Clark School Ambassador Speaks With Members of Congress

Laura Meyer traveled with 35 students and 111 other representatives on behalf of Citizens for Space Exploration (CSE), to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to support a robust space exploration program.

Meyer, an aerospace engineering student at the Univerity of Maryland, College Park, is also a double major in mechanical engineering and a Clark School Ambassador. She joined other students from colleges and universities across the nation to inform elected officials of the importance they need to place on the space program. The students’ goal is a Congressional investment in NASA set at 1 percent of the federal budget. The Coalition for Space Exploration, in conjunction with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership’s Aerospace Advisory Committee, sponsored Meyer.

“You may try 50 ways to solve one problem and even though only one of them becomes your solution, you may have created 10 ideas that can be applied to other problems,” Meyer stated. "For example, NASA's work with telescopes has been applied to treating cancer. The telescopes imaging technology has been used to find cancer and the telescope's laser technology has been used to help concentrate chemotherapy treatment to only the affected regions."

CSE works with elected officials, corporate and individual contacts to ensure continued political and public support for our nation’s space programs, particularly the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, and the new Constellation Program. CSE is comprised of a diverse group of small and large business representatives, students and teachers, and county/municipal officials and employees.

[Information for this article was provided by Kathryn Cooper, Communications Manager for the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, and Ms. Meyer]

Published June 6, 2008