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Home / News / OSA Public Policy Programs / Special Events

Capitol Hill Day 2007

 

Held in Conjunction with CLEO/QELS 2007

OSA/MRS Congressional Fellow Kevin Whittlesey (right) briefs Capitol Hill Day participants about the ins and outs of working on Capitol Hill as fellow presenter Ron Kelley of The Livingston Group looks on.
Capitol Hill Day 2007 participants on Capitol Hill. Participants included: Fares Alhassen, Mark Althouse, Wafa Amir, Robert Applegate, Luke Bissell, Bob Breault, Steve Brueck, Peter Delyfett, Will Donaldson, Gary Evans, Alex Fong, Matt Goodman, Davis Hartman, Mani Hossein-Zadeh, David Huff, Henry Kapteyn, Brian Kolner, Michael Lebby, Yannick Lize, Svetlana Lukishova, Margaret Murnane, Shannon O'Leary, Spilios Riyopoulos, Dawn Schafer, Selim Shahriar, Jay Sharping, Baishi Wang and Ben Zwickl. Co-sponsoring society Team Leaders included: Julie Chlopecki (OSA), Gordon Day (OIDA), Kim Duncan (APS), Jennifer Greenamoyer (AIP), Russell Harrison (IEEE), Laura Kolton (OSA), Tammy Lindenberg (OSA) and Angela Stark (OSA).
OSA members visit with Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR) about the importance of funding for scientific R&D. Pictured left to right: Alex Fong, Peter Delfyett, Rep. DeFazio, Shannon O'Leary and Bob Breault.
OSA Public Policy Committee chair and Capitol Hill Day participant Peter Delfyett (left) speaks with Rep. David Wu (OR) about the impact federal R&D funds have had on his laboratory at CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida.
OSA member Shannon O'Leary (right), a Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon, meets with her congressman, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR).
  
Click images to enlarge

Event Agenda for Participants

Key Message Points
Support Increased Investments in R&D (Policy PDF, 54 KB)
Support for STEM Education (Policy PDF, 50 KB)
Support for the Advanced Technology Program (Policy PDF, 28 KB)
Improving Our Quality of Life Through Light (Policy PDF, 230 KB)

New in 2007, OSA, along with OIDA, APS and LEOS, hosted Capitol Hill Day -- a unique opportunity in which nearly 30 participants visited directly with their elected officials in Washington, D.C. and made their voices heard on issues such as funding for scientific research and development and STEM education.

The event took place May 9 and 10 – coinciding with CLEO/QELS 2007 in Baltimore. A brief early evening orientation and training occurred on May 9 and buses transported participants from Baltimore to D.C. on May 10 for in-person meetings with lawmakers. OSA, OIDA, APS and LEOS staff scheduled all appointments and provided background and talking points for participants.

To view a press release about this event, click here.

Events like this are a great way for scientist-constituents to advocate directly for issues like increased support and increased funding for:

  • Department of Defense research
  • NSF
  • NIST
  • Department of Energy research
  • Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education

To learn about how you can participate in OSA public policy opportunities like Capitol Hill Day, as well as receive updates on U.S. public policy that affects the scientific community, sign up for OSA’s Optics Legislative Network at www.osa.org/OLN.