SWE collegial members, do you want to find ways to get involved in public policy during your stay as the first cycle in engineering? Find out more about the ways in Marli Bain plans her career towards success by punching engineering and politics.
Marli Bain is currently a junior at the University of Utah, studying electrical engineering and business economy. As a student interested in filling her interests for engineering and business, she is involved and held management positions in her college chapter SWE and her business economic company. She is interested in energy policy and did an internship with the Hinckley Institute of Politics in Washington, DC, to develop her political experience.
From a young age, Marli knew that she was interested in public policy and engineering. In high school, she got involved in her local United States section and embarked on political debates and simulated the conventions of the congress. From there, it began to identify politics as an essential element of society and an engine of change.
While continuing her undergraduate studies, she learned to juggle her double majors. While many would be intimidated to try a double major with the engineering workload, Marli stressed the importance of identifying her limits, but also to make sure that she was pushing herself. “You don’t realize how much you can get before you find your limit,” she said. Marli found it important to let her deep technical knowledge inform her political interests. She was also intentional to build interdisciplinary learning in her studies. It highlights the importance of developing general skills such as public speaking and writing.
Marli considers his experience as an engineer as a force in understanding politics. “The detailed nature of engineering problem solving is beneficial for the construction of policy solutions,” she says. She has participated in numerous political organizations affiliated to the university, including speech and hackathon style competitions. She also did an internship in Washington, DC, through the Hinckley Institute of Politics. She also participated in community engagement and political research programs with Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute and the Marriner S. Eccles Institute for Economics and Quantitative Analysis at the University of Utah.
For those who are new in scientific policy and do not know where to start, Marli recommends volunteering in local campaigns and political organizations and keep up to date with political research. Even when you work in an engineering company or a consulting company, there will probably be policies related to your projects or to weapons related to the company’s policy with which you can get involved and help the company navigate.
Marli says that there are many organizations working on scientific policy that appreciate technical knowledge and have opportunities for engineers – especially for students on university campuses. She encourages students not to let their engineering lessons discourage them from exploring political internships or political science. For those who are interested in scientific policy, there is a space for you, even if you have to sculpt it yourself!
If you have any questions or want to connect with other people interested in public policy, you can publish Facebook group of SWE public policy or contact the AG public policy leads to publicpolicy.ag@swe.org. You can subscribe to E-mail updates of AG public policy by connecting to you Member Portal And scroll through communication preferences. Stay listening for new communications and an opportunity to register for the awareness day of the SWE Congress in April!
