Final Report to the
IEEE-USA Government Fellowship Committee

Steve E. Watkins, Ph.D.

April 2005

My IEEE-USA Congressional Fellowship year has been one of the most interesting and satisfying periods of my professional life.  I am pleased to have gained experience in the public policy process that is so important to the interests of the IEEE-USA membership.  The staff in the IEEE-USA office has earned my respect for their effective support of the fellows program and of the other IEEE-USA initiatives.  I appreciate the opportunity to serve in the office of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (46th CA).  The office welcomes fellows into their culture of “Fighting for freedom and having fun.”  The Rohrabacher team is committed to supporting sound public policy concerning science and technology (S&T).   I hope that my technical contributions to their efforts are some repayment for my education into the intricacies of the political process.

I feel that I accomplished my personal goals to gain insight into the legislative process and to better understand the scope of policy issues facing our profession.  As I reflect on my lessons learned, the most important lesson may be how the engineering community can effectively influence S&T policy.  We must take the initiative to exercise our access to the policymakers as constituents and to build our credibility as sources of information.  The fellows program serves a valuable role for both the legislative and the professional communities.  A cultural chasm separates policymakers (and the public) from S&T professionals.  Consequently, policymakers find much of the technical literature inaccessible and may struggle with technical value judgments.  Congressional fellows bridges this chasm as translators of the what and why of science and technology.  And, fellows become fluent in the culture of public policy to the benefit of the technical community.

My assignments in the personal office of Congressman Rohrabacher covered a great range of issues related to legislation, the district, committee work, and topical research and analysis.  These assignments tended to be multiple short-term projects rather than a few long-term projects.  A primary task was to promote the member’s legislation and view on commercial space.  I consider a significant contribution to be my role in the following events:

• Coordinating a well-attended public roundtable discussion on Commercial Space: America’s Vision for Space Exploration involving thirteen leaders from industry and government.  (The July 13th meeting was sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in cooperation with the Rohrabacher office.)

• Assisting with a well-attended congressional briefing by Dr. Peter Diamandis of the Ansari X-Prize Foundation on Opening the Personal Spaceflight Revolution: X-PRIZE and ZERO-G.  (The November 16th meeting was sponsored by the IEEE-USA, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in cooperation with the House Research and Development Caucus.)

The congressman’s bill H.R. 5382 Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act was passed by the House and Senate and was signed into law, e.g. Public Law No: 108-492, late in the second session of the 108th Congress.  Also, the congressman introduced H.R. 5336 Space and Aeronautics Prize Act to establish a national endowment for space and aeronautics (based on an idea discussed during the July 13th event.).  The bill was not acted upon during the 108th Congress, but it has been reintroduced as H.R. 1021 in the 109th Congress.

An important result of my experience as a fellow has been and will continue to be communication about S&T public policy and the congressional experience for the professional community, especially students.  My audiences have been very interested in my perspective, but I am finding that few are aware of opportunities for personal involvement through the Congressional Visits Days, fellows programs, and student internships.  My communication activities to date include:

• Keynote address at the 2004 Undergraduate Research Symposium at Adelphi University in New York,
• Luncheon address at the 2004 Eta Kappa Nu Centennial Leadership Conference at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana,
• Keynote address at the 2005 Student Leadership Conference at the University of Missouri-Rolla,
• Session presentation with Erica Wissolik, IEEE-USA staff, at the 2005 IEEE-USA Leadership Workshop in Arizona,
• Session presentation and panel participation at the 2005 IEEE Region 5 Conference as part of the Entrepreneurship and Professionalism track,
• Address for a joint meeting of the Women in Engineering and IEEE GOLD chapter in St. Louis, Missouri, 
• Seminar for business students at George Mason University in Virginia,
• Seminar for the electrical engineering students at Baylor University, Texas sponsored by the local Eta Kappa Nu chapter,
• Seminar for the 2004 class of the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE),
• Seminar for engineering students visiting Washington, D.C. from Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania,
• Seminar for the engineering students and faculty at St. Louis University, Missouri,
• Seminar for the electrical engineering students at Colorado State University,
• Seminar for Toastmasters students at the University of Missouri-Rolla,
• Seminar for the electrical and computer engineering students at the University of Missouri-Rolla sponsored by the local Eta Kappa Nu chapter,
• Article entitled “Commercial Space: America’s Vision for Space Exploration – Public Policy Roundtable,” Aerospace America: AIAA Bulletin, September 2004, pp. B10-B11 (co-author with Corinne Contant), and
• Article in preparation for the IEEE Potentials student magazine discussing public policy in science and technology and opportunities for students to participate.

The presentation to professionals and students is intended to promote the congressional fellows and WISE programs through a description of my experience and of how public policy influences our professional lives.  I emphasize the access and influence that engineers can have as constituents of legislators and note the resources that are available for grassroots activities.  In addition, I am continuing my educational activities as the Faculty-Member-in-Residence for the 2005 summer session of the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) program.  I will coordinate the activities and provide mentoring on public policy for a group of engineering undergraduates sponsored by IEEE, SAE, ANS, ASME, and AIChE.

Dr. Randy Brouwer, Professor of Engineering at Calvin College in Michigan and 2005 IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow has replaced me as the fellow in Congressman Rohrabacher’s office.  He is charged with many of the same initiatives especially the effort began during Dr. David Conner 2003 year to develop graduate scholarship programs for technical students in various government agencies.  Also, I am pleased to note that Congressman Rohrabacher is the recipient of the 2004 Award for Distinguished Public Service from IEEE-USA.  It recognizes his participation in the congressional fellowship program and his support of informed science and technology policy.  He has had a total of eight engineering fellows of which five have been IEEE-USA fellows.

Last Updated:  25 April 2005

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Engineers - United States of America