On November 12, 2010, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., visited the University of Wisconsin Chemistry Department for a departmental colloquium. After her talk on topics such as her personal connections to the sciences, the challenges that science funding faces in upcoming Congressional sessions, and how she works with her colleagues across the aisle, WISL Director Bassam Shakhashiri presented her with a booklet entitled “Chemistry Graduate Research and Education.”
WISL encourages all Ph.D. chemistry candidates to include a chapter in their Ph.D. thesis communicating their research to non-specialists, and pledges a $500 cash award from the WISL for each successfully completed chapter; the booklet presented to Rep. Baldwin contained the eight chapters that WISL has received so far. The goal of the chapters is to explain the candidate’s scholarly research and its significance to a wider audience that includes family members, friends, civic groups, newspaper reporters, state legislators, and members of the U.S. Congress. Additional copies of the booklet will be shared with other elected officials, as well as news services, industry leaders, grant officers nd others. If you’d like a copy please send a request to scifun@chem.wisc.edu.