Application for Student Group Recognition
• Hopkins SPAN aims to increase communication between scientists and politicians so that politicians can represent
our interests in budget talks and on issues important to the scientific community.
• This is a new group, we had an informal interest meeting in June. Future activities include: o Monthly meetings to
discuss current issues and determine whether action (via meetings with representatives and/or letter writing)
o Letter writing campaigns as issues arise
o Sit on Congressional hearings
o Participation in the ASBMB 50 state challenge (which will facilitate us meeting with a member of Congress
during the summer Congressional recess)
o Coordinating hill day(s) in DC (possibly coordinated with Project BRIDGE and advocacy groups from other
schools)
o Invite local speakers and/or set up panel discussions
o Similar campaigns at the state level
• We had 12 graduate students at the interest meeting indicate future participation.
• Group Introduction: Announcing a new group, open to the entire Hopkins community, that aims to increase
communication between scientists and politicians so that they can represent our interests in budget talks and on
issues important to the scientific community. Please join Hopkins Science Policy Advocacy Network (SPAN) to
advocate for science!
• We intend to seek funding from the Hopkins GSA, Homewood GRO, the Hopkins Alumni Association, and
professional organizations. Both AAAS and ASBMB have funding opportunities for science policy advocacy groups
• To our knowledge, there are no potential conflicts or overlap with existing groups or programs
• We intend to collaborate with ASBMB, as they have excellent webinars and resources for this type of group and
they have national participation events like the 50 state challenge