SEPAC Is Back! Connecting Science and Policy at Caltech

The recently revived student organization, Science Engineering Policy at Caltech (SEPAC), hosted an evening Meet & Greet on Tuesday, May 26th, to kick off their newly motivated membership. The evening began with a presentation from club members describing their initiative to remain informed, civically active scientists after a week-long to Washington, DC led by the Caltech Y. During this trip, the members met with policymakers in Congress, lobbyists, think tank analysts, and members of federal agencies including the FDA, OMB, and NIH, gaining firsthand accounts of work at various levels of the science policy landscape. Reflecting on their experiences on the final evening, the group realized that making an impact in science policy was not only for those who chose to make a career of it: every scientist has the opportunity, and perhaps responsibility, to be informed and engaged with how their research is situated within a larger social context.

Upon returning to Caltech, the students came together to revitalize SEPAC, a student club originally founded in 2013 with the goal of educating and providing resources for Caltech students to understand how federal and state policy affects and interacts with the sciences. Previously, SEPAC had hosted science policy luncheons, science communication workshops, and sent students to Washington, DC for a Science, Engineering, and Technology Congressional Visit Day, among other events, but has lain dormant since 2018. The new members rearticulated a mission statement for the organization: firstly, to inspire the Caltech community to participate in informed science policy discussions and care about the broader context of their work; secondly, to educate the Caltech community about science communication, policy, and advocacy; and thirdly, to activate the Caltech community by facilitating engagement with policy stakeholders.

SEPAC's first action back was to publish an op-ed describing their trip and advertising the new organization in The California Tech, closely followed by the kick-off Meet & Greet. At the Meet & Greet, which was generously funded by the Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy (LCSSP), multiple speakers were invited at Caltech to share their work in science policy. After an introduction by SEPAC, invited speakers Sara Kassir, Research Policy Lead at the LCSSP, highlighted the LCSSP's participation in biotechnology and AI policy; Greg Fletcher, program director at the Caltech Y, and undergraduate student leader Cece Abramson discussed trips and a speaker series the Caltech Y puts on; and Sandy Krasner, who worked as a System Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for 45 years, described his activism as a citizen scientist with the Pasadena-Foothills chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL). After they spoke, the presenters answered audience questions in an interactive panel. The event was well attended, with over 40 attendees over the course of the evening, many of whom stayed after the presentations and panel to mingle over refreshments.

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The event created momentum, and new recruits have since joined meetings to discuss exciting future avenues for SEPAC: hosting a poster information session or science policy "hackathon" with Pasadena city government, holding educational workshops on current state and federal regulations (or lack thereof) on AI, organizing letter-writing for Caltech students to connect with their representatives, and starting a column in The California Tech on current science policy news. To stay tuned or learn about how to get involved, check out SEPAC's website or join the email list.

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