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Policy ContactAGU 2001–2002 Congressional Science Fellow
Congressional Science Fellow Goes to Work for U.S. Senator
Karen Wayland
AGU's 25th Congressional Science Fellow, Karen Wayland, began her fellowship on Capitol Hill by accepting an offer to spend the year in the office of Senator Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada. In the senator’s personal office, Wayland will focus primarily on water and natural resources issues, which may include water supply and wastewater infrastructure legislation and Lake Tahoe watershed management. Despite their specific academic and research backgrounds, Congressional Science Fellows often are tasked with a wide range of legislative issues on Capitol Hill outside their immediate scientific expertise. For example, Wayland might also find herself working on Indian Affairs Committee issues for Senator Reid, or tracking the Fallon, Nevada cancer cluster investigation.
Before joining Reid's office, Wayland and over 30 other scientists and engineers met on September 5 for a two-week orientation sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The orientation is a crash course in American politics for newly-minted Ph.D.s and mid-career scientists more accustomed to laboratory experiments, field work, and computer modeling. Wayland reports that the orientation was a whirlwind of information and a great introduction to the workings of the federal government, but this year’s experience was unlike any other because of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Armed with a basic knowledge of Congress and the political process, the Fellows fanned out across the Hill seeking placement in the personal office of a Senator or Representative, or on the staff of a congressional committee. Wayland contacted over two dozen offices in the House and Senate and set up numerous interviews before choosing to work in the personal office of Senator Reid, the powerful Majority Whip in the Senate (second in command behind the Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota). She chose Reid's office because of the senator's long-standing interest in water issues and also because his high rank in the leadership will give her a glimpse into the inner machinations of the Senate's majority party.
In the fast-paced congressional environment, Fellows must synthesize reams of information about specific scientific topics into one or two-page memos or five-minute briefings for the legislator. They also must be able to work with people of diverse backgrounds and interests and help legislators and staff appreciate the role of science in public policy. In contrast to the situation in most congressional offices, Wayland will be working directly for another geoscientist, Legislative Director Kai Anderson. Anderson is a former Geological Society of America Congressional Science Fellow (1998–1999) who stayed on Capitol Hill and now is in charge of all legislative matters for Senator Reid.
Wayland finished her Ph.D. this summer in geology and resource development at Michigan State University. Her dissertation focused on environmental geochemistry and the effects of land use on surface and ground water quality in the Grand Traverse Bay watershed of Michigan. A dual affiliation with both the geology and resource development departments at MSU enabled her to study water resources planning and policy in addition to investigating the biogeochemical fingerprints of land use in her study area. Prior to her dissertation work, she studied and consulted on water resources issues domestically and in Latin America, and completed a M.S. in natural resources management and engineering at the University of Connecticut in 1995, focusing on spatial and temporal variations of nitrate in groundwater.
In applying for the AGU Fellowship, Wayland noted: “My interest in science has always been in the context of providing information for decision-makers, and I derive great energy from interacting with people. Consequently, I prefer policy making to bench science, but I believe that you cannot manage a resource without fully understanding the processes and properties that govern its behavior.”