A Capitol Hill Perspective

Relatively few women receive advanced degrees in the sciences, and relatively few scientists find their way into staff positions on Capitol Hill. Yet in this staffer's experience, I count more female science Ph.D.s in my circle of colleagues than I counted female classmates in physics graduate school. Why, at least anecdotally, does it seem that women with advanced degrees in science are more likely than their male peers to leave the laboratory and join the policy lobby? My observations are based on my own work in energy and environmental policy as a staffer in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.