U.S. Nuclear Energy Policy
Learn how Congress makes Nuclear Energy policies and how you can engage with lawmakers to support science & engineering!
U.S. Nuclear Energy Policy free download
Learn how Congress makes Nuclear Energy policies and how you can engage with lawmakers to support science & engineering!
My name is William Roysdon Murray, and I'm delighted to welcome you to U.S. Nuclear Energy Policy!
The decisions that U.S. Congress makes are often confusing, infuriating, and seemingly nonsensical. Yet, there are still rules and practices that dictate how each individual U.S. Senator and House Representative makes decisions that move trillions of taxpayer dollars every year - dollars that fund STEM student scholarships, kick-start cutting edge research projects at national labs and universities, and directly fund the salaries of scientists and engineers working at federal agencies and government contractors. Knowing how Congress makes decisions on spending money and passing laws is critically important for any scientist or engineer wanting to become a technical leader in their field, attaining executive leadership roles with their employer, or in becoming a successful entrepreneur by solving technical problems of national importance.
I spent all of 2024 working for a U.S. Senator as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow, a fellowship program offered by the American Nuclear Society* and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences*. Fellows like me offer their technical expertise to assist elected officials in writing new laws from scratch, voting on current bills up for debate, implementing the logistics of recently passed laws, and overseeing the operations and conduct of federal agencies and their staff. In the process, I learned how elected officials think, act, and seek out information that impacts their decision making - and all of this is exactly what I will teach you in this course!
My hope for this course is that you will become a leader in a scientific or engineering field that is well versed in public policy, and can continue earning the financial and public support of the U.S. government in your field of expertise. I'll tell you where to go next at the the end of the course if you really enjoyed learning about policy work!
Public Policy and Science Leadership
One way to be seen as a leader in STEM is to earn a Nobel Prize with your groundbreaking research. Another way is to pay my rent and keep my bank account happy so I can focus on my work - and this can only happen when scientists and engineers can convince elected officials to continue funding the contractors, national labs, and research universities that employ them.
This course covers:
Why current and aspiring leaders in science and engineering need to become familiar with public policy
What motivates individual scientists and engineers to work in government and lawmaking instead of a traditional laboratory or engineering environment
A detailed, personal account of the instructor's experience in transitioning from engineering work to public policy, including what social and professional challenges he faced during his time in Washington DC
How to defend your own STEM organization from harmful policies such as research funding cuts, hiring freezes, and poor regulations
Government Spending
No one likes taxes - until the tax money flows back to their own communities and businesses. In this course, we take a deeper look at where U.S. taxpayer money is spent in the Federal Budget, and how Congress decides to spend taxpayer money during the annual Appropriations process.
This course covers:
A breakdown of the US Federal Budget and the different types of government spending
A walk-through of the Appropriations process where Congress allocates money each year to federal science and engineering projects
A hands-on exercise in studying federal funding levels at the US Department of Energy
Meeting with Elected Officials
Ever wonder what your U.S. Senators and Representatives do for you? Let's ask them directly! I'll teach you how to reach out to your elected officials and have impactful conversations with them in words that resonate with their own interests.
This course covers:
How to contact your elected officials and request a meeting
How to effectively communicate issues in science and engineering
How to request action in the form of public support and federal funding to be spent on your field
A practical assignment in organizing a meeting with one of your elected officials to introduce yourself and your field of work
Nuclear Energy Policies in the United States
Once you have a solid foundation of how Congress operates and thinks, you'll now have the right mindset to begin analyzing laws Congress has passed that shape the nuclear energy landscape.
This course covers laws from the Legislative Branch, including:
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
The ADVANCE Act of 2024
An analytical assignment in reviewing the contents, motivations, and implementations of bills impacting the nuclear sector
Additionally, we will look at the Executive Branch to understand what powers the sitting President has in shaping policy through mechanisms such as:
Executive Orders
Federal Hiring Freezes
Agency Budget Cuts
Community Learning
In addition to having access to Udemy's course resources for Q&A, all enrolled students are invited to join our Nuclear Learning Community on Discord. It's a great way to make friends, ask questions, and share your experiences in the course and its content.
Course Logistics
This course is roughly equivalent to a one-semester, 3-credit university course taken by STEM or Public Policy students in their junior year or senior year. This is an intersectional course covering the overlap between federal government policy with science and engineering. Students of any STEM background will benefit from learning how policies and laws set by the U.S. government impact the legality of their work, federal funding for laboratory research, and educational grant awards given out by federal agencies to students and universities.
It is recommended, but not required, that students have taken NE101: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering for learning foundational knowledge on nuclear energy and communicating technical topics to a non-technical audience. Students in other STEM disciplines who are far enough in their studies will be able to project their own respective expertise into the policy space through this course.
Course Textbook: The Nuclear Engineer's Guide to U.S. Congress, by William Murray. The course textbook is affordable and available for digital PDF purchase on Gumroad. Additional readings of bill texts and policy summary articles online are provided at no cost.
Suggested Pace: 10 pages per day of the course text, with additional readings of bills and news articles for specific homework assignments.
Total Chapters Covered: All of The Nuclear Engineer's Guide To Congress will be used in this course. This course takes around 10 weeks of learning on a casual part-time basis, or around 2 weeks on a focused full-time basis.
Upon enrolling in the course, students will be invited to join the Nuclear Learning Community to discuss energy policy issues and improve their understanding on topics discussed in the course.
Credits and Disclaimers
The thumbnail for this image was created in part using "Arkansas Nuclear One cooling tower" by Flickr user: Topato is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
No organizations (indicated with an asterisk*) mentioned in this video series have endorsed the contents of this series, nor does the lecturer claim to speak on official behalf of any organizations mentioned in this series.
