Physics Policy and Advocacy News: July 2018

APS Bridge Program Cong. Resolution, PROSPER Petition, Budget

Video Summary

Physics Advocacy in Action

The visits on Capitol Hill by three APS Bridge Program students back in April have made an impact! Thanks to Michelle Lollie, Brian Zamarripa Roman, and Dylan Smith, Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas and Representative Barbara Comstock of Virginia have introduced a resolution (H. Res. 988) “recognizing the importance of diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, acknowledging a necessity to increase diversity and representation within physics, and expressing support for the American Physical Society Bridge Program for its work toward increasing the number of underrepresented minorities earning physics doctoral degrees.” This public acknowledgement helps APS to continue to move forward in its efforts in support of underrepresented minorities in physics.

Also, four physics student volunteers visited Senate offices in Washington and Tennessee to deliver the APS-coordinated petition on the PROSPER Act, which asks the Senate to not include the House’s detrimental loan provisions when it writes its version of the bill. About 1,300 students, professors, and members of the science community signed the petition. The students had great meetings with staff members in the offices, and the staff members were attentive, sympathetic, and supportive. APS will continue to monitor this once the Senate starts writing its bill.

Take Action Now

Tweet Your Senator or Representative

(Fill in the blank with their Twitter handle)

I urge _________ and others in Congress to at least match the House proposal of $8.2B for NSF & the Senate proposal of $6.65B for DOE Office of Science and Sens. Gardner & Peters’ 4% growth for NIST. #voice4physics

I urge _________ and others in Congress to support the House’s proposal to robustly fund Titles II-A, IV-A, and IV-B of the Every Student Succeeds Act to enable high-quality STEM teacher preparation and afterschool/informal STEM programs #voice4physics

Find members of Congress on Twitter »

Left to right: Kate Baumgartner (staff in Senator Patty Murray’s Seattle office); Shua Sanchez (University of Washington physics graduate student)

Left to right: Vanderbilt University physics students XJ Xu (undergrad), Savanna Starko (grad student), and Brooks Musangu (grad student); Evann Freeman (staff member in Senator Lamar Alexander’s Nashville office)

Be the Signal Above the Noise

Email Greg Mack (mack@aps.org) to get involved.

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