Research Careers in Government (22 April 2026) (S.T.A.R. eligible)

Confirmed panelists include:

Bethany Kunz (USGS CERC). Bethany Kunz is the Restoration Ecology Section Chief at the Columbia Environmental Research Center. She coordinates a research team providing science to support ecological restoration efforts, particularly through the Department of the Interior’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) program. She also works on exposure pathways and biological effects of contaminants, using organisms from microbes to amphibians to sea turtles.

Hannah Shupert (Springfield-Greene County Health). Hannah Shupert is an alumna of Mizzou's Truman School of Government and Public Affairs (TSGPA), where she completed her BA in Political Science and Master of Public Affairs. During her time at Mizzou, she honed her research skills working with the Institute of Public Policy, the Columbia Public Schools Foundation, and the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security. Hannah now works as a Public Health Program Representative in the Office of Community Health Strategy at the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, where she leverages qualitative and quantitative data insights to improve public health programs and outcomes in southwest Missouri.