Robert Palmer, Democratic staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science from 1993 through January 2005, will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder on April 11.
Titled "Science, Policy and Politics: A View from the Hill," the talk will be held at the CIRES Auditorium at 2 p.m. in the Ekeley Sciences Building.
The talk is hosted by the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and is free and open to the public. CIRES is a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As Democratic staff director for the House science committee, Palmer was responsible for helping to formulate and implement the agenda of the committee's Democratic caucus. He also organized or supervised hundreds of Congressional hearings and helped draft scores of bills that became law.
Palmer also was the science committee's lead staff member involved in analyzing federal research and development budgets and in interacting with the House and Senate appropriations committees. The science committee's jurisdiction encompasses all federally funded civilian research and development programs, including space, energy, environment and the physical sciences.
During his career on Capitol Hill, Palmer worked with Democratic and Republican leaders as well as scientific leaders in five administrations beginning with the Carter Administration on science and technology policy. He also worked with universities, high-tech organizations, and other key groups to identify policy issues and responses and to promote public understanding of science policy. He retired from the committee in January.
Palmer holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a master's degree from Northeastern University and a doctorate in marine biology from the University of Delaware. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Palmer's talk is part of a year-long series by the CU-Boulder science policy center titled "Policy, Politics and Science in the White House: Conversations with Presidential Science Advisers." The goal is to provide a new perspective on the role of science in policy and politics at the highest levels of government, said Professor Roger Pielke Jr., director of the center.
The Palmer talk will complement the ongoing presidential science adviser appearances at CU-Boulder in 2005 with the "view from the Hill," said Pielke, and should help students, faculty and the public better understand federal science and technology policy.
Parking is available at the Euclid parking structure east of the University Memorial Center. Directions to the CIRES Auditorium are available on the Web at: .
For more on upcoming presentations, see the science adviser's Web site at: .