Space debris, ITER in state department fellow’s portfolio

In September, nuclear astrophysicist Suzanne Koon began work as this year’s American Institute of Physics State Department fellow. Koon is working in the space and advanced technology division of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, where her assignments include acquainting the international community with the US position on policy agreements to monitor space debris and to build ITER—the international fusion energy project. “The complexity of the agreements is pretty amazing,” says Koon. “There are so many players involved, and the fact that [the State Department] can coordinate them and do so well with so many issues is pretty awesome.”

Koon accepted the fellowship directly after completing her PhD at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and says her interest in policy was sparked when a senior-year project took her to Washington, DC, to lobby Congress on behalf of a homeless shelter program. She took science journalism courses in graduate school to learn how to effectively communicate her NSF-sponsored research to the public. After her stint at State, Koon says she may pursue opportunities to write or teach about science policy, but she adds, “If I could get another year on the fellowship, I would probably try for that.”

That’s what Koon’s predecessor is doing. AIP extended its sponsorship of particle physicist Lubna Rana so she could continue working on nuclear nonproliferation in the State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. During her first term, Rana and several other science fellows working on nuclear policy started a study club that later evolved into a guest lecture series and became known as “the nuclear family.”