Mark Bayer

I'm sure some of your listeners are familiar with it, the AAAS fellowship program. And so they would, we took this very seriously as far as finding well-qualified people for our office. And the thing is when they would arrive, it would be like being dropped into a foreign land without any GPS. It was different language, different deadlines.

I'm sure some of your listeners are familiar with it, the AAAS fellowship program. And so they would, we took this very seriously as far as finding well-qualified people for our office. And the thing is when they would arrive, it would be like being dropped into a foreign land without any GPS. It was different language, different deadlines.

different things and considerations to take into account they'd never thought about. And I did a lot of mentoring of PhDs as a result of that. A senior staff member and I, we had really sharp, motivated people, but they were learning all of these different things at the same time. The subject matter they were working on was different from their expertise in almost every case.

different things and considerations to take into account they'd never thought about. And I did a lot of mentoring of PhDs as a result of that. A senior staff member and I, we had really sharp, motivated people, but they were learning all of these different things at the same time. The subject matter they were working on was different from their expertise in almost every case.

The language I heard, it was a funny story. I was talking to someone and she came from academia. And one of the first days in the office, she heard someone in the office, one of the staffers say, oh, we need to really focus on R&D. And she thought to herself, oh, this is great. I'm already understanding they're talking about research and development.

The language I heard, it was a funny story. I was talking to someone and she came from academia. And one of the first days in the office, she heard someone in the office, one of the staffers say, oh, we need to really focus on R&D. And she thought to herself, oh, this is great. I'm already understanding they're talking about research and development.

But then she realized long after that, not long after, that they were talking about Rs and Ds, meaning Republicans and Democrats. And so she got a quick preview of the different lingo that is used on the Hill. And it just explains the learning curve that anyone would have being dropped into a new place. What happened with me is that I love doing the mentoring. I was very familiar with AAAS.

But then she realized long after that, not long after, that they were talking about Rs and Ds, meaning Republicans and Democrats. And so she got a quick preview of the different lingo that is used on the Hill. And it just explains the learning curve that anyone would have being dropped into a new place. What happened with me is that I love doing the mentoring. I was very familiar with AAAS.

And then after Donald Trump got elected in 2016, And I had left the hill at that point. I became concerned that policymaking in the United States was not being driven by data science and evidence and really the best facts available because that's how we did policy. That was always our beginning, like what makes sense based on the evidence, based on the science.

And then after Donald Trump got elected in 2016, And I had left the hill at that point. I became concerned that policymaking in the United States was not being driven by data science and evidence and really the best facts available because that's how we did policy. That was always our beginning, like what makes sense based on the evidence, based on the science.

And so I started digging into this question of helping scientists get more involved in the policymaking process, because at that point, 2016, 2017, they were really feeling marginalized. We didn't even have a head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the United States. Advisory boards were being disbanded. Scientists were feeling pushed to the side.

And so I started digging into this question of helping scientists get more involved in the policymaking process, because at that point, 2016, 2017, they were really feeling marginalized. We didn't even have a head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the United States. Advisory boards were being disbanded. Scientists were feeling pushed to the side.

And they started to realize they didn't have the skills, the knowledge to really survive in that environment. And it was around. And I was thinking, I want these people to be involved in the policymaking environment. I don't want me decisions being made by strict ideology. Of course, that political interests do have a place in this.

And they started to realize they didn't have the skills, the knowledge to really survive in that environment. And it was around. And I was thinking, I want these people to be involved in the policymaking environment. I don't want me decisions being made by strict ideology. Of course, that political interests do have a place in this.

But I didn't I wanted science to have a really big seat at the table. And that's when I started really working with AAAS. I did a workshop for all of their incoming fellows. I did a talk at a big conference, the annual conference for AAAS on how to actually respond and debunk misinformation. That became a big hit.

But I didn't I wanted science to have a really big seat at the table. And that's when I started really working with AAAS. I did a workshop for all of their incoming fellows. I did a talk at a big conference, the annual conference for AAAS on how to actually respond and debunk misinformation. That became a big hit.

There was an article in Science Magazine written about the interactive discussion that I did on that. People were hungry, people meaning scientists, were really hungry to learn about how they could get involved, influence, make an impact. It was March for Science. All of these things were happening in 2017, 2018.

There was an article in Science Magazine written about the interactive discussion that I did on that. People were hungry, people meaning scientists, were really hungry to learn about how they could get involved, influence, make an impact. It was March for Science. All of these things were happening in 2017, 2018.

And that's when I really started to focus on helping scientists get more involved and embedded and comfortable making their case in a policymaking world.

And that's when I really started to focus on helping scientists get more involved and embedded and comfortable making their case in a policymaking world.