The panel was organized by The Science Coalition (TSC), a group of research universities, organizations, and scientists dedicated to expanding opportunities for university-based research and sustaining U.S. leadership in basic scientific research. Rensselaer is a member of TSC.

The other TSC participants included William R. Brody, president of Johns Hopkins University; Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan; Nobel laureate Roger Kornberg, professor of structural biology at Stanford University; and research leaders and educators from MIT, the University of Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Palazzo emphasized the increasingly interdisciplinary direction of scientific research
and urged the senatorsto support funding that fosters this type of collaboration and innovation,
highlighting examples of important research collaborations at Rensselaer.

Palazzo emphasized the increasingly interdisciplinary direction of scientific research and urged the senators to support funding that fosters this type of collaboration and innovation, highlighting examples of important research collaborations at Rensselaer. He also discussed the need to increase National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, which has remained virtually static for the past five years. This lack of new funding has decreased opportunities for up-and-coming researchers and discouraged innovation that can save and improve lives, he said.

The senators are members of the Senate Democratic Steering Committee, and the discussion was chaired by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). TSC will hold a similar panel discussion with Republican senators in the near future.

As part of the event, Palazzo also participated in a media roundtable designed to provide a substantive conversation with a small group of top-tier reporters who cover science, healthcare, and environmental policy, including reporters from NPR, Newsweek, and National Journal.