Friday, June 28, 2013
By:
I feel like this week has gone by so quickly. Spilling over from the end of last week and the beginning of this week, I was busy preparing materials for the Hearing on “Restoring U.S. Leadership in Weather Forecasting, Part 2″ by the Subcommittee on Environment. For this particular hearing, I was the primary intern which meant that at the hearing I assisted staffers instead of taking photos. The focus of this hearing was on weather forecasting and in particular NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). This hearing was a continuation of a previous hearing on the same topic, but this hearing included more witnesses that could testify more accurately on the topic. The Witness Panel included a representative from NOAA, two representatives from the private industry, and a representative of academia. A recording of the hearing can be found at:http://democrats.science.house.gov/hearing/restoring-us-leadership-weather-forecasting-part-2
In addition to my intern duties at the Science Committee, I went to two different receptions on the hill. The first one was on Tuesday, 6/25 and was the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Science Policy Conference. At this reception, we were able to meet up with the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) interns. Then on Wednesday evening, 6/26 I went to the 2013 User Science Exhibition where I got to learn about different technologies being produced. Also, I met a previous SPS intern (Jenna Smith, a 2005 SOCK intern) who is now currently pursuing a doctorate degree at Michigan State.
On both Thursday and Friday evenings, the other Mather Intern and I traveled to ACP and attended the evening receptions held for the SPS interns. On Thursday evening, 6/27 we met with members on the AIP Development Board where I was able to meet Dr. Mather. At the reception, I was able to meet and talk with lots of wonderful people, all supporters of the sciences. On Friday evening, 6/28 the other SPS interns and I will be meeting with the SPS Executive Committee and then going to a musical comedy performance at the Regan Building.
Katherine Stankus