Devon Gorby, PhD, was the member of the science of Congress 2023-2024 of the AU. He is now a member of the AAAS science and technology policy in the United States Department of State.
From September 2023 to September 2024, I worked at the Office of Senator Martin Heinrich in New Mexico as a member of the Science of the Agu Congress. I used my scientific experience in climate science, geology and hydrology to cover their water and environmental portfolios. The experience was the best of my career so far, and I encourage everything interested in using their experience to inform politics to Request a scientific scholarship of Congress.
As a graduate student during the Covid-19 pandemic, I found myself very frustrated in the gap between science and politics. It motivated me to look for several training opportunities in scientific policies, including AGU SCIENCES FOR SCIENCES PROGRAM. Through these experiences, I realized that my skills were better for me for a career in scientific politics or scientific communication. The Agu Congress Science Scholarship was the perfect opportunity for me for this race to change. But no Fellow trip is the same: many of my colleagues saw communion as an opportunity to return a new perspective to their institutions of origin.
At the beginning of my communion, I interviewed more than a dozen offices in the Chamber and the Senate. I was excited to work with Senator Heinrich because he adopts a very bipartisan approach for policy formulation. As a climate scientist, I saw the subject as intensely partisan, and was curious to learn more about how climate and environmental policy is approved in such a divided congress. While there is still a long way to go to close the gap between climate science and climatic policy, I learned that there is more bipartisan common field than the headlines suggest. I was able to support several pieces of bipartisan legislation, including the Law on the Development of Water Resources and the National Defense Authorization Law, while advancing in Congress. These two bills are considered a “forced visit” legislation that need to go to the president’s desktop before the end of the year.
There is not a typical work day in the hill, but I often found together with voters or employees from other offices, writing letters or memoranda, or preparing materials for the Heinrich senator in meetings or committee audiences. During my year in office, I could help with several laws. I worked on five tribal water settlement invoices and helped them advance through the audience and marking of the committee. I presented a bipartisan bill to extend the program “Each child outdoors”, which provides fourth grade students and their families free access to national parks and other federal public lands. He also obtained a deep understanding of the federal budget process during the budget cycle of the fiscal year24, since Senator Heinrich is a member of the Assignments Committee. The assignments were often felt as “fun type II”, miserable at the time but fun in retrospect, and I am proud of the expenditure directed by Congress (also known as assignments) that I helped to ensure in the version of the Senate of the projects of the projects of law.
Visit the national laboratories of the Alamos to meet with your environmental management team
I had the opportunity to visit New Mexico for a week, made possible by the professional development funds included with the Science Scholarship of the AGU Congress. During my time in the state, I attended Senator Heinrich during a state work period, which was full of meetings, requests for media and public events. I met some of the components with which I worked during my communion, as well as the senator staff in New Mexico. It was an incredible opportunity to inspire new policy ideas and build relationships with people that I previously knew in virtual meetings.
When I started my companionship, I joked before my mentor that my goal for the year was to remain an optimistic. Somehow, now I am more optimistic about our future than from the beginning. I have seen firsthand the difference that can have an active and sustained constituent scope that it can have in a member of the policy position of the Congress. But there are some real challenges ahead. With the decision of the Supreme Court to revoke the doctrine of Chevron, which gave the freedom of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer, the lack of scientific experience to inform the politics of the hill is more evident than ever. The future fellows of the Congress will have an important role in ensuring that the legislation is based on the best available science and provides adequate authority to the appropriate federal agencies.
If this challenge attracts you, you can learn more about AGE Congress Science Program on its websiteand Request to be a partner. Applications for Cohort 2025-2026 are now open until January 15, 2025.
Making my debut in Cspan!
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