Steven Doelder
DemocraticQ1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these positions?
I would support a one-year moratorium on any large (specifically define) data centers for Wisconsin. This would allow for regulations to catch up with the technology. I would also like to see the prohibition of non-disclosure agreements used by data companies which prevent citizens from having information about these data centers. Finally, I would like the State to provide technical and legal assistance to small communities dealing with data centers.
KEYWORDS: moratorium/assistance/non-disclosure
Q2 Making the US competitive in the bioeconomy (using technology applied to renewable biological resources to produce food, energy and industrial goods) requires innovation and investments in business, academia and government. Please describe policies you will support, if any, that relate to workforce development in Wisconsin’s strengths such as agriculture, biotechnology, and energy; and explain their rationale.
We need to adequately fund our public schools and universities. When I graduated from UW-Steven Point in 1971, the State was covering over 60% of my cost. Today, the State only covers 19%. This has to change. We have to provide adequate science, healthcare, and technology training. The public K12 schools must be adequately funded by the State so all students have the same opportunities no matter their zip codes. We need to stop pitting our public schools against the property taxpayers. We need to stop draining funds from our public school districts by terminating the school voucher program which gives public taxpayer’s dollars to private schools. We need a National Science Foundation-like organization that trains science teachers and creates science programs such as BSCS, IPS, ISCS and SCIS. We need to emphasize higher order thinking skills rather than rote learning.
KEYWORDS: NSF/funding/thinking
Q3 Wisconsin’s public K-12 education systems have seen a significant decline in the past two decades, with more than 600 public schools closing and statewide student enrollment dropping 7%. These impacts have been especially pronounced in Wisconsin’s many rural counties, where opportunities for STEM education are already fewer. What policies, if any, would you support to improve K-12 education for students across Wisconsin?
I was a science educator for over 40 years and taught 6th grade science through college chemistry. I believe in teaching students to think and solve problems…to know what to do when you don’t know what to do. We need to attract the best and most talented students into science teaching and reward them for being innovative and creative. We cannot continue to allow our public schools to be funded by the property taxpayers. The State needs to adequately fund every public school so every student has the same opportunities (including all science disciplines) no matter their zip codes. We need a NSF-like organization to train science teachers and create programs such as IPS, ISCS, and BSCS. We need to act like we are trying to get to the moon again. We did it once and we can do it again!
KEYWORDS: thinking/opportunity/creativity
Q5 If elected, in what capacities would you refer to scientists when you are deciding how to vote on a policy?
For over forty years I taught students to think critically and use the scientific method to solve problems. I taught them to know what to do when they don’t know what to do. Experimental design was an event in the Science Olympiad and I used it in many of my classes to give students a tool to accomplish a task. I used the movie Apollo 13 to show them how science saved the lives of the trapped astronauts. Science has been the center of my life and I use it everyday to make things work and to get things done!
KEYWORDS: tool/solutions/solve
Q7 Wisconsin has faced an increasing number of infectious disease outbreaks in recent years, for instance with rising numbers of measles and avian influenza cases that threaten human health and agricultural industry, respectively. What policies, if any, would you support to manage the burden of infectious disease in the state and respond to future outbreaks?
I grew up when polio was part of life. People were doomed to live in an iron lung machine. Then came vaccines and we lined up in the cafeteria to receive our sugar-cube laced polio vaccine. We were proud of our smallpox scar on our shoulder. I had measles and now am grateful that today, children won’t have to experience that disease if they get vaccinated. I grew up when we trusted science to give us hope and good health. There were no protests or anti-vaxers. We had shared truth and a path to a better life. Science gives us the best-possible solutions to the problems we face everyday. It is the path I choose and use everyday.
KEYWORDS: truth/health/path