AAS Seeks Volunteers for Congressional Visits Day

Each year the AAS brings members to Washington, DC, for Congressional Visits Day (CVD). This event, organized by the Science-Engineering-Technology Working Group (SETWG), gathers scientists, engineers, researchers, educators, and technology executives in the nation’s capital to raise visibility and support for science, engineering, and technology. This year CVD will be held Tuesday-Wednesday, 25-26 March 2014, with both days requiring full-day commitments, about 8 am to 6 pm. Business attire is required. Sign-ups are open now through 5:00 pm EST on Tuesday, 11 February 2014.

Volunteers will travel to Washington, DC, to participate in an all-day seminar on how to communicate effectively with policymakers, followed by a full day of meetings with Capitol Hill and/or White House staff. The pre-briefings will cover both astronomy-specific and more general science-policy issues, with the latter organized by SETWG. During the two weeks prior to your time in Washington, we will also have a series of informational pre-briefings via the web and/or teleconference.

We aim to select 10 to 12 volunteers who balance the program by location, career stage, and experience. We especially encourage graduate students to volunteer. Selected members will be notified by 14 February 2014.

To sign up, please use our Congressional Visits Day 2014 Sign-Up Form. Note that you’ll need to sign in to aas.org using your AAS username and password to submit the form.