Biography
Dr. Jamison Watson
AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow
Office of the Director
Office of International Science & Engineering (OISE)
Class of 2023-2024
Originally from Minnesota, Dr. Jamison Watson earned his B.A. in Chemistry from St. Olaf College. He then moved to Illinois to pursue graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural & Biological Engineering. During his tenure at UIUC, his thesis focused on the waste-to-energy nexus, converting waste products (e.g., crop residues, food waste, animal waste) into fuels. Most recently, he received the Schmidt Science Fellowship from the Schmidt Science Foundation, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, where he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Román Lab in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the Román lab, Watson’s research involved both the electrochemical production of polymer precursors and catalyst development to thermochemically cleave C-C and C-O bonds to yield sustainable aviation fuel from agricultural biomass.
Outside of research, Watson has a passion for language learning. To hone his cultural and linguistic understanding, he previously participated in various international programs: the Critical Language Scholarship Program at Shaanxi Normal University in Xi’an, China, the U.S. Fulbright Scholarship Program at China Agricultural University in Beijing, China, and the Blakemore Freeman Fellowship at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Watson also has a passion for scientific communication. He served as a Science Communication Fellow in the MIT Chemical Engineering Communication Lab where he helped students and scientists refine their oral, written, and visual scientific communication skills through one-on-one instruction, personalized training, and workshops. Watson is excited to coalesce his scientific expertise with his passions for language learning and scientific communication working in NSF’s Office of International Science & Engineering (OISE) in the field of science diplomacy.