Graduate students engage in advocacy
The last year has been a very difficult one for scientists, science policy advocates, and graduate students across the country as there has been a swift infusion of uncertainty regarding the federal government’s support of science with the election of the new presidential administration. Funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), tight beforehand, has been faced with the prospect of utter decimation based on preliminary budget proposals and revised federal priorities. It has been in the atmosphere of concern and uncertainty that biological science graduate students Kristin Anderson and Chuck Fisher have been taking their talents for communicating science to a new level by reaching outside their disciplines to advocate for science funding and policy directly with federal lawmakers and with the public at large.
Kristin, a fifth-year neuroscience student, and Chuck, a seventh-year cell and molecular biology student, along with scientists from around the country traveled to Washington D.C. last September as a part of the Rally for BioMedical Research where they both met with Senators and Representatives in person and lobbied for increased funding for the NSF and NIH. In addition, when Congress was moving to pass tax overhaul legislation last December that would have raised graduate student taxes unsustainably into the thousands of dollars, Kristin and Chuck initiated and organized letter writing campaigns to our local Congressman Charlie Dent and PA Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey on behalf of grad students from across Lehigh University. Both were later featured in a Morning Call article where they explained the impending grad student tax crisis to residence of the Lehigh Valley. Through the combined effort of Kristin, Chuck, and anxious grad students across America, the grad student taxation clause was stripped out of the final version of the tax bill.
In addition to these specific efforts, Kristin and Chuck are both working on other projects for science and grad student advocacy. Kristin is a member of the Society for Neuroscience Advocacy Team, she has spoken at a citizen town hall at Senator Pat Toomey’s office, and she and her advisor, Dr. Julie Miwa, have operated a booth at Musikfest to make the public aware of their research and to get them involved in it. Chuck is the director and organizer of the Lehigh Valley, PA BioPharma Networking Group, an organization that seeks to connect undergrads and grad students from across the Lehigh Valley with local biotech and pharmaceutical companies looking to hire.
Kristin and Chuck are both planning to continue advocating for science and working for the public good following their upcoming graduations. “I believe that everyone in the public is a scientist at heart, wanting to improve the current status quo through new discovery,” said Kristin, “It is just a matter of scientists stepping away from our jargon and into the bigger picture goals of our projects. Through this we can communicate to the public about what it means to be a scientist, how the results and implications of scientific research benefit society, and that continued scientific progress can only occur if we work together.”
“The ones who control the purse strings of science, are very rarely scientists themselves,” said Chuck. “That is why it’s so important for us as scientists to make our work understandable and relatable for the betterment of society as a whole.”
Kristin and Chuck are going to do great things for spreading the word of science in America and the department is glad they could be a part of their journey and adventure.
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