ESA Graduate Student Policy Award

A GSPA winner’s close encounter with an Alaska senator and a fish called ‘Walter’ while advocating for NSF

A guest commentary by Timothy Treuer (Princeton University), 2016 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award recipient Walking through the door into Senator Lisa Murkowski’s fourth floor office in the Hart Senate Building feels like stepping from the halls of the nation’s capital into a home in Alaska. The walls and shelves are covered in photos of arctic landscapes, Alaska Native artwork,…

‘Putting a face’ on science funding, Lear reflects on congressional visits experience

A guest commentary by Kristen Lear (University of Georgia), 2016 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award recipient As a 2016 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient, I traveled to D.C. in late April for three days to receive hands-on exposure to the interface between science and policy. This was a departure from my “day-job” as a graduate student at the University…

ESA Policy News May 4: Senate committee moves NSF, DOE funding bills, ESA grad students visit Capitol Hill

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. APPROPRIATIONS: SENATE COMMERCE, JUSTICE AND SCIENCE BILL CLEARS SUBCOMMITTEE On April 19, the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee approved its Fiscal Year 2017 spending bill. The bill includes $56.3 billion, $563 above the FY 2016 enacted level…

ESA Policy News November 25: Scientific Societies defend NOAA, Apply for 2016 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. HOUSE: ESA JOINS OTHER SOCIETIES IN DEFENDING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ESA and six other leading science societies sent a letter to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) concerning his ongoing inquiries into the climate-change research…

ESA Policy News May 20: America COMPETES reauthorization set for House floor vote, ESA GSPA winners visit Capitol Hill, NSF report analyzes STEM workforce

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. SCIENCE: AMERICA COMPETES REAUTHORIZATION BILL HITS HOUSE FLOOR This week, the US House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015. The bill reauthorizes funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes…

ESA Announces 2015 Graduate Student Policy Award Recipients

Graduate students from University of Illinois at Chicago, Princeton University, Oregon State University and University of Texas at Austin will speak with federal lawmakers about sustaining support for science WASHINGTON, DC – The Ecological Society of America (ESA), the world’s largest professional society of ecological scientists, is pleased to announce this year’s Graduate Student Policy Award winners. The award affords…

ESA Policy News December 5: House floats FY 2015 spending deal, NEON scrutinized, Apply for 2015 GSPA

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. APPROPRIATIONS: HOUSE FLOATS FY 2015 SPENDING BILL This week, House leadership announced its plan to continue spending for most government agencies throughout the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 and avert a government shutdown. The House’s 2015 omnibus appropriations bill…

NSF IGERT: Transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries to advance career opportunities in science

This year’s 2014 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) winners, (left to right) Brittany West Marsden (University of Maryland), Sarah Anderson (Washington State University), Amber Childress (Colorado State University), Johanna Varner (University of Utah), and Andrew Bingham (Colorado State University) participated in policy training at ESA’s Washington, DC office on April 9. (Credit/ESA file photo) In April, 60 biologists and…

ESA Policy News April 21: climate future, Forest Legacy, ESA visits the Hill

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. CLIMATE CHANGE: IPCC REAFFIRMS NEED FOR MITIGATION, ADAPTATION MEASURES The Nobel Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released two new reports in late March and early April that reaffirm climate change is currently affecting natural ecosystems and…

ESA Policy News: November 22

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Policy Analyst Terence Houston. Read the full Policy News here. SCIENCE: SUBCOMMITTEE REVIEWS LEGISLATION TO REAUTHORIZE NSF On Nov. 13, the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Research considered the Frontiers in Innovation Research, Science and Technology (FIRST) Act, draft legislation to reauthorize programs in the National Science Foundation (NSF), the…

So you want to be a (science) policy wonk?

If you are interested in applying your scientific experience to policy-making in the United States, says ESA Policy Analyst Terence Houston, whether as a grad student or established scientist, you should spend some time volunteering locally to gain some experience and resume cred.

Butyou need not work full-time for free. There are internships that will pay you.

Meet this year’s ESA Grad Student Policy Awardees

By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs Threatened and endangered species, alternative energy, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, emerging diseases and climate change—these are all areas in which members of the Ecological Society of America work. Our members are researchers, educators, natural resource managers and students and work in academia, government and the private sector. This community of 10,000 shares…

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Welcome to Sweden

No, not Greg Poehler’s short-lived international sitcom by the same name, but very literally what the hotel clerk said when I checked in. He smiled; since I’d been practicing on Duolingo for a few weeks and had hoped to proudly correctly pronounce Tack så mycket and instead replied (translated) “you’re welcome,” I did not. Blame the jet lag. Nonetheless, greetings from…

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Call for Nominations: ESA Regional Policy Award

ESA seeks nominations for its Regional Policy Award to recognize a policymaker who has integrated environmental science and policy in initiatives that foster more sustainable communities.

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Ecology Doesn’t Stop at the Coast: ESA at the Ocean Sciences Meeting

By Adrienne Sponberg ESA recently joined more than 6,000 ocean scientists from around the world at the bi-annual Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) in New Orleans. OSM is a joint meeting between the American Geophysical Union, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography and the Oceanography Society. Executive Director Catherine O’Riordan and Director of Society Programs Adrienne Sponberg staffed the ESA…

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Give and Help Us Take Our Next Great Stride Forward

By ESA President Shahid Naeem It’s now February and, as ESA’s President, I realize that my term is almost half over. It is a good time to reflect on our accomplishments from the past few months, while realizing that these have been possible because of the hard work of ESA members over many years. I’ve been with ESA since 1984,…

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