U.S. Representative Ehlers to Receive
Prestigious AAAS Award for 2002

U.S. Representative Vernon J. Ehlers (R-MI) has been named to receive the highly coveted 2002 AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize. Each year, the Abelson Prize honors a public servant for exceptional contributions to advancing science, or a scientist or engineer for a distinguished career of scientific achievement and service to the community.

The award is granted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), world's largest general scientific organization and publisher of the journal, Science.

Following a distinguished tenure of service in teaching, scientific research, and community service, Vernon J. Ehlers, of Grand Rapids, MI, joined the U.S. Congress in 1994, becoming the nation's first research physicist in Congress. Before his election to the House, Ehlers served on an array of boards and commissions, while also authoring several public-oriented books on the environment and world hunger, and was a member of the Michigan House and Senate.

Service to Science

Rep. Ehlers has served on the Science Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee since his arrival in Washington, D.C. Currently, he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards, which oversees the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He also chairs the Congress's Joint Committee on the Library of Congress.

In 1997, while serving as the Vice Chairman of the House Science Committee, he was selected by the House Speaker to review and restate the nation's science policy. "The study, Unlocking Our Future: Toward a New National Science Policy, released in 1998, was the first full policy statement on federal science and technology by the U.S. Congress, and in some observers' view, the most comprehensive examination of this area by any part of government since 1945," said Stephen D. Nelson, associate director of the AAAS Directorate for Science and Policy Programs.

This annual award was established in 1985 by the AAAS Board of Directors and will be presented at the 2003 AAAS Annual Meeting in Denver, set to take place Feb. 13-18, 2003. For additional information on the Prize, please see http://www.aaas.org/about/awards/Abelson.shtml. The Prize is a tribute to Dr. Philip Hauge Abelson's long-time service as editor-in-chief of Science, the weekly journal of the AAAS. Dr. Abelson currently serves as Science Advisor at the AAAS.

—Coimbra Sirica

22 November 2002