[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1453 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1453

   To provide for communications training to improve the ability of 
               scientists to interact with policymakers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2007

  Ms. Matsui (for herself and Mr. Gordon of Tennessee) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science and 
                               Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for communications training to improve the ability of 
               scientists to interact with policymakers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Scientific Communications Act of 
2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) with the increasing presence of science and technology 
        in public policy issues, a greater national effort needs to be 
        made to train scientists to engage in the public dialogue;
            (2) graduate training programs in science and engineering 
        often lack opportunities for students to develop communications 
        skills that will enable them to effectively explain technical 
        topics to nonscientific audiences;
            (3) providing training in communications skills development 
        will ensure that United States-trained scientists are better 
        prepared to engage in dialogue on technical topics with 
        policymakers and business leaders;
            (4) given the enormous annual investment that the Federal 
        Government makes in the United States research enterprise, 
        training scientists to interact with policymakers will improve 
        accessibility to information and ensure that technical 
        expertise is included in the public policy dialogue; and
            (5) providing early career preparation for interaction with 
        nonscientists will improve the ability of research scientists 
        to engage in public/private partnerships to facilitate product 
        development based on United States research discoveries.

SEC. 3. COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING FOR SCIENTISTS.

    (a) Program.--The National Science Foundation shall establish a 
program to make grants to institutions to provide communications 
training to graduate students to improve the ability of scientists to 
interact with policymakers. Such program shall be integrated with other 
National Science Foundation programs for the training of scientists, 
such as the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship 
(IGERT) program.
    (b) Awards.--Grants shall be awarded under this section on a 
competitive, merit-reviewed basis, in a manner so as to ensure 
relevance to public policymaking.
    (c) Reports.--A recipient of a grant under this section shall 
transmit to the National Science Foundation an annual report describing 
the operations of the program funded by the grant.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the National Science Foundation for carrying out this 
Act $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
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