“Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” jokes Bob Simon, staff director of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, as he perches on the far side of a sofa and prepares for a photograph and his 15 minutes of fame for a prestigious award he has recently received.

Simon has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society.

Peers elected Simon for his contributions to the integration of science and public policy. He and the other new fellows will be honored at a special ceremony at the society’s annual meeting in San Francisco in February.

Simon, 54, is not what one expects of a high-powered Hill aide. He has no pretentious airs, and nothing on his wall in his enormous Dirksen office that touts his many accomplishments or whom he knows.

The longtime aide fills his office with items he enjoys in the course of inevitably long workdays. There are photographs on an end table of his wife, Karen, and four children. Looming large on the walls are stunning prints, the largest of which depicts a beautiful scene of the blues and purples of Lake Tahoe while another displays turquoise water lilies. He found the Tahoe print in a coffee-table book and had it blown up.  

When not working, Simon spends time with his family. And when he needs a break, he watches “The Office,” his favorite television show. 

His great passion in life is blending science and public policy; his six-page resume is testament to that.

Simon has always had an affinity for science. He grew up outside Philadelphia and was raised by parents who were both heavily involved in the science community. His father was an electrical engineer; his mother, a chemical engineer, started the first society of women engineers at Drexel University. Simon graduated from Ursinus College as a chemistry major. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The staff director came to the Hill in 1993 on loan from the Department of Energy, where he worked as a technical expert.

In 1997 he moved to Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s (D-N.M.) personal office as his personal adviser.

“I think everyone’s career in Washington has so much serendipity [associated] with it,” he says. “I’m not sure anyone at age 50 had it mapped out at 20.”

Simon is undoubtedly thrilled about his role on the committee. “Societal interest is as high as [it’s] ever been,” he says. 

In his personal life, he tries to conserve energy as much as he can. Simon owns a hybrid and tries not to waste energy at home. “I would like to work in an office that was more state-of-the-art than it is now,” he said.