CINDY ACHAT-MENDES

Director, STEM Initiatives

Dr. Cindy Achat-Mendes provides leadership in URA’s mission to “foster innovation and promote the education of future generations of scientists”. She serves as the Director of STEM Initiatives with a joint appointment at URA’s Sandia Site Office in Albuquerque, NM. At URA she develops innovative STEM initiatives that are driven by national security R&D needs.

Before joining URA, Dr. Achat-Mendes served at the Department of Defense as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Science & Technology Policy Fellow, where she worked on DoD’s STEM programs and policies as well as multi-sector research collaborations, including the Air Force’s new University Affiliated Research Center, Research Institute for Tactical Autonomy at Howard University and DoD STEM’s Regional Community College Consortium Cooperative Agreement Program.

Prior to her science policy experiences, she served on the Biology faculty at Georgia Gwinnett College, contributing to systemic change in STEM education and providing authentic research experiences for students. Dr. Achat-Mendes was trained as a neuroscientist in the field of drug addiction and psychiatry, earning her Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and conducting her postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School.

She is committed to growing robust STEM research ecosystems and is a champion for inclusive STEM practices as a means of harnessing all of the much-needed STEM talent within our nation.