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Staff Directory

Kurt Andrew DeSoto

Kurt Andrew DeSoto portrait
Email:
kadesoto@nsf.gov
Phone:
(703) 292-4416
Room:
C 13026
Organization:
SBE
Title:
Senior Advisor for Partnerships and Innovation

Program Responsibilities:
Accelerating Research Translation (ART)

Biography:

K. Andrew ("Andy") DeSoto is senior advisor for innovation, strategic engagements and partnerships in the Office of the Assistant Director for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). He works to advance partnerships with academia, industry and government; strengthen social, behavioral and economic research and engagement on national priority areas; and contribute to the leadership of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate’s scientific programs and other activities. He has served this position through a permanent appointment since 2022. 

Dr. DeSoto's professional expertise sits at the intersection of government and public affairs, science policy, and evidence-based policymaking. Before arriving at NSF, he was director of government relations at the Association for Psychological Science, where he worked to advocate on behalf of the social, behavioral and economic sciences and increase awareness of the ways that these sciences advance health, prosperity and welfare. 

Trained as a cognitive psychologist, Dr. DeSoto researches individual and collective memories and the confidence we have in those memories. He is also interested in metascience and robust and reliable research. His work has been published in journals including SciencePsychological Science and Memory and covered in The New York TimesThe Washington Post, NPR and The Atlantic

Dr. DeSoto is an undergraduate alumnus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and he received his Ph.D. and MA in psychological science from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He also credits his education at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Alexandria, VA, for catalyzing his interests in scientific research and its application.