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Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Announces Lewis & Clark Fellowship

9 April, 2004

When they launched their wooden boats up the Missouri and into the wilderness, Lewis and Clark were charting the future of America. Two hundred years later, at a time when the U.S. again faces great unknowns, their daring journey continues to offer lessons about how America can find its way in the world.
–Walter Kirn (Time Magazine, June 30, 2002)

When Thomas Jefferson dispatched Lewis & Clark in 1804 to locate a water route across North America and survey the uncharted West, the explorers had no idea what they were to discover. They were true American pioneers—off to encounter the unknown. Lewis & Clark were commissioned to detail Western geography, climate, plants and animals, and to study the customs and languages of the Indians. Plans for the expedition were almost complete when the President learned that France offered to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the United States. This transfer meant that the Lewis & Clark expedition could travel all the way to the crest of the Rockies on American soil, no longer needing permission from the French. The two explorers traveled over a three-year period through lands that would become eleven states.

Lewis & Clark navigated the expedition by using available tools and technologies to explore the unchartered territory. In their search for a water route across North America, they discovered some 300 species unknown to science, nearly 50 Indian tribes, and the Rockies. While the United States had a government at the time Lewis & Clark began their journey, America did not have an identity. Their journey helped create a uniqueness—an enduring and defining legacy about the United States—a dedication to exploring the unknown.

The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies proudly announces the establishment of the Lewis & Clark Fellowship. Based on a competitive process, a Resident Research Fellow will work as a scholar at the Potomac Institute, pushing the frontiers of practical-oriented scholarship and interest on science and technology topics of keen importance to our ever-changing democracy. The Fellow, augmented by the Institute’s Professional Research Staff and Interns who have helped distinguish Potomac among major think tanks in America, will conduct a research project with focus on a salient problem set. Their research endeavors will culminate in an Institute symposium and an Institute publication.

To find out more information about the Lewis & Clark Fellowship, or if you are interested in an Internship with the Fellowship, please contact Ms. Jackie Gravell at jgravell@potomacinstitute.org.

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The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is an independent, 501(c)(3), not-for-profit public policy research institute, and is dedicated to the development and implementation of policies that advocate and manage the increasing role of science and technology in our evolving world.

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