ROCKY MOUNTAIN SECTION OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA & IEEE LASERS AND ELECTROOPTICS SOCIETY Mar. Meeting Date: Thursday, 11 Mar. 1999 Time: 7:00 PM refreshments, 7:30 PM talk Place: National Institute of Standards and Technology 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO Room 1107 Science and Technology in Congress Dr. Bob Feuerstein Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Colorado at Boulder Recent Staff Member for Former Senator Alfonse D'Amato Abstract: I was one of two IEEE Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows working on Capitol Hill for 1998. I worked as a Legislative Assistant, or LA for Senator Alfonse D'Amato, the now former junior senator from NY, and chair of the Senate Banking Committee. My portfolio consisted of Economic Development, Small Business affairs, Consumer affairs, and oh yes, science and technology. I will describe my experieinces and views on politics in our nations capitol and provide some show and tell as well. And of course a little about Monica. Biography: Robert J. Feuerstein is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado. His past work led to the demonstration of the world's first stored program optical computer. Dr. Feuerstein served as President of the Rocky Mountain Optical Society of America and the Denver Section of the IEEE Lasers and Electrooptics Society for 1995- 1996. In 1996 he spent six months in Japan with the U.S. Air Force Asian Office of Aerospace Research & Development (AOARD) visiting research laboratories and universities, and attending conferences emphasizing manufacturing research. Dr. Feuerstein received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a M.S. and Ph.D in Electrophysics from the Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York. For calendar year 1998 he was on leave and working in the office of US Senator D'Amato as an IEEE Congressional Fellow.