Marcos Huerta Named 2008 AAS Bahcall Public Policy Fellow

Dr. Marcos Huerta was named the 2008 John Bahcall Public Policy Fellow for the American Astronomical Society. Marcos-comes to the AAS from the University of Florida, where he was working as a postdoctoral associate with Elizabeth Lada. Marcos received his Ph.D. from Rice University in 2007. His doctoral research was centered around spectroscopic observations and modeling of weak line-T Tauri stars to determine their effective temperature independent of spectral type. -

Marcos has a background in policy areas having served as the vice president for internal affairs in the Rice University Graduate Student Association and also working in his community as an advocate for mass transit. He will begin as the John Bahcall Public Policy Fellow in mid-February and lead the annual Congressional Visits Day program on 4-5 March 2008.

The Bahcall Fellowship is a one year renewable position working in Washington, DC as the-leader of the AAS Government Relations and Public Policy program. The Fellow works closely with the Committee on Astronomy and Public Policy, the AAS President and the Executive Officer to implement a coherent public policy program targeted at enhancing support for astronomy at the federal level.