Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Transcription

CYNTHIA ROBINSON: The program started forty years ago, and the mission and mandate has not changed. It's about public service and about professional development. Many of the issues, themselves, haven't changed. But I would say that since the world has become more globalized, more interconnected that the complexity of the challenges and the issues that Congress and, therefore, staff and the people who support them are dealing with have created a whole new dynamic. One of the exciting aspects of the program, and one of the most critical aspects of the program, is that Fellows are embedded in the offices where they're assigned for the year. They have the opportunity, of course, from that to have a great experiential education. But more importantly, they're at the table when policy discussions are happening and really in the trenches when offices need to deal with emerging issues or crises that are happening both in the United States and around the world. So, for example, Fellows have had an opportunity to work on climate change, adaptation and mitigation and be interacting with stakeholders in small island nations dealing with sea level rise. They've dealt with piracy in the Indian Ocean. Thinking about the ways that we can use new knowledge and understanding of neuroscience and social sciences to address Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Responding to food safety recalls and outbreaks that can lead to illness and even death and thinking more strategically about how regulations for food safety can help avoid those situations in the future. They've been involved in issues that have to do with other broad health care, environment, defense. They have a chance to respond to issues that emerge, whether it's thinking strategically about how the United States government might invest in emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology, or thinking about how we can improve STEM education at the K-12 level with the goal to have better innovation in our country. Or focusing on issues to expand diversity of those who are engaged in STEM and better serving underrepresented populations. Fellows, even from the very first class, continue to engage at the intersection of science and policy. They are very active in that way. We say that we like to create policy-savvy scientists and engineers out of this program. And they take that knowledge with them no matter where they go. I think an outcome beyond being policy-savvy scientists and engineers is also the fact that this program creates much more influential and knowledgeable citizens in general. Most Americans don't have the opportunity to know how science can be applied or how government even operates. And the individuals who are involved in this program are able to take that on to whatever they do in the future and really help make a difference in understanding how interdisciplinary problem-solving can really help improve lives, not only in the United States but around the world. ♫MUSIC♫