The Duke in DC event with Richard Burr and Senator Maggie Hassan was an amazing opportunity for us Duke students to connect with policy makers and heed their wisdom from decades of bipartisan policymaking.

I have always known I wanted to work with agencies to make statistically informed policies, and as a graduate student at Sanford’s School of Public Policy, I thought I was set on working in environmental policy. But this trip made me rethink my approach to policy making and my policy focus altogether. My want to move to DC has never been larger, and Duke in DC has us students well positioned to connect and work on the Hill.  

Richard Burr made several statements that affirmed my newly found approach to policy making – having a more generational lens on the implications of tech policy (if not all policy). To be able to look at the bigger picture and see that innovation is going to happen whether policy makers can understand the technology or no. This is paramount to the next few decades of policy making with AI is moving at a rapid pace. My hope for AI policy was renewed by seeing an Ex- Senator hit the ground running on his own endeavors to better inform the private sector on what implications new AI and tech policies can have on industry.

 “Within this age of information, data is everything.” – Richard Burr, Luncheon at Duke in DC

 To be able to assist in informing policy that helps protect our rights to data and simultaneously helps innovation accelerate is my new career aspiration. To be able to keep our economy flourishing with well thought through  technology policy will ensure our next generations know we tried our best – with them at the front of our minds. 

Senator Hassan has a career of policy making worth studying, the informed approaches she has taken to make the U.S. healthcare system less predatory are immense. Being able to correct costs of care between insurance companies and patients has had a giant impact on all our lives, whether we know it or not. Her way of working across the aisle shows me that if older generations can make difficult decisions with people they disagree with – so can we. With the super computers we have in our hands we can all make informed decisions and connect with relative ease. There is no excuse. 

Using technology to make more succinct bipartisan policies is our generations cross to bear and I hope we all can heed the advice of these two: working across the aisle isn’t an option – it’s imperative to informed policy making.