Emily Kuehn, Ph.D. is the Deputy Director of DoD STEM, within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) Basic Research Office (BRO). In this role, Emily is responsible for supporting DoD STEM activities to effectively implement the DoD STEM Strategic Plan and mission to inspire, cultivate and develop exceptional STEM talent. DoD STEM efforts support learners from elementary school through the workforce, offering a continuum of opportunities across STEM disciplines nationwide. Central to this work is a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.
Prior to this role, Dr. Kuehn served as a Senior Program Analyst with Strategic Analysis, Inc., providing strategic planning, oversight, and execution support for DoD STEM. This included co-leading evaluation and assessment across the DoD STEM portfolio; program oversight and management for a diversity of portfolio elements within DoD STEM, including the Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC) and National Defense Education Program (NDEP) internal funding opportunities; and serving as Executive Secretary for the Federal Coordination in STEM Education (FC-STEM) Subcommittee and FC-STEM Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Convergence.
Dr. Kuehn also served as a post-doctoral fellow in the National Academies of Science Research Associateship Program with the Science Education and Strategic Communications office at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR, Silver Spring, MD). There, she contributed to several research projects which focused educational initiatives designed to provide near-peer mentorship and hands-on project-based scientific training to young scientists with the goal of increasing their interest in and awareness of STEM fields. She served as Principal Investigator on summer programming research efforts, and led the pilot of a two-year initiative to foster partnerships between local high schools and universities to bring college-aged mentors into local under-resourced 9th grade Biology classrooms.
Dr. Kuehn received her B.A. in biology with concentrations in biochemistry and neuroscience from Kalamazoo College (Kalamazoo, MI) and her Ph.D. in neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD). Her academic career incorporated an emphasis on teaching and mentorship, which included leading interactive exhibit experiences at the Boston Museum of Science as well as developing and co-leading a neurobiology seminar course at Harvard University.