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APA Member Targeted by Congress Showcases Research on Capitol Hill
By Heather Kelly
On June 26, APA’s Science Government Relations Office brought in Hillary Anger Elfenbein (Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley) to present her National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported research on Capitol Hill. The event was the 13th annual Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) exhibit and reception for members of Congress and their staff, and APA chose Elfenbein as our exhibitor this year to showcase her stellar research on cross-cultural expressions and understanding of emotion. Elfenbein was one of nine scientists (including two psychologists) whose peer-reviewed, funded NSF research projects were targeted for “de-funding” by two Republicans in May as the House debated the NSF reauthorization bill. Thanks to strong advocacy from APA’s Science Government Relations staff, APA members, and a host of other scientific organizations and individual scientists, both amendments were defeated on the House floor.
Hillary Anger Elfenbein with Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA).
Before the reception, Elfenbein had a chance to thank Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) personally for his support and management of the House floor debate from the Democratic majority. Baird, a psychologist and Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Research and Science Education, engineered a brilliant defense of peer review and the individual scientists involved. Elfenbein also met with staffers from her home district, represented by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and she discussed her research with the Director of NSF (Arden Bement, PhD), the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (Thomas Insel, MD) and a number of members of Congress who stopped by the exhibit, including Reps.: Lois Capps (D-CA), William Clay, Jr. (D-MO), Bob Etheridge (D-NC) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI).
Apply Now for the 2008-2009 APA Science Policy Fellowship
Come spend a year as an APA Science Policy Fellow in a federal science mission agency! Applications are due January 7, 2008, for the program, which is run by APA’s Science Directorate and Government Relations Office. As a Fellow, you will spend one year working as a special assistant in an executive branch research funding/coordinating office, with specific placement determined based on the Fellow’s expertise and interests in coordination with APA staff. Past psychology Fellows have worked in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Science Foundation. Click here for more information about the program and to see application instructions.
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