Students from UT’s Material Advantage (MA) chapter traveled to Washington DC in April for Congressional Visits Day. Engineering Vols who attended were Madeline Loveday, Raymond Wysmierski, Marlena Alexander, MSE Vols Visit Washington DC and Maddie Maben.

The MA team’s mission while participating in CVD 2023 was to advocate for funding for the NSF, NIST, and Department of Commerce. They shared their personal experiences with undergraduate research supported by federal funding, letting state representatives know the impact that the support of science and engineering has had on UT Knoxville and how it directly impacts students’ opportunities for jobs.

The UT group met Chuck Fleischman (Third District) and Tim Burchett (Second District) personally and spoke with them about how important supporting funding for STEM is for students like us. They also met with staffers of John Rose (Sixth District), David Kustoff (Eighth District), and Diana Harshbarger (First District) and shared the same message.

Students were also able to explore the city and got to tour the Capitol Building and White House. They encourage student colleagues to keep this opportunity in mind for future visits and opportunities to advocate for sciences and engineering education.