Professor Debbie Felton has been awarded a UMass 2023 PEP Faculty Fellowship. The PEP (Public Engagement Project) supports faculty members in using their research and expertise to contribute to social change and enrich public debate. PEP scholars learn new skills and receive additional training in communicating and engaging with the media, community groups, policy makers, and practitioners. The project also help faculty members build their own networks of institutions and individuals who can apply their research findings, and it helps create institutional spaces for communication between academics and non-academics. As part of the PEP fellowship, Prof. Felton has written for The Conversation.