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6/20/2008

Rice alum selected as Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow

BY SHAWN HUTCHINS
Special to the Rice News

The Materials Research Society (MRS) and the Optical Society of America (OSA) have selected Rice University alumnus Amit Mistry as the 2008-2009 MRS/OSA Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow.

Congressional fellows provide technical insight and external perspectives to governmental decision-making processes while they gain unique public policy experience and discover new ways to facilitate science-government interactions.

	AMIT MISTRY

Beginning this September, Mistry, who earned a bachelor's in chemical engineering in 2000 and a Ph.D. in bioengineering in 2007, will spend a one-year term working as a special legislative assistant on the staff of a member of Congress or a congressional committee. His major policy interests are in promoting health research and education, but he also hopes to be involved in global health, international development, energy and environmental issues.

Through this fellowship, Mistry hopes to help bridge the science–policy divide and influence education by attracting more young people to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. He also notes that government funding for health research over the past few years has barely increased and has not kept up with the rising costs of doing research.

“Young investigators are having an incredibly difficult time getting grants, and many researchers are passing up high-risk, high-reward research for more traditional and safe projects,” Mistry said. “Now more than ever, scientists need to think beyond laboratory research. We need to be engaged in science policy.”

Mistry has always been interested in education and enjoyed all things related to science. He completed his doctorate under the supervision of Antonios Mikos, specializing in bone-tissue regeneration using polymer/ceramic nanocomposites. Mikos is the John W. Cox Professor of Bioengineering, director of the Center for Excellence in Tissue Engineering, director of the J.W. Cox Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice.

Mistry said, “Oftentimes scientists and policymakers don’t exactly speak the same language. My education at Rice gave me a solid understanding of cutting-edge technologies, like nanobiotechnology and tissue engineering, and taught me how to effectively communicate scientific works to various audiences. I envision using these skills to promote the significance of scientific findings so that policymakers and the public understand the pathways toward truly innovative research.”

For the past year, Mistry has been tracking policy and funding issues and studying the economic impact of health research at Research!America. As the nation's largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance, the organization is dedicated to "making research to improve health" a higher national priority.

Mistry’s goals to address prominent social/political issues and to find better ways to link scientific research and the decision-making process began through his participation in events at Rice's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.

“At one conference, I was fortunate to meet Dr. Neal Lane [Rice's Malcolm Gillis University Professor and senior fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute], who inspired me to be a civic scientist and use my knowledge and experience to bridge the gap between science and society,” Mistry said.

However, his vision to serve as an educator, leader and spokesperson for the value of science and technology in the U.S. dates to 2000. After receiving his undergraduate degree at Rice, he worked in conjunction with Teach for America as a chemistry, physical science and algebra teacher at Marion Abramson Senior High School in New Orleans. Teach for America is a network of about 17,000 young educators committed to expanding educational opportunities for children in low-income communities.

“Teaching in Louisiana was an incredible experience through which I became committed to improving science education,” Mistry said. “Too many students are afraid of science and math. My mission is to make these subjects interesting and fun. I want to engage students and show them how these subjects are applied and have real value to society.”

Mistry has also been involved in science issues as a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders, a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Engineering, a teaching assistant in Rice Beyond Traditional Borders program and a volunteer with Asha for Education, a nonprofit committed to improving education in India.

Founded in 1973 to promote interdisciplinary goal-oriented basic research on materials of technological importance, MRS has 15,000 members in industry, academia and government worldwide. OSA was founded in 1916 and works to advance the common interests of the optics field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. The two societies have been partners in sponsoring a congressional fellow as part of the AAAS Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship Program each year since 1995.