Professor adds technological touch to Burns’ office

A young, fresh-faced aide to Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns handed Prabhat Hajela a crumpled piece of paper and asked if Hajela could review it in the next 20 minutes.

By TED MONOSON
Gazette Washington Bureau

Hajela, a 45-year-old college professor on a one-year fellowship in Burns’ Washington office, went to work reading the press release that the young aide, Grant Toomey, wanted to send out as soon as possible. The native of India has adjusted to the quick pace that distinguishes life in a congressional office from the halls of academia.

In the release Burns "voiced his approval of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to add 255-megahertz of spectrum in the 5.470 to 5.725 GHz band for use by unlicensed devices." According to Burns, the increase in spectrum space allows wireless Internet service providers to expand broadband service in underserved areas, including portions of Montana.

Hajela is on leave from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he is a professor of aerospace engineering. He says that one of his first challenges after leaving the Troy, N.Y., school nearly a year ago and moving to Washington, D.C., was adjusting to the faster pace.

Hajela’s decision to work in Burns’ office highlights the senator’s focus on technology issues.

"I came here because this is where I would get to see the most diverse sort of issues, plus I had the opportunity to get involved in telecommunications," Hajela said.

During his year in Burns’ office, Hajela, who has a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, estimates that he’s spent 75 percent of his time on telecommunications and 25 percent on aerospace matters.

Hajela played an integral role in discussions on how to overhaul the federal program that subsidizes telecommunication for rural residents. The program, known as the Universal Service Fund, spreads the cost of building and maintaining rural telephone lines among those who place interstate long-distance phone calls.

Burns and others have warned that the program must be changed because the growth of cell phones and the Internet has reduced the amount of money that is available, while lawmakers have expanded the program to provide support to poor urban areas.

Hajela has also worked on Burns’ efforts to increase the presence of broadband technology in rural areas and limit unsolicited e-mails, or spam. In the aerospace area he worked on the congressional review of the Columbia space shuttle accident.

Besides being attracted to Burns’ focus on technology, Hajela was impressed with the senator’s "keen interest in central Asia." Burns has worked to bring government officials from Kyrgyzstan and other central Asian countries to Montana.

"This is the neat issue about the senator," Hajela said. "He is really working on issues that affect Montanans and rural Americans. He is technically very astute and he knows that without these resources rural America and folks in Montana will be left behind. They will not be able to participate in the economy."

Hajela spent the first 19 years of his life in India before immigrating to the United States in 1979 to work on a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at Iowa State University.

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