Scientists Stepping into Politics

A Superior resident believes the U.S. Senate needs more scientists and that’s why Trish Zornio is on a state-wide tour to determine if there’s enough support for her run as a Democrat for the senate seat now held by Republican Cory Gardner.  During a recent stop in Boulder, she told KGNU’s Roz Brown that she grew up in a small rural community and now “the way of life is very different and I think we have the technology and the data available to understand how to best implement for both types of centers and all types of backgrounds and I’d like to see us start to move forward in that sense.”

Zornio says that it has been discouraging to hear some of the anti-science rhetoric coming from the Trump administration and it’s one of the reasons that she and other scientists are stepping into politics.

“Certainly right now we’re seeing a lack of science and reason in Congress particularly at this time and in the administration to date and it’s something a lot of scientists in this country are stepping up and I am one of them.”

Zornio currently works at the CU Health Sciences Center and is the lead coordinator for the Colorado chapter of 314 Action, a nonprofit that helps those who work in science, technology, energy and math get involved in policy-making.

There are few if any current lawmakers in Congress who identify as scientists. Instead, many current legislators have a legal background. Zornio says that having a legal background is great, but scientists bring a lot of skills to the policy making table and she would like to see more science perspectives represented.  “We also need other types of skill sets and when we talk about diversity, I’d like to see skill set as one of those things that we talk about. ”

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