Material Advantage Congressional Visits Day

The Material Advantage Congressional Visits Day event gives US-based Material Advantage Student Members an exciting opportunity to visit with legislators and congressional staff from their own states. The goal of the event is to educate Congress about the importance of research in materials science, engineering and manufacturing, and the need to increase federal R&D funding. Don’t miss this vital opportunity for you, the next generation of materials science and technology leaders, to emphasize the long-term importance of science, engineering, and technology through meetings with congressional decision makers.

2025 Congressional Visits Day

April 2-3,2025

The application window for 2025 CVD is now closed.

Please note:

All participants must complete the application form to have the possibility of attending the event, including faculty advisors.
Applications will be accepted only from students who reside in, or are attending schools in the United States.
CVD opportunities are best suited for U.S. citizens and permanent residents; however, international students who are attending schools in the United States can participate if space is available.
Applicants must be a member of the Material Advantage student program to participate. Become a member!
A maximum of 5 students from any one university will be considered for a travel grant and will be eligible to attend the CVD event(s).
Registrations will be processed on an individual first come, first served basis based upon the criteria noted above.

Groups, whether affiliated by school or location, have been found to be the most successful in working together to schedule meetings and support each other’s efforts towards meeting with representatives.

The Material Advantage Student Program offers a limited number of travel grants to student registrants to help offset costs to Congressional Visits Day. The amount of travel grant funds will be determined once all applications are received. Each grant will be sent after the event upon verification that the student was in attendance. Faculty advisors are not eligible for travel assistance.

If you have questions about the event, contact Marcus Fish at foundation@ceramics.org , the ACerS liaison to the Material Advantage student program.

What to expect

Set aside the dates noted below to be able to fully participate in this year’s event. You will also need to devote additional time to scheduling and preparing for your virtual visits.

Review all items in the “Material Advantage CVD Toolkit”. These documents will help to guide you through the details of this process.

Be prepared to start the process of requesting Congressional appointments. Identify the individuals within your group (university and/or locale) who will begin requesting appointments. If there are no others within your university/locale, you will need to work on requesting appointments.

Attend mandatory webinar training session(s). On the webinar, CVD participants will be given preparation materials that have an emphasis on funding for the materials science and engineering field. The training will also include general tips on organizing your visits, rules for congressional meetings, and how Congress works. In addition to the prep materials, participants will be required to let the facilitators know who they have contacted and gotten a response from, what their congressional schedule is so far, and who is still pending.

Update the Meeting Scheduling and Inter-state Collaboration worksheet. Make sure to note: your home state “State of Constituent”, your District, and your university’s tab with any scheduled appointments/current status of appointment setting.

2025 CVD Schedule

Tuesday, March 4, 2025	2 PM – 3 PM Eastern	Mandatory* Training Session (webinar)
Wednesday, March 5, 2025	5 PM – 6 PM Eastern	Mandatory* Training Session (webinar)
Wednesday, April 2, 2025	4 PM – 7 PM	Opening Reception with guest speakers and group practice sessions
Thursday, April 3, 2025	All Day	Congressional Visits

*Participants must attend one training webinar. Please select the one that works best for your schedule.

2025 CVD Opening Reception

We are excited to hear from the following speakers at the 2025 opening reception!

Alessandra Zimmerman, PhD is the Senior Manager, R&D Policy for the R&D Budget and Policy Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), where she collects information on federal science spending, both current and past.

Previously, she was the Executive Director at Proposal Analytics, performing research into making the research funding space more useful to early career researchers. She has also been a program Manager for the Canadian Science Policy Center, an intern at AAAS’s EPI Center, and a researcher for the National Science Policy Network.

Prior to switching to science policy work, she earned her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Maryland, and a BS in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Mark Feuer DiTusa received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago, where he studied the properties of plastic semiconductors to improve their electronic performance. Mark was a Christine Mirzayan fellow working for the Gulf Research Program’s Board on Gulf Education and Engagement, and was most recently Chemistry & Engineering News’s producer for their podcast Stereo Chemistry.

He relishes being in interdisciplinary roles and situations that require the synthesis of multiple knowledge bases, whether between sciences or between science and another discipline. He also believes strongly that science is for everyone, and that communicating and educating about science is critical to an informed citizenry. He is currently utilizing his wide breadth of experiences to work in Senator Chris Coons’s office to improve policy in workforce, biomanufacturing, and education.

Adriana Bankston, PhD is an advocate for scientific research and innovation at the federal level. For close to a decade, Adriana Bankston has worked to nurture U.S. competitiveness in science and technology through a number of roles with universities, non-profits and scientific societies. As the first-ever AAAS/ASGCT Congressional Policy Fellow, Adriana currently works to support sustained federal research funding in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Previously, Adriana supported scientific research and the future STEM pipeline as a Principal Legislative Analyst with University of California Federal Governmental Relations, where she advocated for the university’s research priorities with Congress, the Administration and federal agencies. Prior to this role, Adriana advocated for federally funded research in neuroscience as a Policy & Advocacy Fellow with the Society for Neuroscience, where she provided staff support for special and on-going projects, including SfN’s annual lobby event and the society’s annual meeting.

Adriana contributed to policy entrepreneurship with the Federation of American Scientists to make the work of policymakers more impactful. She is also a member of the AAAS Section X Steering Group, and previously served as CEO & Managing Publisher of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance. In recognition of her work to support the U.S. scientific enterprise, Adriana was awarded the inaugural ARIS Emerging Broader Impacts Leader Award, and the Top 20 in 2022 Award For Excellence in Advocacy from The Advocacy Association. Adriana earned her PhD in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology from Emory University.