Congressional Visits Day

This past week I was fortunate to be able to visit Washington DC as part of the MIT Science Policy Initiative. We met with members of congress and their staff to talk about the importance of our research and the role that federal funding played in supporting that research which in turn would lead to economic growth and maintain International competitiveness.

Congressional Visits Day  is a two-day annual event that brings scientists, engineers, researchers, educators, and technology executives to Washington to raise visibility and support for science, engineering, and technology.

SPI are the only all student group to attend CVD, and so this really was a great opportunity. We came at a difficult time, asking members to protect levels of science policy funding for FY11 and maintain them for FY12 the day before a potential government shut down. However, it was also an opportunity to reinforce the importance of research funding at this crucial moment.