Marcy;
Your story is, oh, so true. Unfortunately you ran head on into the 
Federal Stone Wall Syndrome. As I was told once upon on a time, we 
cannot use you for you know too much and we cannot train you in OUR 
WAY. You probably would have been accepted if you had just walked in 
off the street and applied. My grandfather was hired during the GREAT 
WAR to end ALL WARS to coordinate and run the Federal Railroad 
Program. He was a butcher and had no idea what he was doing. BUT he 
had a government job that he and grandmother laughed at daily..

It really boils down, in my opinion, that private businesses are 
going to have to take the bull by the horns identify, plan, Raise the 
money and conduct most of the REAL scientific programs if we are ever 
able to progress and survive as a society as well as protect our 
planet. There really is just too much paper pushing, position 
jockeying in our governmental agencies by mentally challenged 
individuals that we can't get rid of.

Best of Luck in you future research. MAKE IT HAPPEN for all of us.

DP



At 11:48 AM 7/25/2009, you wrote:
>
>
>All,
>
>
>
>I'm writing to add to the discussion about public perceptions of 
>archaeology that started with the NYT article on bottle hunting. 
>Earlier this spring I was selected for a fellowship with the 
>American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in their 
>Science and Technology Policy Fellows program. This program places 
>scientists in federal agencies and with members of Congress with the 
>intent of providing the agencies and Congress with direct access to 
>a range of scholars/professional scientists and the scientists with 
>the opportunity to learn about how science is used in policy-making. 
>My goal in applying to the program was to be part of efforts to 
>address climate change, particularly the offices working on what 
>they call the "human dimensions" of climate change. As brief 
>background, my long-term research specialty is the processes through 
>which human groups learn environments during and after colonization 
>(aka "landscape learning"). I recently completed my first study of 
>climatic learning, which looks at the case study of the 
>historical-period colonization of eastern North America. (Note: This 
>study should be coming out soon in Historical Archaeology. Not an 
>advertisement, just indicating the relationship of this post to 
>historical archaeology generally; thanks Anita).
>
>
>
>I described these interests in my application, along with my 
>experience with legislation and compliance from several years in 
>cultural resource management, and it made it through two rounds of 
>peer review. My first interview was in front of a panel of eight 
>natural scientists who said they were impressed with my "innovative" 
>and unusual approach to climate change. The glitch came in the 
>placement process. Not one of the federal agencies directly working 
>on climate change would interview me. I followed up with them and 
>they indicated that my application was great, interview scores 
>top-notch, and yes, indeed, a social science perspective would add 
>to their program. But, they had decided they really needed to fill 
>their fellowship slot with a 
>(plant-marine-biology_fill-in-the-blank) natural scientist. I did 
>interview with the EPA Global Change Research program. They have 
>published several recent human dimensions studies with 
>recommendations that the area of social perceptions of and long-term 
>responses to climate change is in need of much addtional study. My 
>understanding of their staff training is that none of them are 
>specifically social scientists. My 2-hours plus interview included 
>several statements by their team about cultural change and social 
>responses to the effect of "well, people would just...." I tried 
>(politely, it was an interview) to describe other sources of 
>information and ideas about how cultural practices can change and 
>spread. I was not offered a place with that office. In the end, I 
>accepted a placement with the EPA National Homeland Security 
>Research Center where I will work with them on issues of 
>environmental perception and communication of environmental risk. I 
>am pleased with this and think I will be able to make some useful 
>contributions to the EPA and bring useful policy-based experience 
>back to the field of archaeology.
>
>
>
>My point in this long post is that this seems to me to be another in 
>a long list of situations in which the work that we do (as 
>archaeologists specifically and social scientists generally) is 
>perceived as being "easy". Something anyone could do. Okay, maybe 
>there are some things we as people who have studied for a long time 
>know or can do a bit better, but when money is tight (and really, 
>when isn't it?) and push comes to shove, a hard scientist or natural 
>scientist is more worth the money than the social scientist. The big 
>question is: how do we change this? My goal in applying to the AAAS 
>program was to show climate policy makers that archaeology and 
>anthropology can be useful and relevant sources of information for 
>the problems they are working on. But because they're not currently 
>using these sources, someone who specializes in them wasn't worth 
>interviewing as much as someone using sources they already know. Catch-22.
>
>
>
>I will, of course, attempt to break this cycle by doing the best job 
>I can at the NHSRC. Another avenue, which I hadn't expected, is my 
>fellow Fellows. I'm one of a class of approximately 150 Fellows. By 
>day three of the week of placement interviews, my own existence was 
>being quoted at me: "there's an archaeologist here!" Everyone I 
>talked to was very interested to learn what an archaeologist 
>actually does and how that might work in a policy program. On the 
>one hand, I think of this as part of the Indiana Jones wow-effect. 
>On the other, these Fellows will be going forth into more agencies 
>and committees than I will have the chance to visit. So, there's a 
>chance for more education and spread of goodwill. Another start--
>
>
>
>Other thoughts and suggestions welcome, here or off-list.
>
>
>
>thanks and best,
>
>Marcy Rockman
>
>
>
>
>
>---
>
>Marcy Rockman, Ph.D., RPA
>
>
>
>Project Director
>
>Statistical Research, Inc.
>
>Redlands, CA
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>Research Associate
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>Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
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>UCLA
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