You are here:
Why Send an Engineer to Congress?
Citation:
Niblick, B. Why Send an Engineer to Congress? Presented at International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST) 2023, Fort Collins, CO, June 13 - 15, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation highlights the interactions between science, public policy, and federal legislation -- and how scientific research can benefit the legislative process.
Description:
This is the presentation based on the abstract, ORD.0.0.0.382. What does it take for a good scientific idea to survive the political lawmaking process? How can scientists and engineers contribute to this effort from inside the legislative branch? For the year 2022, the author had the honor of serving as an Energy & Environment policy advisor to a Congressional Member in the U.S. House of Representatives. As an advisor, they provided insight into executive branch scientific priorities, prepared the Member for public committee hearings, expanded key legislation, and most importantly, served as a liaison between constituents and the Member on local environmental issues. As scientists and engineers, we are trained to read broadly, analyze projects from multiple perspectives, and design with redundancy in mind. Translating this to the world of policy, we want to be able to survey the research, test our hypotheses, and revise results in an iterative loop. We only publish after rigorous peer review. Spoiler: there’s no time for the scientific method in Congress. For an idea to progress from bill text to law, it needs to get enough votes – often from both sides of the aisle. The most brilliant idea isn’t going anywhere if lawmakers don’t understand why it matters for their particular state or district. The lawmaker needs to take care of their constituents, first and foremost. Differently from publishing a journal paper, communicating a good legislative idea such that it gathers enough votes for passage, requires extensive relationship-building and working in coalition. It requires real-time conversation beyond the written page. The most successful policy advisors are the ones who can flow back and forth between the science and the politics – who can demonstrate how the science directly informs and supports the politics. For most scientists and engineers, perfecting this technique requires a crash course in step-by-step Congressional processes, functional knowledge of each Member’s priorities, and on-the-spot negotiation skills. One quickly discovers the difference between textbook politics and what actually happens behind the scenes. The scientist or engineer in Congress has a unique opportunity to bring subject matter expertise to these crucial conversations. This conference session will grapple with the realities of a predetermined political structure and explore the possibilities of how scientists and engineers can contribute their subject matter expertise to benefit the legislative process. Audience members will leave the session with a better understanding of federal legislative mechanics, why science mixed with political awareness is critical to successful legislation, and how to bridge the gap between academic expertise and what matters to communities on-the-ground. While this presentation focuses on U.S. government, most lessons can be adapted to fit other federal governments. Questions and audience participation are highly recommended to best benefit from this unique educational session. The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.