Dr. Steve E. Watkins, an associate professor of electrical engineering at UMR, is spending a year in Washington, D.C., working for U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., as one of two IEEE-USA Congressional Fellows for 2004.

Watkins recently began his term serving as a legislative assistant to Rohrabacher on issues related to science, armed services, environment, and natural resources. As chair of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics and a member of the House Research Subcommittee, Rohrabacher deals with oversight of NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Science Foundation.

The IEEE-USA Congressional Fellowships are awarded to U.S. members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to involve engineers in the public policy process. The program was created in 1973, and only two fellowships are awarded annually.

Rohrabacher represents California’s 46th Congressional District, which stretches along the Pacific coastline of Orange County and Los Angeles from Huntington Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

A member of the UMR faculty since 1989, Watkins holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from UMR.

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UMR’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department