Scientists need to look beyond their laboratories to the chemistry on Capitol Hill, a panel of professors and policy experts agreed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s meeting in Chicago.

Across the country, institutions of higher learning have implemented science policy courses for undergraduate and graduate students. However, the panel said, more programs of study are needed.

Panel members included Gene Fisher, senior policy fellow at the American Meteorological Society and adjunct professor at North Carolina State University, Tobin Smith, vice president at the Association of American Universities, Homer Neal of the University of Michigan, Francis Slakey of Georgetown University and Alicia Jackson, a former MIT graduate student.