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        • About Us

          URA is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) academic consortium composed of over 94 premier research universities across the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan headquartered in Washington, D.C. supporting government lab management and operation in the national interest.

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        • Member Universities

          URA fosters valuable university research partnerships through membership. URA presents members with research opportunities at national engineering and physics labs, engagement with laboratory leadership and management, and recognition of academic achievements.

        • Lab Management

          Since 1965 URA has been an integral part of the management of Fermilab, overseeing the management and operations of the lab and bringing the expertise of our 94 member universities to bear on the challenges facing the Fermilab.  URA supports scholars and interns doing research at Fermilab and recognizes outstanding contributions.  In 2007 URA became part of the organization that manages and operates Sandia National Laboratories and since then has worked to support the scientific and technical demands of Sandia by supporting external calibration of science, technology and engineering (ST&E) programs; aid in ST&E programs’ strategic planning; and assist in development of university partnerships and diverse workforce talent.

        • Science & Research Policy

          URA strives to engender an awareness of the current national science policy issues among its members and early career scientists. This is achieved through a variety of platforms at URA, including science policy and communication training, connecting scientists and policymakers, and policy town halls and workshops. URA’s goal is to facilitate effective science communication to promote the public’s understanding of scientific discoveries, foster trust in scientific institutions, and facilitate informed decision-making by policymakers and the public.

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URA Staff

Home | About Us | Leadership & Management | URA Staff | Cindy Achat-Mendes

URA Staff

CINDY ACHAT-MENDES

Director, STEM Initiatives

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

Before joining URA, Dr. Achat-Mendes served at the Department of Defense (DoD) as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 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 & technology 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 the much-needed STEM talent within our nation.