The Materials Research Society (MRS) and The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) have selected Michele L. Bustamante, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as the 2018-2019 MRS/TMS Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow. Bustamante will serve a one year term working as a special legislative assistant on the staff of a member of Congress or congressional committee.
The MRS and TMS both represent professional societies that connect researchers from academia, industry and government to discuss issues of common concern. Recognised as a leader in promoting the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research and technology, MRS members are engaged professionals from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering. On the other hand, TMS members are scientists and engineers with a background in either minerals, metals or materials.
Bustamante, who has a PhD degree in sustainability from Rochester Institute of Technology, will begin her fellowship in September, starting with an intensive science policy orientation facilitated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) designed to introduce Executive Branch Fellows and Congressional Fellows from more than three dozen scientific societies to the fellowship programme.
Following orientation is the interview and selection process, Bustamante will choose the office in which she will spend her fellowship year.
I look forward to this opportunity to bring my voice as a sustainability scientist and materials researcher to policy discussions with our country's leaders."
"I'm extremely honoured to have been selected as one of this year's Congressional Fellows," said Bustamante. "I look forward to this opportunity to bring my voice as a sustainability scientist and materials researcher to policy discussions with our country's leaders. I hope that by serving as a conduit between the scientific community and Congress, I can do my small part to advocate for more evidence-based decision making with greater benefits for the American people and our planet. My main areas of policy interest are energy and environment, critical and strategic materials, food security, education and equal rights protection."
The purpose of the Congressional Fellowship programme is to bring technical and scientific backgrounds and external perspectives to the decision-making process in Congress. Typically, Fellows conduct legislative or oversight work, assist in Congressional hearings and debates, prepare briefs and write speeches as a part of their daily responsibilities. By applying her strengths in communication, research and problem-solving to help legislators apply scientific evidence in support of socially responsible policies, Bustamante will help to broaden awareness of the value of scientist- and engineer-government interaction.
Bustamante has an impressive background in sustainable and renewable science. Early in her education, Bustamante secured a National Science Foundation (NSF) summer research internship at the FREEDM Renewable Energy Research Center, where she worked in electrical engineering. Leveraging her materials background, she secured another NSF internship at University of South Florida (USF)’s Clean Energy Research Center in 2011.
Bustamante’s graduate work focused on an under-developed aspect of risk relating to mining. Her thesis work proposed novel metrics that would enable quantitative comparisons of the effectiveness of different potential policy responses, such as implementing recycling mandates or penalising waste to improve recovery. Her works, including this contribution, have been published in high-impact journals. As a body of work, these contributions enhance the ability to both assess and address materials’ criticality that threatens to slow or disrupt the growth of clean energy technologies.
