Congressional Science Fellows Arrive on Capitol Hill

On September 6, a group of scientists will begin one-year terms working on Capitol Hill. The American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and, jointly, the Optical Society of America and the Materials Research Society, all sponsor Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows. Approximately 25 professional societies participate in the program each year under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Congressional Science Fellowship enables PhD scientists to spend a year on Capitol Hill, working in the office of a Member of Congress or on a committee staff. The Fellows gain an understanding of the legislative process, and in return, assist policymakers by applying technical expertise to the analysis of science-based issues. AIP has sponsored one Fellow annually since 1988. APS has participated in the Fellowship program since its inception in 1973.

Fellows begin their term in September with a two-week orientation sponsored by the AAAS. AIP’s incoming Fellow, Kevin Bieg, comes to the program from Sandia National Laboratories, where he has been Program Manager for Technology Transfer and Commercialization. Prior to this, he served as Science Advisor to DOE’s Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion. His background includes experimental work in polymer chemistry and inertial confinement fusion for research applications. He has a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, and an MBA from George Washington University.

Kevin Aylesworth is the APS Fellow for 1995-1996. Aylesworth received his PhD in physics from the University of Nebraska, followed by a postdoctoral position at the Naval Research Laboratory. His science policy experience includes founding the Young Scientists’ Network and working as a paralegal on such issues as standards of admissibility of scientific evidence, intellectual property rights, and product liability. Aylesworth is also a General Councillor of the APS.

The AGU Fellow is Timothy Cohn. Cohn previously worked at the US Geological Survey, developing statistical methods for analyzing environmental data. Cohn received his PhD in Water Resource Systems Engineering from Cornell University, and before working for USGS, was a research assistant at the Brookings Institution. Kelly Kirkpatrick has the distinction of being the first Fellow sponsored by MRS and OSA. She has just completed her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University.

This fall, the societies will be accepting applications for next year’s Fellowships. The application deadline for AIP and APS is January 15, 1996. Qualifications for the AIP and APS Fellowships include a PhD in physics or a closely related field, U.S. citizenship, and membership in APS or, for the AIP Fellowship, any of the ten AIP Member Societies. Further information on the AIP and APS Fellowships will be posted on AIP’s Homepage at http://www.aip.org ; a list of AIP’s ten Member Societies can be obtained at http://aip.org/aip/memsoc.html .

Interested applicants are asked to send a letter of intent and a resume (of two pages or less) to the address below, and should arrange to have three letters of reference sent to the same address. All application materials, single-sided on 8.5" x 11" paper, should be postmarked NO LATER THAN JANUARY 15, 1996. Materials should be sent to: APS/AIP Congressional Science Fellowship Programs; c/o The American Physical Society; 529 14th Street, NW, Suite 1050; Washington, DC 20045. One application suffices for both AIP and APS; please specify your society membership when applying.

Information on the AGU and OSA/MRS Fellowships can be obtained by contacting those societies directly: AGU contact: Pat Azriel/202-462-6900; OSA contact: Susan Reiss/202-223-8130; MRS contact: Gail Oare/412-367-3004.