{"id":5145,"date":"2011-05-16T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=5145"},"modified":"2011-05-16T09:00:08","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T13:00:08","slug":"a-science-poster-session-for-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2011\/05\/16\/a-science-poster-session-for-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"A science poster session for Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000\"><a href=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2011\/05\/Collinge-and-Rep-Fattahs-Chief-of-Staff6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-5165 img-fluid\" title=\"Collinge and Rep Fattah's Chief of Staff\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Collinge-and-Rep-Fattahs-Chief-of-Staff6-1024x658.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"604\" height=\"386\"><\/a>Last week, several hundred congressional staff and several Members of Congress mingled with over 30 scientists during an evening reception on Capitol Hill. While nibbling on finger food and sipping libations, policymakers and researchers chatted about the wide range of research and education projects supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).\u00a0 The event was the 17<sup>th<\/sup> Annual Exhibition and Reception of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsfweb.org\/\">Coalition for National Science Funding<\/a>, an alliance of over 120 organizations focused on the future of U.S. science, mathematics and engineering.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Sharon Collinge, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder\u2014sponsored by the Ecological Society of America\u2014showcased <a href=\"http:\/\/spot.colorado.edu\/~sharonc\/vernalpools.html\">her work<\/a> on restoring vernal pool plant communities on California\u2019s Travis Air Force Base.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Collinge explained to interested visitors who stopped by her poster exhibit that her long-ter<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000\"><a href=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog-preprod\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2011\/05\/Pool-grid.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-5158 img-fluid\" style=\"margin: 5px 10px\" title=\"pool grid\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Pool-grid-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"393\" height=\"292\"><\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000\">m ecological research demonstrates the difficulties in restoring a system, in this case imperiled plant communities.\u00a0 She said that one problem is that invasive species can take root and may outcompete native vernal plant communities.\u00a0 Collinge\u2019s project is of interest to the Department of Defense (DOD) because DOD owns vast acreages of public land and is charged with managing its natural resources holistically through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dodnaturalresources.net\/files\/INRMP_fact_sheet_5-10__final_.pdf\">integrated natural resources management plans<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Collinge involves 6<sup>th<\/sup> graders in her research project, something that delighted Representative Fatta<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000\">h\u2019s (D-PA) Chief of Staff, Maisha Leek. \u00a0\u00a0She enthusiastically recalled a time in elementary schoo<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000\">l in Philadelphia in which she too was involved in a captivating hands-on outdoor project.\u00a0 Many other attendees stopped to talk with Collinge about her work, including NSF staff, other exhibitors and staff from the offices of Collinge\u2019s Colorado senators.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Collinge\u2019s exhibit was one of 35 at the evening event and reflected the wide breadth of NSF support.\u00a0 Among the many exhibit topics were:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Innovations for future computers<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Weather research<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Deepwater Horizon oil spill<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mathematics and the melting polar ice caps<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Engaging the public in science, technology, engineering and mathematics<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conversion of biomass carbon to liquid fuel<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mentoring the next generation of behavioral neuroscientists<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Collinge and other participants had preceded the exhibition with visits to their respective congressional delegations.\u00a0 Visiting with the offices of her representative and senators, Collinge talked about the important role NSF plays in her state, where state support of research is fairly weak.\u00a0\u00a0 Colorado does very well competing for NSF grants, ranking 5<sup>th<\/sup> in the funds it receives from the agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Well past the scheduled end of the reception, exhibitors and attendees were still talking.\u00a0 It was only when the tablecloths were removed from exhibit tables and the candles blown out that folks took their cue that it was time to say goodnight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Photo credits: ESA file photo, Collinge field photo<br>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, several hundred congressional staff and several Members of Congress mingled with over 30 scientists during an evening reception on Capitol Hill. While nibbling on finger food and sipping libations, policymakers and researchers chatted about the wide range of research and education projects supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).\u00a0 The event was the 17th Annual Exhibition and Reception&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[181,1206,134,96,1207,109,560,66,962,434,1110,715,1208],"class_list":["post-5145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecology-in-policy","tag-cnsf","tag-colorado-research","tag-congress","tag-education","tag-integrated-natural-resources-management-plans","tag-invasive-species","tag-long-term-ecological-research","tag-national-science-foundation","tag-natural-resources","tag-plant-communities","tag-public-land","tag-science-funding","tag-vernal-pools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}