congressional geoscience fellow

2015-2016 AGI Fisher Fellow Gifford Wong

The 2015-2016 William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow is Gifford Wong. He will receive his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College. He earned his Honors in Antarctic Studies from the University of Tasmania at Hobart, and his Bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. His doctoral dissertation is focused on the chemistry of snow and ice in northwest Greenland and, in particular, examines how changes in temperature and atmospheric circulation are related to trends in annual precipitation. He has done fieldwork in Greenland and Antarctica, co-developed and co-instructed a graduate-level science communication course at Dartmouth, and is currently collaborating with the International Glaciological Society to organize a communication skills workshop to coincide with their 2016 summer symposium.

 

2014-2015 AGI Fisher Fellow Joseph Majkut

The 2014-2015 William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow is Joseph Majkut. Joseph graduated with his B.S. in Mathematics from Harvey Mudd College in 2006. He spent the following two years at the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands, studying for an M.S. in Risk Analysis and Environmental Modeling. His PhD is from the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies at Princeton University, with a certificate in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy. As a researcher, he developed new methods for using computer models and observational records to detect changes in the oceanic carbon cycle that result from climate change. His research also asks how climate policy mechanisms can consider the uncertainty in climate projections and incorporate observational information robustly. As a congressional fellow, Joseph looks forward to learning two related things, how scientific results and principles are put to use in developing legislation and how to pose policy questions that can help scientists ask fundamental and policy-relevant questions.

1998-1999 AGI Fellow David Wunsch

David Wunsch spent his year on Capitol Hill working for the House Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, chaired by Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY). During the fellowship, Wunsch worked on a range of issues including abandoned mine lands reclamation. Wunsch came to the fellowship from the Kentucky Geological Survey, where he was a senior hydrologist and served as an adjunct professor of geology at the University of Kentucky. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. Wunsch became the New Hampshire State Geologist in 2000 and transitioned to the Director of Science and Technology at the National Ground Water Association in 2010. In November 2011, Wunsch became the Director and State Geologist of the Delaware Geological Survey.
 
Dr. David Wunsch wrote the following columns in Geotimes:

1999-2000 AGI Fellow Eileen McLellan

Eileen McLellan worked for Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who served on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. McLellan, who came to the fellowship as a geoscience professor at the University of Maryland, worked on several environmental issues, particularly salmon restoration. She holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University (United Kingdom). McLellan is currently Riverkeeper for the Chester River on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
 
Dr. Eileen McLellan wrote the following columns in Geotimes:

2000-2001 AGI Fellow Katy Makeig

Katy Makeig worked for Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), one of only two physicists in the House and the first former science fellow to be elected to Congress. Makeig, who ran her own environmental consulting business before taking the fellowship, worked on energy, science, and international issues. She holds a master's degree in geology from University of Minnesota. After the fellowship, Makeig returned to her consulting firm, Waste Science Inc..
 
 
Katy Makeig wrote the following columns in Geotimes:

2001-2002 AGI Fellow David Curtiss

David Curtiss chose to work for Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. (R-OK), who chaired the House Republican Conference, an information resource for all Republican representatives on a variety of issues. Curtiss focused on energy and international relations. Before taking the fellowship, Curtiss was manager of program development and a research scientist at the Energy and Geoscience Institute (EGI) of the University of Utah. He holds a master's degree in Earth Resource Management from the University of South Carolina. After the fellowship, Curtiss returned to EGI for many years. After living back in the DC area as the Director of the Geoscience and Energy Office of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), David now serves as Executive Director of AAPG in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 
David Curtiss wrote the following columns in Geotimes:

2002-2003 AGI Fellow Larry Kennedy

Larry Kennedy came to Capitol Hill from Reno, where he was pursuing a graduate degree in hydrology at the University of Nevada after a 20-year career in the mining industry. He also holds a doctorate in geochemistry from the University of Western Ontario. Kennedy chose to work for his home-state senator, Harry Reid (D), who is the assistant minority leader in the 108th Congress. Kennedy is working on mining and other resource and public-land issues.
 
Larry Kennedy and the other 2002-2003 geoscience fellows are profiled in the December 2002 isssue of Geotimes. In addition, he wrote the following columns in Geotimes:

2003-2004 AGI Fellow Eloise Kendy

Before coming to Washington, AGI's 2003-04 congressional fellow ran her own hydrologic consulting firm in Helena, Montana, where she previously worked as a hydrologist for over a decade in the private sector and for the U.S. Geological Survey. Having received a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a master's degree in hydrogeology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Kendy returned to school in 1999 to pursue a doctorate in biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University, which she received in 2002. Reflecting Kendy's long-standing policy interest, her doctoral work focused on the influence of agricultural, economic and environmental policies on ground-water depletion in the North China Plain. Kendy is now an Environmental Flows Specialist with The Nature Conservancy.
 
Following an orientation program run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which serves as an umbrella for the congressional science and engineering fellowships, Kendy chose to work with Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).
 
Kendy and the other 2003-2004 geoscience fellows are profiled in the December 2003 isssue of Geotimes. She has written the following columns in Geotimes:

2004-2005 AGI Fellow Katie Donnelly

Dr. Kathleen Donnelly, the 2004-05 American Geological Institute Congressional Science Fellow, worked for Rep. Edward J. Markey. Markey is a Democrat serving the seventh district of Massachusetts.

Katie completed her Ph.D. in Geology at Columbia University in 2002 and she graduated with honors from the Master of Science program at the University of Otago in 1997. Donnelly moved to Boston after the fellowship where she is working at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on their new Science and Technology Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to facilitate discussion of important and/or controversial issues in science policy.

Donnelly and the other 2004-2005 geoscience fellows are profiled in the December 2004 isssue of Geotimes. Katie has written the following articles for Geotimes:

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