In Meetings on the Hill, GSPA Recipient Works to Put a Face on Science Funding

A guest post by Tyler Coverdale (Princeton University), 2017 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient. This year’s six award winners traveled to Washington, D.C. at the end of April for policy experience and training.

Lushani Nanayakkara (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography), Sarah Handlon (University of Cincinnati), and GSPA recipients Tyler Coverdale (Princeton University) and Ben Taylor (Columbia University) outside the office of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

As a 2017 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient, I traveled to Washington, D.C. in late April with five other students from around the country to advocate for increased funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Over the last decade, NSF’s funding has remained relatively flat and thousands of projects recommended for funding are turned down every year. As a partial remedy for this situation, and in recognition of the value of fundamental research to both science and society, we were tasked with asking our senators and representatives for $8 billion for NSF in Fiscal Year 2018.

From the moment I heard that I’d received the award in late January I knew that this was going to be a tough assignment for me. The perception of science and scientists has shifted rapidly over the last several months, and perhaps never in the 240-year history of our country has there been more skepticism towards federally funded, basic research. I felt fortunate to be meeting with senators and representatives from Ohio, who have consistently supported science in the past, but the timing of our meetings was not ideal: We were heading to Capitol Hill just two days before the government was set to shut down if Congress couldn’t reach an agreement on the budget for the 2017 fiscal year, and we would be asking them to set aside even more money for 2018. What’s more, thousands of scientists had marched on the Capitol the previous weekend, largely in response to the hostile environment facing science and scientists. Tensions were high and funding science probably wasn’t the top priority for anyone but us.

I was also nervous because, although I have as much pride in my birthplace as any Ohioan, I have never actually done research in my home state. I have been tremendously fortunate to work on NSF-funded projects all over the country and even internationally, but I worried that my distant field sites would make me a poor advocate for NSF’s important role in Ohio. I was afraid that I’d lose credibility as a constituent and an advocate if I couldn’t directly connect my own research to the economic, social, and environmental issues facing Ohio’s 11 million other residents. And, try as I might, I just couldn’t figure out how my work on plant defenses in Kenyan savannas was going to improve Ohio’s bottom line.

The day before our meetings, staff from ESA and the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) gave us a crash course in science policy, advocacy, and Capitol Hill etiquette. We learned when to pass out our newly minted business cards (at the beginning of the meeting), what to do with our “leave-behind documents” (leave them behind, but also email copies later), and how to know when to wrap up the meetings (as soon as the staffer closes his or her notebook). We watched mock meetings between real scientists and stand-in members of Congress and learned how to describe our concerns in terms that would carry weight in Washington. My team, which was made up of graduate students from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, helped me craft a personal message that centered on putting a face on the science funding that we were requesting rather than trying to force connections between my work in Africa and my origins in Ohio. I fell asleep that night rehearsing my opening statement and worrying about the awkwardness of asking someone for eight billion dollars. But the day’s training had definitely allayed my fears about being exposed as an imposter the following day.

Fortunately for me, my team kicked off our Hill day with meetings in the Senate offices for Kentucky and Tennessee. My team members from those states took the lead, so I was free to sit back and learn from the experiences of my fellow graduate students. They breezed through the meetings, graciously handling tough questions and even tougher silences, and then it was my turn. My first meeting was with a staff member from Representative Marcia Fudge’s (D) office, and unlike all of the other representatives we would be meeting with that day, she had already signaled her support for NSF by signing a “Dear Colleague” letter urging strong federal investment in NSF. After handing over my business card, I described how NSF funding had shaped my short career, how others like me were working to keep Ohio’s waterways and natural areas safe and healthy, and why their work was critical for providing clean drinking water, maintaining a lucrative tourism industry, and fighting the harmful impacts of invasive species. After just a few minutes, the staffer’s notebook closed and I wrapped up the meeting. I repeated this process two more times in the offices of Senators Sherrod Brown (D) and Rob Portman (R), and before any of us knew it the day was over.

My first experience on Capitol Hill highlighted the fact that the need for scientists to engage in science policy is greater than ever before. But it is also incredibly difficult. Advocating for NSF funding required me to briefly set aside my preconceptions about how to most effectively communicate the importance of science, and I have the excellent staff at ESA to thank for helping me avoid the most common pitfalls that scientists often face in their first foray into the policy world. In the future I hope to take advantage of other opportunities to be involved firsthand in science policy and to share my experiences with others interested in getting more actively involved on behalf of science. Finally, I want to thank everyone at ESA for the incredible opportunity they provided me and my fellow GSPA recipients. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am grateful to everyone who worked so hard to make it a success.