Brunese selected for ELISS Fellowship

Priyanka Brunese will use her expertise in collaboration to help ELISS fellows address epidemic preparedness.

A College of Technology doctoral student has been selected for a multi-university, collaborative think tank that taps campus and community expertise on a complex societal topic. This year’s students will address epidemic preparedness across America.

Priyanka Brunese, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Technology Leadership and Innovation, is one of two Purdue students selected for the second class of Emerging Leaders in Science and Society (ELISS). The leadership development program, hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, includes 15 students from Purdue, Stanford University, University of Washington, and University of Pennsylvania.

“I’ve always been really passionate about science and technology and bringing more people to understand them,” Brunese said. “My research is about collaboration, focusing on strategic partnerships and bringing different sectors together for joint problem-solving. For me, ELISS is a very easy fit. And the program will provide mentors from different disciplines.”

Brunese recently returned from a weeklong orientation with the rest of the ELISS fellows where the topic of epidemic preparedness was chosen. The fellows come from academic fields as diverse as veterinary medicine, education, and engineering.

During the orientation, they explored each others’ leadership strengths and gained insights on engaging mentors from Paul Markham, program officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They also learned about the landscape of complex problems facing the nation and practiced negotiation and decision-making skills as they selected their topic.

“The goal is not to solve the problem. Problems are complex by nature,” Brunese said. “The point is to bring people from different areas of expertise together in dialogue to explore a common vision for the future and options for getting there. ELISS Fellows are facilitators helping bring together these different perspectives.”

Jing (Joy) Ma, a Ph.D. student in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, is the other ELISS fellow from Purdue. She and Brunese will reach out to a variety of stakeholders at Purdue and from the West Lafayette and Lafayette communities in the next six months to understand the state of epidemic preparedness and identify opportunities for dialogue to help inform a new policy or program.

Fellows from all four campuses will re-convene in the summer to determine how to use this collected knowledge from their respective campuses and communities to advance epidemic preparedness across the country. In the fall, ELISS fellows will host stakeholder forums in multiple communities, create an online issue guide to highlight different communities’ approaches and needs in epidemic preparedness, and present their findings to national leaders in Washington, D.C. 

Brunese believes her varied academic background will be beneficial in this new, voluntary role.

“While many graduate students approach problems through a specific disciplinary lens, I am a product of interdisciplinary studies. I have an undergraduate degree in computer engineering, a master’s degree in computer and information technology and am doing doctoral work in leadership and innovation,” she said. “I look forward to contributing my expertise on interdisciplinary team dynamics and process improvement to help advance the program as a whole.”

About the ELISS program
The ELISS program at Purdue is supported in part by the Office of the Provost with administrative support from the Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs. It is also supported by grants from the Argosy Foundation and Rita Allen Foundation, among others. Fellows learn to build capacity for collaboration across disciplines and sectors on societal challenges. Fellows are chosen through a competitive application process. Last year’s ELISS classes tackled nutrition policy, mental health stigma, and sustainability in public spaces.