Congressional Fellow Sees Firsthand the Importance of Scientists in Policymaking
- PDF / 74,500 Bytes
- 1 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 3 Downloads / 221 Views
MRS NEWS
Congressional Fellow Sees Firsthand the Importance of Scientists in Policymaking I had the honor of serving as the Materials Research Society/Optical Society of America Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow from September 2001 through August 2002, and I am very grateful to MRS for allowing me to extend my fellowship to work on several important bills that were still under consideration when my term ended. I worked in the office of Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.). I was succeeded by 2002–2003 Fellow Jeff Haeni, who is working in the office of Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), and I recently participated in the selection process for the 2003–2004 Fellow. Many Americans probably regard the time period that I spent as a fellow as one of the most amazing in recent history. I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to spend that time in Washington D.C., at the center of all the activity, although I will admit that there were days when I questioned whether Washington D.C. was the safest place to be living. It was especially heartening as a scientist to see, even in a time of national crisis, that our government leaders recognize the contributions science and technology can make toward meeting national challenges. For example, on my first day of work, I reviewed ideas that Rep. Honda was going to propose to the Democratic Homeland Security Task Force for using technology to increase homeland security while preserving civil rights. As the year progressed, homeland security remained an important part of the national agenda and my job. I worked on two amendments that Rep. Honda offered to the Department of Homeland Security bill, one that created a Homeland Security Institute to oversee research and development (R&D) in the department and another that established a technology clearinghouse to facilitate the application of existing technologies to homeland security problems. Both of these provisions were part of the final bill signed by President George W. Bush. One of the most memorable moments of my year was the day I accompanied Rep. Honda to the floor of the House of Representatives as he delivered a floor statement I had worked on supporting the National Science Foundation (NSF) doubling bill. The bill, which would allow Congress to increase the amount of money it provides to the NSF, has been a priority of MRS and other professional societies in the physical science community. It would
456
Congressional Fellow Eric Werwa (left) worked for Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) (right) from September 2001 through August 2002.
enable increased funding each year, so that after five years, Congress could spend twice the current funding level on NSF. The bill received overwhelming support in the House of Representatives, and a similar version was ultimately approved in the U.S. Senate. After some tense moments at the end of last fall’s congressional session, when we wondered if a deal would be reached, the two houses were able to work out the differences between their bills. On the last night of the session a bill was approved
Data Loading...
