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Thank you to all who attended the 7th Annual SPOT Symposium! Keep an eye out for the details on next year’s 2026 symposium.

SPOT August 2022 Newsletter

Hi SPOT!

We hope everyone’s had a great summer, and are ready for the start of a new academic year! We have plenty of exciting events lined up for the upcoming year. Read on to find out about a few, and stay tuned for more to come in the coming months.

SPOT News and Events

• Welcome to our New Board Members!

We’re excited to welcome six SPOT members to the leadership team! Visit our website to read about the current board members. 

• Stay Connected to the SPOT Network

Have you joined our SPOT Slack and LinkedIn group? Join our Slack workspace to connect with current members, hear about science policy opportunities, and stay updated on SPOT news and events. Join our LinkedIn group to connect with the SPOT alumni network. Email spotforcenu@gmail.com and we will add you.

• Book Club Discussion

If you are interested in joining our regularly occurring hybrid Science Policy Book Club, please fill out this form. This month, we’re reading Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation by Ebony Omotola McGee (2020). Join the #book-club channel on our Slack if you’d like to share the book of the month to reduce purchasing/library reservations.

Other Opportunities

• Campaign Volunteering

Northwestern Chemistry alumna, Dr. Marianne Lalonde, is running for Alderman in the 46th Ward for the February 2023 election. She won the primary for the same position in 2019 and ended up losing to the incumbent by 25/14000 votes. If you’re interested in learning more about her campaign, you can look at her 2019 platform here. You can also volunteer for her campaign if you wish by signing up here!

• Evanston Participatory Budgeting

Want to make an immediate impact helping Evanston residents develop and pass local policies? Looking for opportunities this summer to make policy impact while directly engaging with the local community? We need your help to support Evanston’s very first participatory budgeting effort. This is an unprecedented $3 million opportunity for Evanston residents to fund policy ideas they propose themselves, and it can only happen with the help of enthusiastic volunteers passionate about local policy. Learn more and sign up today at https://pbevanston.nationbuilder.com/volunteer, or e-mail colleenoaposbrien2024@u.northwestern.edu if you have any questions.

• City of Evanston Public Comments

Want to learn about and contribute to policies affecting our local community of Evanston? Attend and participate in an Evanston City Council meeting, held every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month. Submit a public comment to be given in person, via video, or via phone here! Find the meeting agenda here to learn when to tune in.

In the News

• The James Webb Space Telescope released its first images, letting us peer into the universe’s distant past. This marks the culmination of a decades-long project set to succeed the established Hubble Space Telescope. While the Hubble looked at the stars primarily in visible light and ultraviolet, the Webb telescope will gaze at the early universe in infrared, allowing us to see previously invisible details in the birth of galaxies.

• The Senate has passed the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, a bureaucratic evolution of Biden’s ambitious Build Back Better Bill. The legislative branch of the US government has failed to pass any significant action against the threat since its political beginnings in 1988, making this piece of legislation a major shift in Congress’ approach to climate change. The bill promises around $400 billion in tax credits over the next decade, aiming to steer the country towards a greener future. Boosts to Medicare negotiation power over prescription drugs and extensions of pandemic-era expanded subsidies are also included.

• Not to be overlooked by its larger cousin, Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law. While the bill was primarily aimed at revitalizing the US’ semiconductor industry, a quarter of its funding will be used to accelerate the growth of zero-carbon industries and climate research in federal labs. The bill received strong bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.

Get Involved with SPOT

• Looking for a fun way to help people in our local Chicago community understand your science? SPOT’s outreach program, Science with Seniors, needs more volunteers for 2022! You’ll have the opportunity to present science topics of your choosing to elderly residents in both Evanston and Chicago, and practice your science communication skills along the way. Engaging with our local communities helps fight science misinformation and build public trust and appreciation of research, so we need YOU! Email meaganolsen2026@u.northwestern.edu to sign up.

• Do you think legislators could benefit from learning more about your research or scientific interests? We are currently looking for people interested in writing briefs for local representatives about scientific topics as part of our Legislative Outreach Team. Email margaretwickerson2025@u.northwestern.edu if you are interested!

• Interested in contributing to local policy? SPOT is collaborating with Indivisible Northwestern and the Center for Civic Engagement to develop policy recommendations for the allocation of Evanston’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for COVID-19 relief. Opportunities to contribute include taking part in community assemblies and writing memos and policies on areas such as climate change and health care. This is a great opportunity to practice your policy-related writing skills and contribute to local policy! Email colleenoaposbrien2024@u.northwestern.edu if you are interested!

• Passionate about effective science communication? Looking to gain experience in media production? Come join SPOT’s In The Spotlight podcast team! We are looking for producers and editors to help research and produce episodes. No prior podcast experience is necessary, but welcome! Email emilyschafer2023@u.northwestern.edu if interested.

• Do you have any news/events/opportunities related to science policy that might be worth sharing? We welcome any items to add to the newsletter! Email spotforcenu@gmail.com if you want to share anything.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram for more scipol news and updates!

For those RSVP’d: tomorrow is one of the largest monthly SPOT discussions to date! Join us at 12 PM in Ryan 4003 for a discussion on science diplomacy; led by Professor Mark Hersam (Chemistry, Materials Science). Prof. Hersam is a previous U.S. science envoy, and will be discussing his experiences with forging international connections in science policy. Thank you’s to Prof. Hersam, MRSEC for financial support, and looking forward to an edifying discussion!

Happy 2019 everyone!  This coming Friday, January 11th, in Silverman 4-510, will be our first meeting of the year (and our meeting for January). We’ll be teaming up with SAFE (Scientific Assemblies For Everyone), led by Dr. Chris Forman, to learn how deliberation can be utilized for community-driven policy formation. Chris will provide a brief introduction on methods of deliberation, and then we’ll engage in a group policy deliberation on an important topic: improving mental health in academia. Here is a review article on intervention to improve mental health in higher education, as well as resources and figures from the American Psychological Association on campus mental health.

Don’t forget to register so we can accurately order our pizza and snacks for the meeting; see everyone on Friday!