I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1453 
To provide for communications training to improve the ability of scientists 
to interact with policymakers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 9, 2007 
Ms. MATSUI (for herself and Mr. GORDON of Tennessee) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology 
A BILL 
To provide for communications training to improve the ability 
of scientists to interact with policymakers. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Scientific Communica-
tions Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) with the increasing presence of science and 
technology in public policy issues, a greater national 
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effort needs to be made to train scientists to engage 
in the public dialogue; 
(2) graduate training programs in science and 
engineering often lack opportunities for students to 
develop communications skills that will enable them 
to effectively explain technical topics to nonscientific 
audiences; 
(3) providing training in communications skills 
development will ensure that United States-trained 
scientists are better prepared to engage in dialogue 
on technical topics with policymakers and business 
leaders; 
(4) given the enormous annual investment that 
the Federal Government makes in the United States 
research enterprise, training scientists to interact 
with policymakers will improve accessibility to infor-
mation and ensure that technical expertise is in-
cluded in the public policy dialogue; and 
(5) providing early career preparation for inter-
action with nonscientists will improve the ability of 
research scientists to engage in public/private part-
nerships to facilitate product development based on 
United States research discoveries. 
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SEC. 3. COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING FOR SCIENTISTS. 
(a) PROGRAM.—The National Science Foundation 
shall establish a program to make grants to institutions 
to provide communications training to graduate students 
to improve the ability of scientists to interact with policy-
makers. Such program shall be integrated with other Na-
tional Science Foundation programs for the training of 
scientists, such as the Integrative Graduate Education and 
Research Traineeship (IGERT) program. 
(b) AWARDS.—Grants shall be awarded under this 
section on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis, in a man-
ner so as to ensure relevance to public policymaking. 
(c) REPORTS.—A recipient of a grant under this sec-
tion shall transmit to the National Science Foundation an 
annual report describing the operations of the program 
funded by the grant. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science 
Foundation for carrying out this Act $10,000,000 for each 
of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012. 
Æ 
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