Placement Report to the IEEE-USA
Government Fellowship Committee

David A. Conner, Ph.D., P.E.

January 2003

On 2 January 2003, I began my appointment as a 2003 IEEE Congressional Fellow working in the office of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (Republican) representative from the 46th District of California.  I selected this assignment based upon three factors.

1. During the mid-1970s, I served as Science and Technology Advisor to Kentucky Governor Julian Carroll, a Democrat.  While serving in this position, I found the science and technology work to be interesting but the policies and politics related to my science and technology work to be bothersome.  Since the policies and politics of the governor differed from my own personal beliefs, I determined that future assignments in the political arena should be in an environment that fostered my personal political beliefs, which could best be described as being of the conservative Republican persuasion.
   
2. Prior to attending the three-week Fellowship Training Program in September of 2002, I accomplished a detailed review of Republican Senators and Congressman developing a list of those that held positions of influence in the science and technology arena, that were well-placed on committees dealing with science and technology issues, that had a note-worthy track record of sponsoring key science and technology legislation, that had an overall voting record that meshed with my political philosophy, and that had a staff organization that would allow me to make meaningful contributions to their political agenda.  Congressman Rohrabacher, a conservative Republican, was on my short-list.
   
3. During the three-week Fellowship Training Program in September, I received a list of Fellowship assignments held by past Fellowship classes.  My research of this information revealed that Congressman Rohrabacher had utilized five previous Congressional Fellows.  I was able to make contact with three of these former Fellows and interview them relative to their experience in the office of Congressman Rohrabacher.  Each person provided a positive evaluation of the Congressman and his staff and indicated that they enjoyed working in his office.

Within the Congressman’s office, I serve as the Legislative Assistant for Science and Technology.  My responsibilities include oversight of issues in the areas of space, aeronautics, research and development, energy, telecommunications, and military affairs.  As Chair of the House Science Committee Sub-Committee on Space and Aeronautics, the Congressman has a designated member of the Sub-Committee Staff that oversees sub-committee-related space and aeronautics issues with primary emphasis on NASA and the FAA.  My responsibilities in the space and aeronautics arena primarily relate to district-sensitive issues and special programs that the sub-committee staff designee has asked me to track in order to allow him to focus on high-priority sub-committee matters.

Congressman Rohrabacher is also a member of the House Science Committee Sub-Committee on Research and Development.  I am responsible for assisting the Congressman in addressing issues of concern that come before that Sub-Committee.  One of my primary tasks during the year will be to provide insight on the research and development funding requests from such diverse agencies as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Commerce programs such as NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) and NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

Other duties include tracking technical activities in DOD (the Department of Defense), maintaining a general cognizance of developments in energy and telecommunications, and handling science-based questions as they occur.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers - United States of America