Maya’s leadership

In 2014, Maya became the President and CEO of Society for Science, one of the nation’s most prominent scientific institutions. Since taking the helm, she has reinvigorated the century-old organization for the 21st century. 

Growing up as the daughter of a physicist/electrical engineer, Maya was exposed to Science News — the Society’s award-winning magazine — from a young age. As a teenager, she became a self-described science fair junkie, competing in science fairs and attending the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Maya also entered the Westinghouse Science Talent Search with a project titled “Isolation and Characterization of a Tetracycline Resistant Plasmid of an Animal Isolate, Streptococcus faecalis, SF2,” which led her to earn a spot in the Honors Group — the top 300 competitors in the competition. 

Fast-forward several decades, and not only is Maya the Publisher of Science News and Science News Explores, but she is also a mom who shares the latest scientific discoveries and reporting with her young daughter. 

When Maya began her tenure at Science News, she was told to either sell the magazine, shut it down or make it sustainable. Maya says, “I knew there was only one choice: I had to turn things around to ensure that Science News would survive. I just could not imagine this magazine no longer existing. I believe that journalism is a cornerstone of our democracy, and that a science-literate public is crucial to our future.” By modernizing the digital newsroom and creating a program that would deliver trustworthy science journalism in high schools across the country, Maya secured a bright future for the magazine. Today, Science News is in over 5,500 high schools nationwide, providing high-quality content for students and teachers. 

Some of Maya’s other key triumphs at the Society include securing Regeneron, a leading biotechnology company, as an investor and partner of the Society’s flagship competitions and other programs, as well as developing a suite of robust outreach and equity programs that give every child, regardless of circumstances and background, the ability to pursue science or engineering, if that is what they choose to do. Maya says, “In my work, I have seen firsthand that when students start young and receive experiential learning opportunities, success in STEM lies in front of them.”