By Jessamin Straub
Jessamin Straub is a graduate student in the Marine Sciences Department at UNC-Chapel Hill and part of a CRC education program led by CRC Director Dr. Gavin Smith. Straub co-organized a Climate Change and Resilience Symposium last spring and was chosen as a participant in the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium this summer. She is a CRC Science and Engineering Workforce Development Grant recipient for the upcoming school year.
Portions of this post originally appeared on the UNdertheC blog.
Last fall semester I was excited to take CRC Director Dr. Gavin Smith’s Survey of Natural Hazards and Disasters course. During the course, Dr. Smith brought in many great speakers that enriched our discussions in class and exposed us to new knowledge and opportunities. One of those speakers, Dr. Bill Hooke, spoke of the importance of learning from past natural disasters to improve policies and getting scientists involved in the policy process. When I spoke with Dr. Hooke after class, he encouraged me to apply to the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium (AMS SPC), to expand on my interests in science policy.
This June I attended the AMS SPC, where I had the opportunity to immerse myself in science policy through discussions with working professionals and hands-on exercises. The goal of the program is to arm scientists with expertise in the policy-making process and to help the scientific community engage with decision-makers. I believe it’s important for scientists to have a seat at the table when policy decisions are made to ensure available scientific knowledge is used to inform policy. Continue reading