Diploma Mill Busting Scientist Running For Congress

The week before Representative (and physicist) Rush Holt hosted his online town hall George Gollin a physicist from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives as a Democrat (H/T Mark Robinson and Michael Okuda).  The district is currently represented by a first-term Representative, Rodney Davis.

Gollin has taught at UIUC since the mid-1980s, and focuses his efforts on particle physics and teaching undergraduate students.  But his political experience (and interest) comes from his efforts to bust diploma mills (entities producing fake educational degrees).  WIRED magazine has chronicled his efforts to take down a ring of diploma mills in the early part of the last decade.  Federal legislation to crack down on diploma and accreditation mills has struggled to get passed by Congress for several years, and Gollin would likely make this a priority for him should he be elected.

Given Gollin’s persistence in his work and other public service, I like his chances.  At the moment there is only one other announced candidate for the Democratic nomination, and the Republican incumbent has one challenger.  Sure there are 435 House races every two years, but his may be one worth watching.