Beyond the Lab: Early Career Researchers May Find Purpose through Policy, Advocacy, and Public Engagement

摘要

As graduate students, we put in many hours of time together training to be environmental researchers. Like many early career researchers, we were motivated by the possibilities environmental science and engineering offers to make meaningful societal impacts. Now advancing our careers at different institutions, we have found that in order to achieve this goal we must often be more than good researchers. We encourage our fellow STEM experts to join us in stepping out of the lab and advocating, communicating, and engaging in our communities. Now more than ever, the need is crystal clear. The last several years have seen unprecedented levels of STEM experts engaging in policy, advocacy, and science communication. More than a million marched globally in the 2017 March for Science. The nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists staffed an entire new program of technical experts from the scientific community to meet with their elected officials, write op-eds on policy proposals, and engage the public around elections. Scientific societies have elevated their policy engagement; the Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors has an active Government Affairs Committee and the American Geophysical Union has built out a science policy program that connects scientists with lawmakers and provides communication trainings and policy fellowships.