Odiney Alvarez-Campos was a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow placed at the Bureau for Africa in USAID (United States Agency for International Development). Her background is in soil, environmental, and agriculture sciences. She received a PhD in Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences from Virginia Tech, an MS in Soil and Water Sciences from the University of Florida, and a BS in Agriculture Sciences from EARTH University in Costa Rica. Her past research has addressed the risks and benefits of organic amendment (compost, biochar, biosolids, etc.) application to degraded agricultural and urban soils. Prior to becoming a fellow, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University where she investigated the sources of recharge and groundwater flowpaths supporting springs in Arequipa, Peru. In her role at USAID, she was an environmental compliance advisor, where she strived to ensure environmental and social safeguards were met across Missions in Sub-Saharan Africa through the application of USAID and host country regulations.