Biophysical Society Newsletter | October 2017

4

2017

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER

Public Affairs

sity of Mississippi, reported that he is running for Congress in the 1st district of Mississippi. Eric Jakobsson , Professor Emeritus at the Universi- ty of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, reported that he has served on the Urbana City Council for the past six years and was just re-elected for another four-year term in April 2017. Wadkins and Jako- bsson’s interest in policy is not new — both serve on the BPS Public Affairs Committee and Wad- kins was also the Society’s 2016–17 congressional fellow. Jakobsson also is a very active advocate for science at the national level. BPS Congressional District Visits This summer the Biophysical Society launched the inaugural Congressional District Visits Program, to encourage and assist BPS members in con- necting with their US senators and representa- tives during the congressional recess in August. Twenty-six members signed up to participate. The participants were provided with contact information, talking points, and during a webinar, heard directly from BPS congressional fellows about how to make the most of a Congressional meeting. The Society encourages members to develop rela- tionships with policymakers year round, wherever you may reside. The Society office is here to help; start by visiting to the BPS advocacy toolkit at http://www.biophysics.org/Policy/AdvocacyTool- kit/tabid/7444/Default.aspx, which includes the webinar referenced above.

Raise the Caps Take Two On September 6, the Biophysical Society partici- pated in a Raise the Caps event coordinated by NDD United, of which the BPS is a member. Baseball caps with the phrase “Raise the Caps” printed on the front were distributed by hand to all 535 congressional offices, along with the message that it is necessary for Congress to work together to raise the spending limits imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Based on the appropriations bills currently moving through the House and Senate at the beginning of September, if the caps are not raised, sequestration will take effect. Congress should avoid making further reductions in these programs and work to replace the scheduled sequestration cuts through a pack- age that is balanced — both in how such relief is paid for and how it is applied to defense and nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs. In addition to the distribution of caps, a press conference was held and BPS members were asked to contact their representatives and senators to ask them to raise the spending caps. BPS Members Look to Make Their Mark in Office With so few scientists represented in the current Congress, there has been a push to get more scien- tists to run for public office. The Society put out a call in the June newsletter to find out if any BPS members were running for an office at the local, state, or national level. Randy Wadkins , Univer-

Apply to be the 2018-2019 BPS Congressional Fellow! Are you interested in working on Capitol Hill and learning more about science policy?

All members who have obtained their PhD and are eligible to work in the United States may apply.

Application deadline: December 15, 2017

Visit www.biophysics.org for additional information.