Princeton Doctoral Candidate Selected as William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow

Princeton PhD candidate, Joseph Majkut, has been selected as the 2014-2015 William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow. He will spend a year in Washington, DC, working as a staff member in the office of a member of Congress or with a congressional committee.

Majkut is completing a PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies at Princeton University. He is studying the ocean carbon cycle and how CO2 emissions and the associated warming affect the ability of the natural carbon sinks to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere. In addition to traditional laboratory research methods, he also incorporated policy-focused analytical components into his research.

Majkut said, “I have been using what is called an integrated assessment model, common in the policy analysis world, to investigate how reductions in the uncertainty governing the carbon cycle feedbacks can help improve policy design and outcomes.” He attributes this work and other research experiences with helping him develop the skills necessary for approaching challenging problems faced by U.S. decision makers.

The fellowship provides geoscientists with a unique opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the legislative process and to make practical contributions to the effective and timely use of geoscience information on issues relating to the environment, resources, natural hazards, and other federal policies.

Majkut said, “I’m interested in developing a mature understanding of how science and engineering inform public policy.” He is eager to learn about how scientific results can be made pertinent, available, and clearly communicated to policymakers, as well as how the scientific enterprise can be advanced to help answer the challenges of the 21st century.

Prior to his doctoral work at Princeton, Majkut held a Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Fellowship at the Princeton Environmental Institute, completed an MS in risk analysis and environmental modeling at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, and received his BS in mathematics with an emphasis in environmental policy from Harvey Mudd College. His internship experiences include working at Royal Dutch Shell and Stanford University.

For more information on the William L. Fisher Geoscience Congressional Fellowship please go to: http://bit.ly/F#LDRmMrSY