We have also reached out to members of Congress. Dr. Tan and his Ph.D. student, Dawn Hedgepeth, attended the 14th Annual Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Exhibition and Reception on Capitol Hill on the evening of June 25, 2008. CNSF is an alliance of over 100 institutions and professional societies that supports the goal of increasing the national investment in the National Science Foundation’s research and education programs. The annual Capitol Hill exhibition event features research and education projects supported by NSF, and impresses lawmakers with the impact of NSF-funded programs.
We represented MSU and presented a poster “Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles and Sensors: Investigation from a Systems Perspective,” that described our NSF CAREER project and its potential societal, educational, and outreach impacts. We also held live demos of artificial muscle-enabled robotic fish, which made our conversations much easier with congressmen and their staffers.
