college station dr aaron bergman a postdoctoral theoretical high-energy physicist from texas a&m university has received a prestigious science and technology policy fellowship from the american association for the advancement of science (aaas) bergman is among 190 doctoral-level scientists and masters- and doctoral-level engineers across the nation who will spend a year working in federal agencies or congressional offices to learn about science policy while providing science and technology expertise to the government the fellowship began september 1 with a two-week orientation in washington dc the year-long fellowship is funded by science societies and government agencies bergman will work for the department of energy office of science office of advanced scientific computing research (ascr) in washington dc its a great privilege to have been selected bergman said i have always been interested in the interplay of science and government but the transition from academia to government work can be difficult this fellowship is an extraordinary opportunity to work directly in government and learn how things get done this is the 36th year for the program whose nearly 2 200 alumni include a member of congress as well as numerous public officials and academic senior executives coming from a wide variety of science and engineering fields the 2009-10 class is the largest in the programs history with 190 fellows a jump of almost 20 percent program officials note that the record number of fellows comes at a time of renewed national interest in science engineering and technology with the new presidential administration emphasizing evidence-based policymaking and a call to service we received a record number of applications for the 2009-10 fellowship year said cynthia robinson director of the aaas science and technology policy fellowships bergman who considers his work in theoretical high-energy physics and string theory with texas a&m professor of physics dr melanie becke to be somewhat abstract said he is excited for the opportunity to make a tangible difference in the world i think this is an exciting time to be in government he said there is a new administration and the new secretary of energy is a physicist im looking forward to being a part of it bergman graduated magna cum laude from yale university with a bachelors of science degree in both physics and mathematics in 1998 he earned a phd in physics from princeton university in 2003 followed by a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the university of texas in austin he is currently completing a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at texas a&m under beckers mentorship founded in 1848 the aaas is the worlds largest general scientific society with some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals an international non-profit organization the aaas mission is to advance science and serve society through science policy international programs and science education -atm- contact: chris jarvis (979) 845-7246 or cjarvis@sciencetamuedu or dr aaron bergman (979) 845-7717 or abergman@physicstamuedu the post a&m physicist receives science & technology policy fellowship appeared first on texas a&m college of science