Many of TMS's activities related to public policy and government affairs are the work of the TMS Public & Governmental Affairs (P&GA) Committee. This committee actively promotes the economic and environmental importance of materials research and development by educating policy makers to help inform public policy development and the legislative decision-making process.
Because the disciplines of minerals, metals, and materials science and engineering involve an amazing breadth and depth of materials topics, the P&GA Committee monitors issues throughout the congressional year, determines the Society’s top priorities for advocacy interest, and identifies actions they can take to benefit the materials community.
The following list provides a look at current TMS advocacy interests:
- Manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing, and Manufacturing USA-the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation
- No Institution of Unreasonable Barriers for U.S. Scientists and Engineers to Travel Freely or for International Scientists and Engineers to Enter the U.S. for the Purpose of Knowledge Exchange
- STEM Education for K-12 to Fuel Economic Growth and Innovation
- Diversity in Science & Engineering
- Racial and Social Justice in Minerals, Metals & Materials
- Scientific Conference Attendance and Participation for Federal Employees
- Energy and Environmental Sustainability
- Materials Innovation/Materials Genome Initiative
- Rare Earth/Critical Materials/Natural Resource Utilization
- Support for Basic Research in Science and Engineering
- Strengthen and Stabilize Federal Agency Funding of DOE, NSF, NIST and National Laboratories
The P&GA Committee welcomes input from the TMS membership about additional relevant issues. Contact TMS Staff to learn more about the committee’s activities or to share additional advocacy interests.