A Year as AGU's Congressional Science Fellow

Photo of Afghan Minister and Senator Reid

From left to right: Karen Wayland, Habiba Sorabi, Minister of Women's Affairs for Afghanistan, Senator Reid, and Zeiba Shorish-Shamley, founder of Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan, acting as translator.

I was crossing the Capitol lawn on my way to a lecture at the Library of Congress when I heard two tour guides yell about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. It wasn’t long before our lecture was cut short and we were evacuated from the federal building. My memories of my first month as a Congressional Fellow are understandably dominated by September 11. Our orientation continued, which is a credit to program organizers at AAAS, but speaker after speaker told us that they no longer could speak with authority on what we could expect from our fellowship year.

After orientation, Congressional Fellows spent several tense weeks searching for a position in the office of a Member of Congress or a Committee. Priorities on the Hill had unexpectedly shifted for many offices after September 11, and in the resulting confusion, many offices did not have time to interview Fellows. I was lucky to meet with several offices, and I accepted a position in the office of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV). Reid has a long-standing interest in my study area (water), and his position as Majority Whip—second only to Majority Leader Tom Daschle—would give me insight into Democratic Party policy and leadership.

I was at my desk in Senator Reid’s office on the 5^th floor of the Hart Building for about a week when heard that a suspicious letter had been opened in the nearby office of Senator Daschle. After two days of speculation, we were all ushered into long lines to be tested for anthrax. I tested negative, but because I had been in the freight elevator that carried the tainted letter to Daschle’s office on the same day, I was put on a preventative 60-day regimen of antibiotics. When we were evacuated from the Senate buildings on that day (my second evacuation in one month), important files were still open on desks, PalmPilots plugged into computers, and gym bags under the desk. At that point, no one, including long-time Senate staff, had any inkling that we would be displaced from our offices for almost 5 months.

Ten days after the anthrax letter was opened, I returned to work. Our staff was fortunate to have office space and computers, which were set up in series on conference tables and counters in Capitol space designated for the Majority Whip. Other Senators struggled to find a single computer and fax machine. Fellows in those offices had little computer time and no way to interact with constituents. My computer sat on a filing cabinet, but it was located in an office overlooking the Mall and I had my own phone line. As tragic as the anthrax incident was for many people, particularly District postal workers, the silver lining for me was an the opportunity to view of the inner workings of Senator Reid’s office, and thus, the Democratic Party. I shared space with the Senator’s senior staff, who help him manage the Senate floor, and was able to eavesdrop on daily strategy sessions for running the Senate.

Initially, I helped permanent staff with the water infrastructure funding section of the Democratic economic stimulus package, which was never taken up by the Senate. I also helped organize a summit for national environmental groups on a Nevada desert lake facing ecosystem decline as a result of upstream river withdrawals. By December, I was heavily involved in Nevada’s fight against the Department of Energy’s plans to build a repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. I worked on several amendments to the Energy bill on coalbed methane and research on the use of precious metals in clean-air technologies.

Congressional Science Fellows are encouraged during orientation to get involved in issues that are not directly related to our areas of expertise, so I volunteered to work on foreign affairs and Native American issues. Some of the most rewarding moments of the last year occurred as I worked on Indian housing and land claims legislation. The highlight of the Fellowship was sitting next to the newly appointed Afghan Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Senate gallery as my boss delivered a floor speech I had written on the need for more peacekeepers in Afghanistan. By working on issues unrelated to my previous experience and studies, I have developed the ability to absorb huge quantities in information quickly and boil that information down into the salient points necessary for my boss to make informed decisions.

I am frequently asked the legitimate question about how AGU benefits from its support of the Congressional Science Program, especially since it is not appropriate for Fellows to be advocates of any specific issue (for example, funding for earth science research). Regardless of the policy issue at hand, Fellows learn to maneuver through the complex political process of creating the laws that govern—and fund—all activities in this country, which ultimately affect most AGU members. AGU’s support of the Congressional Science Fellowship program has created a cadre of politically savvy scientists who are better able to understand, access, and influence the messy but necessary political system. I am grateful to AGU members for allowing me to be one of those scientists.

Karen Wayland was AGU's 2001-2002 Congressional Science Fellow. She spent her term in the office of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).

Those interested in the AGU Congressional Science Fellowship Program should contact AGU Public Affairs, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., 20009, tel: +1-202-777-7509, fax: +1-202-328-0566, e-mail: pfolger@agu.org. The application deadline for the AGU 2003-2004 Congressional Science Fellowship is February 1, 2004 (see also http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/congress_fellows.html).