STEM professionals through handwritten letters. Madden reflects on the program’s origins, its mission to humanize scientists, and its evolution into a nonprofit reaching 17 states.
Key themes include fostering STEM interest among underrepresented students, challenges in scaling, and the reciprocal benefits for scientists. Madden shares, “The humanizing piece is special; kids are surprised to learn their STEM professional has a dog or plays video games.”
She also discusses lessons from participating in the inaugural Science Sandbox Fellowship, and emphasizes LPS’s unique role in driving resources into science classrooms.
Eileen has a BA in Comparative Literature and Studio Film/Videommaking from Harvard University. She coordinates multiple programs on the CivicSciTV Network, and manages the social media posts, and newsletters.
Scott Loarie says conservation science isn’t moving fast enough. He describes how iNaturalist is helping
Photo Essay: 2026 Stand Up for Science New York City
Meagan Naraine reflects on the emergence of the nonprofit Culturally Relevant Science and how it aims to thrive.
UNESCO-backed platform seeks to encourage information sharing among freshwater management citizen science projects
Abby C. King on leveraging local wisdom and science to create a thriving environment: “Our communities are the most valuable renewable resources for a healthy planet.”
‘Science policy’ Google searches spiked in 2025. What does that mean?
Milky Way Project co-creator Grace Wolf-Chase says public engagement is ‘every bit as important as excellent scientific research’
“What are you going to do on Monday?” SNAP challenges leaders at the 2026 AAAS conference
JSPG announces Laurie Zabala as the 5th Chief Executive Officer and Managing Publisher
Abby C. King on leveraging local wisdom and science to create a thriving environment: “Our communities are the most valuable renewable resources for a healthy planet.”
Abby C. King on leveraging local wisdom and science to create a thriving environment: “Our communities are the most valuable renewable resources for a healthy planet.”
Milky Way Project co-creator Grace Wolf-Chase says public engagement is ‘every bit as important as excellent scientific research’
Seeing is believing: Inside the BioBus revenue engine with Ben Dubin-Thaler
Haley Davis shares how SeaKeepers is engaging the yachting community to support marine citizen science projects
John Besley wants engagers to dig deep into the “Why” of science engagement
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