Next Meeting

May 21, 2009
6:00pm ~ 7:00pm Networking/Pizza
7:00pm ~ 8:00pm Presentation

Multipurpose Room, Bldg 3, KLA-Tencor
3 Technology Blvd
Milpitas, CA

Amplifying Our Voices. How engineers can influence politicians and why we would want to

Russell Harrison, Senior Legislative Representative - Grassroots Affairs

IEEE-USA's Senior Legislative Representative for Grassroots Activities, Russell Harrison, will be joining our section to discuss IEEE-USA's public policy program. This year Congress is unusually focused on issues that affect engineers and engineering. Issues including the smart grid, alternative energy, intellectual property, high-skill immigration, federally funded R&D, health IT, K-12 STEM education and nuclear power are all on Congress' to-do list. Want to know what Congress plans to do about them? Russ will explain what Congress is trying to do, what IEEE-USA is trying to do about what Congress is trying to do, and what you can do about both of them. Special attention will be paid to Congress' views on reforming the nation's skill-based immigration program, and IEEE-USA's role.

Join us for an entertaining and enlightening discussion of engineering, engineers and their role in debates over public policy.

Russell is the Senior Legislative Representative for Grassroots Activities for IEEE-USA. He is responsible for helping IEEE members in the U.S. interact with, and ultimately influence, elected officials. Russell’s areas of specialization include immigration, foreign trade and economics.

Prior to IEEE-USA, Russell directed grassroots programs at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries and the American Iron and Steel Institute. In these positions he represented the recycling and steel industries on Capitol Hill and in state capitols on a variety of issues as a professional lobbyist.

Russell has a BA in Political Science, with minors in History and Communications, from Allegheny College, and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Maryland.