UIUC Student Day at the Capitol

Illinois Connection hosted its annual “Student Day at the Capitol” event facilitated by the Student Advocacy Coalition, bringing together students from all three U of I campuses.  The main objective this year was advocating for funding public higher education in the state of Illinois.  Students met with representatives and senators of the state legislature to spread this message, including our own Ryan Rooney seen talking with State Representative Carol Ammons, who represents Urbana. There is another trip planned for May 10th, details can be found at http://www.cvent.com/events/2017-day-at-the-capitol-springfield/event-summary-81fff9021b7447dda7b410f3f9ab31e8.aspx

Diversity Initiatives in Stem: Brown Bag Lunch

Science Policy Group is hosting a brown bag lunch discussion on diversity policy initiatives in STEM! The goal of this discussion is to introduce policies that promote diversity in STEM (such as NSF’s Broadening Participation Initiatives), to understand how these policies were drafted, and to evaluate their ability to recruit underrepresented groups to STEM fields.

Prof. Jennifer Greene from the Educational Psychology Department and Dr. Ellen Wang Althaus, Director of Graduate Diversity in the Department of Chemistry, will be guiding the discussion.

Date and time: Wednesday, April 19th 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Venue: Asian American Cultural Center, 1210 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL

Bring your own lunch (if desired), coffee and cookies will be served
RSVP: https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/3313674 (space is limited!)
Contact Cecilia Gentle at gentle2@illinois.edu with any questions.

April Events

Our monthly email can be found here: http://illinois.edu/emailer/newsletter/126214.html

Subscribe here: https://illinois.edu/gm/subscribe/43447

Call a Representative Day

The Advocacy Committee has organized Call a Representative Day for members of our campus community to contact their elected officials because of significant cuts to federal funding for research in President Trump’s budget proposal. Stop by for a few minutes to receive the contact information for your representatives and talking points for urging your representatives to stand up for science funding!

Date and time: Monday, April 10th 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Venue: 104 Illini Union

Brown Bag Lunch – Diversity Initiatives in STEM

Science Policy Group is hosting a brown bag lunch discussion on diversity policy initiatives in STEM.  The goal of this discussion is to introduce policies that promote diversity in STEM (such as NSF’s Broadening Participation Initiatives), to understand how these policies were drafted, and to evaluate their ability to recruit underrepresented groups to STEM fields.

Prof. Jennifer Greene from the Educational Psychology Department and Dr. Ellen Wang Althaus, Director of Graduate Diversity in the Department of Chemistry, will be guiding the discussion.

Date and time: Wednesday, April 19th 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Venue: Asian American Cultural Center, 1210 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL

Bring your own lunch (if desired), coffee and cookies will be served

RSVP: https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/3313674 (space is limited!)

 

Call A Representative Day

Stop by our Call A Representative Day this upcoming Monday April 10th at the Illini Union Room 104 from 9 am – 5 pm!

The proposed federal budget features alarming cuts to science. This funding is what brings about new discoveries that help us progress as a society and provide better quality of life to its citizens. We all can play a role in keeping funding where we need it. Drop by the Illini Union for Call a Rep Day. It’s as simple as taking 5 minutes to call your rep and telling them why funding science is important to you. We’ll have the phone number of your rep and some talking points in case you aren’t sure of what to say. Stand up for science, call your rep!

What has been proposed:
o NIH funding cut by 18% or
o EPA funding cut by 31%
o $1.7 billion cut from the Department of Energy
o NOAA’s funding cut by 17%
o Call for NASA to focus on “deep-space exploration rather than Earth-centric research”
o Elimination of funding towards climate change research

Reference: Nature 543, 471–472 (23 March 2017) doi:10.1038/nature.2017.21652
http://www.nature.com/news/us-science-agencies-face-deep-cuts-in-trump-budget-1.21652

Talking points: https://uofi.box.com/s/jttnrjnms35df3wwqh4efcz1o0wt9srx

Pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHskTTHTAf