RECENT WORK
Doherty Lab, NC State
Doherty Lab at North Carolina State University is a leading phytomining lab led by Dr. Colleen Doherty. Phytomining — the harvesting or ‘mining’ of metals from contaminated soils via plant uptake — is a critical technology for bioremediating landscapes and securing access to high value minerals and rare earth elements. External Affairs visited Colleen and her team to document their existing research and vision for the future of the technology. 
ServiceExternal Affairs participated in a lab meeting with the North Carolina team and led the creative direction and production of the photo documentation project. Location
Date
Client
Status
TeamDoherty Lab, Raleigh North Carolina
May 2025 - Present
Doherty Lab
Active
Justin Morris-Marano
Melody Stein
Manuela Lourenço



Nucleate New York
Forum Every year Nucleate New York, an early-stage biotech incubator, holds an annual forum to celebrate the work of the current cohort and bring together the organization’s network of supporters and affiliates. Nucleate tasked External Affairs to document the Forum event in a way that shared the cohorts work, celebrated it’s realtionship to New York, and amplified the org as a high-caliber program launching the next generation of biotech leaders. ServiceExternal Affairs developed four interview-focused clips for Nucleate to leverage across social media and other communication channels. External Affairs led creative direction, production and editing.  ImpactNucleate shared the shorts over the course of a two-week release schedule. Leadership at both the New York chapter level and HQ level reported positive feedback from key stakeholders.Location
Date
Client
Status
TeamDoherty Lab, Raleigh North Carolina
May 2025 - Present
Doherty Lab
Active
Justin Morris-Marano
Melody Stein
Manuela Lourenço


Climate Change AI
CCAI is the leading voice in machine learning applications for climate science. For their 2024 NY Climate Week event with Google DeepMind, CCAI asked External Affairs to make their new Data Gaps project and organizational identity hyper-tangible for a room full of key stakeholders like program funders, government officials, c-suite executives, and data practitioners.ServiceOver the course of 4 months we developed strategic storytelling alongside CCAI’s founders, led creative direction, executed on a keynote deck and supporting motion design, refined event communication strategy, assisted in the production of a memorable experience, and captured everything on photo to reach a large audience on social media. View a recording of the keynote here.ImpactAt the start of 2025, Climate Change AI announced 3 new full-time positions backed by their funders and a greater professionalization effort for their growing non-profit. Priya Donti was later nominated to the TIME100 AI list.

“I thought we were only going to get a bunch of fancy images, but we actually got an entirely new framework for talking about our work.” - Priya Donti, Co-founder and Chair, Climate Change AI  Location
Date
Client
Status
TeamNew York City
September 2024
Climate Change AI
Complete
Justin Morris-Marano
Melody Stein
Kyle Barnes
Jay Darvishian
Manuela Lourenço
Bayley McDaniel, Shift + Alt Events



Live Techno-Economic AnalysisExternal Affairs partnered with Recurison and Homeworld Collective to produce an event around TEA, a tool for testing the economic viability of emerging technology. The Live TEA Demonstration & Gathering brought the same energy as External Affairs’ Applied project but began with a focused, skill-building workshop targeted at scientists working on commercializing their research. 

Service
External Affairs led the creative direction, event strategy, production and content creation for the event.
ImpactThe initial guest list reached capacity in under 24 hours with a mix of researchers and industry leaders representing the emerging technology and applied sciences ecosystem. All project partners reported multiple instances of cold outreach from the event.

“We’re really thankful for the partnership with External Affairs. We knew we could count on them to thoughtfully plan and execute one of our first in-person TEA workshops and cover all of the different dimensions of creating a memorable in-person experience.” - Jesse Lou, Co-founder, RecursionLocation
Date
Client
Status
TeamThe Cooper Union, New York City
July 2025
Self-initiated 
Complete
Justin Morris-Marano
Melody Stein
Jesse Lou
Alex Prather
Rosie Keller
Recursion
Homeworld Collective
Manuela Lourenço
Michiel van Kleef


AppliedExternal Affairs recognized a lack of opportunities for engaging with compelling projects and individuals operating at the intersection of science, design, and technology in New York. In response, we developed and launched the Applied series, a year-long project built to support the increasingly interdisciplinary and applied sciences.
ServiceOver 8 editions, External Affairs led the creative direction, activation strategy, stakeholder and partner engagement, event production, marketing, and content creation for the serieImpactThe Applied series welcomed over 1,200 unique, in-person guests, often exceeding venue capacity. The series maintained it’s interdisciplinary demographic goals: when measuring attendance by industry or area of expertise, Applied drew an audience of roughly 60% science, 20% business and finance, and 20% design and technology, based on attendee job titles.

“Applied was probably the most effective networking event I've been to in recent memory.” - Omar Greene, CEO, Green Materials SciencesLocation
Date
Client
Status
TeamPrime Produce, New York
February 2024 - February 2025
Self-initiated
Complete
Justin Morris-Marano
Melody Stein
Max Lerner
Danny Chan
Manuela Lourenço
Columbia Alumni Association Global Health & Wellness Network
Genspace NYC
BIOTECH XYZ
Biotech Without Borders
The Chemists Club
Columbia University Postdoctoral Society
The Innovation Space
GROW Externships
Prime Produce



Nucleate New York ActivatorNucleate is a global accelerator dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. For their 2024 Activator program, the New York Chapter asked External Affairs to guide the eco-track cohort in communicating the distinct value of their emerging biotech-driven businesses to investors and strategic partners.ServiceExternal Affairs developed and facilitated a workshop aimed at empowering the cohort with the tools and processes needed to build compelling communication assets they could leverage in their pitch decks. Participating startups were guided through 3 hands-on activities: developing the narrative at the heart of their pitch, identifying and building creative assets to make their deck more tangible and compelling, and weaving immediate and potential application into their story.ImpactFollowing the methodologies taught in our workshop, startups presented their work at the 2025 Nucleate New York Activator Demo Day in May.

“In the digital world we live in today, it was incredibly powerful to see the teams physically draw the context, application, and impact of their technology with visuals, forcing them to critically think and iterate on each.” - Harshit Harpaldas Chellani, Managing Director, Nucleate New YorkLocation
Date
Client
Status
TeamNEW INC, New York City
February 2025
Nucleate New York
Complete
Justin Morris-Marano
Melody Stein
Manuela Lourenço



MOME Course Week
The Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) is a leading design university in Central Europe. Every year it runs week-long intensive courses at the start of each semester. Ahead of the spring 2024 semester, MOME invited External Affairs to lead a week-long interdisciplinary course about environmentally-enabled design.ServiceExternal Affairs developed and facilitated a workshop that guided students through an experimental design process involving critical observation, environmental documentation, experimentation, and iteration. Students worked collaboratively in two teams to develop a material, method, tool, or object that directly relates to an observed environmental process.ImpactBoth teams presented their successful projects to a panel of critics from across MOME departments and the MOME Innovation Center.Location
Date
Client
Status
TeamBudapest, Hungary
February 2024
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Complete
Justin Morris-Marano
Melody Stein
Judit Boros



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