AGI Government Affairs Advisory
Committee
Draft Meeting Agenda and Background
Information
Draft Geotimes Society Page Article on New Congressional Science
Fellows
"Fellows take earth science to the Hill"
(will appear in December 2002 issue)
Scientists are once again storming the steps of Capitol Hill. This fall, geoscience congressional fellows joined more than two dozen other scientists and engineers as part of a trial-by-fire course in public policy organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sponsored by science societies, the fellows will work for a year as staffers for congressional representatives or committee offices.
American Geological Institute (AGI) fellow Larry Kennedy is a staffer for his home state senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Kennedy comes to the legislative branch with 20 years of experience working as a mineral explorer for the mining industry. While he has traveled across North and Central America for his job, meeting fascinating people and seeing fantastic geology, frustratingly, Kennedy never saw any of his projects come to fruition. “The science was sound, but there is a lot of opposition locally and nationally to mines getting built.” The main reason for that he says is the legacy of the pre-1970 mining industry. Modern technology has improved mining methods, Kennedy says, and he suspects much of the mining industry’s past is what influences public policy decisions today. “The demands that we as a society make on resource development are immense, but how do we balance the need for resources, including managing water resources, with our need to conserve and protect our natural landscape and restoration projects?” Kennedy hopes that the variety of issues he will face as a fellow in Reid’s office will help him answer that question.
Illa Amerson is working this year as the American Geophysical Union (AGU) fellow for Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). Amerson chose Conrad’s office because the senator is working on water quality and environmental issues in North Dakota. Specifically, Amerson is interested in the technical and political issues surrounding Devils Lake, a closed basin in the northeastern part of the state. Amerson, 32, has a doctorate in environmental science and engineering from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, a master’s in civil and environmental engineering from Arizona State University in Tempe, and bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “With chemical engineering you have the process, design and historical record of how a project was built and what things to look at to optimize it, but we don’t have blueprints for the environment,” she says. “We learn as much as we can whether we’re studying ocean currents, air pollution or groundwater for example, and then try to engineer things to clean up or protect but we never get a complete understanding of the system. We have to do the best we can with the methods we have available to us.”
Raphael “Rafe” Sagarin got a taste for politics after interning for the Wilderness Society in Washington, but he desired a better understanding of the issues for which he was lobbying. He went back to school and earned a doctorate in marine ecology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. At 31, Sagarin is again in the political arena, this time as a fellow working for Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) for the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the U.S. Geological Survey. He summarizes the different attitudes he’s experienced, explaining that lobbyists “convince others that you’re right no matter what, rather than asking [as scientists do]: Am I right and what are the potential holes in my argument?” To find balance, Sagarin says he hopes to advise his boss of the best actions to take based on the best science available.
The American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America are sponsoring Lee Van Wychen, who will begin his fellowship in January. “I wouldn’t have minded starting earlier but it was suggested I wait until after the elections and the helter-skelter with the pending appropriations bills,” he says. Having recently earned his doctorate from Montana State University, Van Wychen took November and December to travel around the world, as a graduation and 30th birthday present to himself. Before his trip, he spent time on his father’s farm in Freedom, Wisc., where he grew up. “In fourth grade I told my teacher I wanted to be the Secretary of Agriculture. That’s still a goal of mine,” he says. The congressional fellowship he says is “a perfect fit to get my feet wet and see how the system works. I’m looking forward to January.”
To apply for next year’s fellowship visit: fellowships.aaas.org or www.agiweb.org/gapac/csf.html. Deadlines for application begin Jan. 10 and vary depending on the sponsoring society.
AAAS: Jan. 10, 2003
GSA: Jan. 24, 2003
AGU: Feb. 1, 2003
AGI: Feb. 3, 2003
ASA/CSSA/SSSA: March 1, 2003
-- Christina Reed, Geotimes Associate Editor
Please send any comments or requests for information to AGI Government Affairs Program at govt@agiweb.org.
Posted November 11, 2002
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