|
03.11
 Register
to Attend Congressional Visits Day
By Russ Harrison
U.S. IEEE members have the
opportunity to meet the new 112th Congress on
6-7 April during Congressional Visits Day.
During this event focused on federally funded
R&D, a coalition of 30 science and engineering
groups team up to remind Congress of the
importance of basic research. The registration
deadline is 23 March.
Congressional Visits Day is
especially important this year. There are 110
new members of Congress, representing an
unusually high 20.5 percent of Congress. While a
few of these politicians have backgrounds in
engineering or science, most don’t. This event
will be your first opportunity to introduce
yourself to your new legislators in a structured
setting.
From students to retirees, all
IEEE members in the United States are welcome to
attend Congressional Visits Day. On the morning
of 6 April , IEEE volunteers will meet to
discuss what to expect on Capitol Hill. You will
learn how to convey your thoughts on federally
funded R&D to your legislators quickly and
persuasively. Then, in the afternoon, you will
join the rest of the other coalition groups for
a briefing on the federal budget, focused on the
budget items that affect engineers and
scientists. On 7 April, you will spend the day
on Capitol Hill meeting with your members of
Congress.
Last year, more than 40 IEEE members
attended the event, including four college
students from Region 1. Below are a few thoughts
from these students on their Congressional
Visits Day experience:
“Congressional Visits Day
was an amazing and unforgettable experience.
Every office we visited showed strong
support to further the advancements of
science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM). To be able to share our opinions
with Congress and know that they were
actually listening was really a touching
experience. Observing the enthusiasm that
Congress holds for STEM activities brought
me hope for the future of this nation.”
~ Sindhura
Lanka
Rutgers University, New Jersey
“We flew to Washington
because we needed to speak to our nation’s
leaders directly and explain to them that
the future that is so quickly unwinding
would come to a massive halt should the
COMPETES Act fail to be reauthorized. I was
able to take my personal and educational
experiences and explain to Congressmen how
the younger engineering community feels
about the future and how their dreams might
change should funding cease.
~ Michael
Trimm
Wentworth Institute of Technology,
Massachusetts
“It was my goal to inform
policy makers the importance of STEM. They
needed to hear from one of their
constituents that we care about the next
generation’s STEM enthusiasm.”
~ Christine
Boyce
DeVry University, New York
“Since my master’s degree
research was funded by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration and I spent a
considerable amount of time exploring earth
science, I was primarily concerned with the
climate change debate and how it affects the
world we live in. I believe that federally
funded research is crucial to many of our
greatest challenges in health care, national
security, energy independence, security and
environmental management. Congressional
Visits Day provided me with a perspective on
the local and national impacts of science,
engineering and technology programs and
their significance to New York.”
~ Kim Smith
City College of New York
More information about
Congressional Visits Day is available at
http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/cvd/default.asp
and questions can be sent to Debbie Rudolph at
d.rudolph@ieee.org.
Russell T. Harrison is
IEEE-USA’s Senior Legislative Representative for
Grassroots Affairs.
Abby Robinson and Jignasa Ray
also contributed to this article.
Comments may be submitted to
todaysengineer@ieee.org.
|
Comments
on this story may be
sent directly to
