"Sen. Roberts has made outstanding contributions to the development of public policy that benefits chemistry and the sciences. This award expresses our appreciation for his dedication to the advancement of science," said Dr. Attila Pavlath, president of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. Pavlath will present the award to Roberts at a reception on Tuesday, October 9.
As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, Roberts has been an advocate for strengthening K-12 science education, heralding it as an "investment in our future." He established a blue-ribbon Advisory Committee on Science, Technology and the Future in 1996 to advise him on Kansas’s technology needs. He introduced the National Science Education Acts of 2001 to improve the quality of math and science teaching and has been instrumental in creating the math and science partnership programs included in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Roberts has been a staunch supporter of increased civilian and defense research, championing double-digit funding increases for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He supported the Federal Research Investment Act of 1999, a bill that would have doubled funding authorizations for civilian federal research over 11 years.
The American Chemical Society Public Service Award was established by the Board of Directors in 1996 to recognize non-members who have made outstanding contributions to the development of public policy that benefits chemistry and the sciences. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) also received the 2001 award.