IST faculty advocate for research funding at CRA Congressional Visit Day in DC

Last month, faculty members from the Penn State College of IST visited Washington, D.C. to advocate for federal support of computing research.

Organized by the Computing Research Association (CRA), CRA Congressional Visit Day provided an opportunity for CRA member institutions to make a case directly to their U.S. representatives and senators.

IST attendees Sarah Rajtmajer, associate professor; Shomir Wilson, associate professor; and Nick Giacobe, associate teaching professor, attended a training course prior to the visit on how to best focus messaging for their meetings with members of Congress.

That focus was centered around getting congressional representatives to support the full funding the U.S. National Science Foundation at $9 billion versus the $3.9 billion requested by the current White House. The visitors were asked to provide anecdotal evidence of the benefits of scientific research from their own work and to discuss how university research turns into corporate research, innovations in products and markets/industries.

IST’s attendees, accompanied by colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania and Lehigh University, met with staffers from the offices of Representative Dwight Evans, Representative Glenn Thompson, Senator Dave McCormick and Senator John Fetterman.