Science

David Hart Named Lifetime Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:47:10 +0000

David Hart Named Lifetime Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Andrew J Schappert Tue, 01/31/2023 - 13:47

In This Story

David M. Hart

Request program information

Learn more about the Schar School

David Hart: The honor ‘means that my peers and colleagues perceive that I have provided substantial value to the field.’ Photo by Creative Services/��AV

��AV Schar School of Policy and Government professor David M. Hart has been named a lifetime fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the highest distinctions in the scientific community. The AAAS Fellows designation honors scientists, engineers, and innovators whose efforts on behalf of science and its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.

The fellows program began in1874 and previous recipients include groundbreaking scholar W.E.B DuBois, pioneering astronomer Maria Mitchell, Nobel laureate Steven Chu, award-winning astronaut and NASA leader Ellen Ochoa, actor and activist Alan Alda, and roboticist and entrepreneur Ayanna Howard.

“It’s very gratifying to be recognized for my contributions, both as a researcher and a mentor,” Hart said of the AAAS honor. “It means that my peers and colleagues perceive that I have provided substantial value to the field. That’s what every researcher who takes peer review and collective progress of their field seriously aspires to.”

Hart is a professor of public policy specializing in science and technology policy. His current work focuses on clean energy innovation policy. Hart recently led a study supported by Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy that examines ways to decarbonize PVC production in the U.S. He has also provided research to advance the creation of both a Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation, both of which have been acted on by Congress and the Biden administration.

His books include Unlocking Energy Innovation (MIT Press, with coauthor Richard K. Lester), The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Policy (Cambridge University Press) and Forged Consensus: Science, Technology, and Economic Policy in the U.S., 1929-1953 (Princeton University Press), and he was coauthor of Energizing America (Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Center on Global Energy Policy).

The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. The nonprofit organization was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals.

Hart and other newly elected AAAS Fellows will be honored for their achievements at an in-person celebration in Washington, D.C., this spring.

Topics

Award

Science

Schar School News January 2023

Campus News

Research

Strategic Direction

Don’t Look Up? MPA Student Krystal Azelton Does Just That—to Keep Space Safe

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 19:42:00 +0000

Don’t Look Up? MPA Student Krystal Azelton Does Just That—to Keep Space Safe Andrew J Schappert Mon, 01/24/2022 - 14:42

Master’s in Public Administration student Krystal Azelton works to keep outer space sustainable.

You don’t think of outer space as a place that requires measures to maintain its sustainability. But it does, and Master’s in Public Administration student Krystal Azelton is busy at work trying to see that space “remains usable, peaceful, safe, and secure for the long term.”

Azelton serves as director of space applications programs for the Secure World Foundation, a Colorado-based nonprofit with offices in Washington, D.C., that acts, according to its website, as “a research body, convener, and facilitator to promote key space security and other space-related topics and to examine their influence on governance and international development.”

About a dozen employees at Secure World Foundation advocate for a domain with no inhabitants other than the increasing number of “space tourists” and the astronauts orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station (ISS).

Which is a case in point: In December, the ISS had to swerve to avoid a collision with debris from a U.S. rocket. This followed the postponement of a spacewalk that sent ISS astronauts scurrying for cover as hundreds of thousands of uncatalogued pieces of debris headed their way. That incident was blamed on a Russian rocket that intentionally destroyed a Russian satellite; NASA condemned the action.

See? Space needs an agency like Secure World Foundation, the only U.S. nonprofit focusing on space sustainability, Azelton said.

Azelton says her career path became more down to earth, so to speak, when at age 17 “I came to understand I was probably not going to be an astronaut.”

After earning an undergraduate degree at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, she performed political development work in Sudan and Afghanistan, among other locales. While she enjoyed politics, space continued to appeal to her.

“I like science, but I didn’t want to be a scientist. I like learning about science and reading about it but I didn’t want to be in a lab,” she said.

Her interests brought her to NASA, where she was able to combine her government and project management skills while exploring space—specifically, the politics of it. That led to her current position at Secure World Foundation, where she represents global space issues to policy makers.

Just as she decided to earn a master’s degree in public administration, which is a degree that focuses on developing leadership and organizational skills, the pandemic locked out students from classrooms. The silver lining? She usually travels 30 to 60 percent of the time for her job, she said, and COVID-19 kept her at home to study.

When classrooms reopened, Azelton was all too happy to attend in person: “I want to know my fellow students and meet my teachers… I’ve been pleased with how [administrators] have been able to accommodate my schedule.”

Once she graduates, the master’s degree will help her reach her next level of professional success while also creating a drive to “learn more and explore more in depth” what she’s learning in the classroom.

Bottom line for her: “The Schar School is a good fit for me. And it’s an excellent value for the money, to be honest.”