Sheeva Azma

1 week ago | fancycomma.com | Sheeva Azma |byFancy Comma

By Sheeva AzmaCongress’s Constitutional authority of the “power of the purse” means that it funds all of government each year, including the executive and judicial branches. To understand the process by which the United States’ government gets funded every year, you need to know a little bit about how a bill goes from being an idea to becoming a law. We’ll get into that later in this post.

2 weeks ago | fancycomma.com | Sheeva Azma |byFancy Comma

By Sheeva AzmaThe first step to making your message heard is getting your audience’s attention. Picture this common science communication (SciComm) woe: you are a scientist, science communicator, journalist, copywriter, speechwriter, and/or social media content creator (…the list goes on and on!). You’ve spent time thinking and researching and reflecting on your topic and have come up with the perfect message to tell your audience something they need to know to think or behave differently.

3 weeks ago | fancycomma.com | Sheeva Azma |byFancy Comma

By Sheeva AzmaTrue leaders are made in tough times. What if some of those leaders were scientists? Scientists are a unique part of the US workforce: our PhD training is paid for entirely by taxpayers precisely because our work is so important to the general welfare of our fellow man…but let’s face it, the past few months have been awful for the US scientific workforce.

4 weeks ago | fancycomma.com | Sheeva Azma |byFancy Comma

By Sheeva AzmaFrom the hyperlocal and unglamorous to the glamorous and downright self-sacrificing, working in science policy can have it all. From small to large, no action is too insignificant (or too much) when it comes to science policy. As scientists, perhaps we take federally-funded science for granted. It can also feel weird to step into the policymaking role and advocate for something we clearly love sooo incredibly much.

1 month ago | fancycomma.com | Sheeva Azma |byFancy Comma

By Sheeva AzmaI may be a science writer and policy consultant, but one thing people may not know about me is that I have also been a US government/civics educator and curriculum developer. Talking to science-minded people, I have learned that this viewpoint is somewhat unique. Yes, we live in dynamic times as scientists and science policy professionals, but perhaps thanks to my civics and government knowledge, I am less fearful that most.