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<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font size=2><br>
<br>
</font><div align="center"><b>Harvard STS Circle: November 26 (Monday),
2007<br>
</b><font size=2> <br>
<br>
</font><font size=5><b>New Tools for Science Policy Making<br>
</b></font><font size=2> <br>
<br>
</font><font size=4><b>Daniel Sarewitz<br>
</b></font>(Director, Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes,
Arizona State University)<br>
<font size=2> <br><br>
</font><b>12:15-2:00 PM at Room 106, Suite 100, 124 Mt. Auburn
Street</b><font size=2><br>
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<b>Abstract:<br>
</b>As incredible as it may seem, science policy has few useful theories
and no rigorous methods for assessing and improving the societal value of
research. Public investments in science are almost always justified
on the basis of desired social outcomes, yet we cannot even begin to
answer questions about why one particular type or level of investment
might be better than another for achieving a particular outcome. We
cannot, that is, make even a rudimentary stab at determining whether our
current research portfolio is anywhere close to optimal in terms of
achieving the outcomes that society expects from it. Over the past
several years, researchers in the CSPO network have begun to develop some
theoretical foundations, and to devise some analytical methods, aimed at
what ought to be the driving question in science policy: How do we
know if we are doing the right research? I will briefly discuss
some of these nascent approaches.<br>
<br>
<b>Biography:</b> <br>
Daniel Sarewitz's work focuses on understanding the connections between
scientific research and social benefit, and on developing methods and
policies to strengthen such connections. His most recent book is
<i>Living with the Genie: Essays on Technology and the Quest for Human
Mastery</i> (co-edited with Alan Lightman and Christina Desser; Island P
ress, 2003). He is also the co-editor of <i>Prediction: Science,
Decision-Making, and the Future of Nature</i> (Island Press, 2000) and
the author of <i>Frontiers of Illusion: Science, Technology, and the
Politics of Progress</i>, (Temple University Press, 1996). He has
also written many other articles, speeches, and reports about the
relationship between science and social progress. Prior to taking
up his current position as director of the Center for Science, Policy,
and Outcomes, he was the director of the Geological Society of America's
Institute for Environmental Education. From 1989-1993 he worked on
Capitol Hill, first as a Congressional Science Fellow, and then as
science consultant to the House of Representatives Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, where he was also principal speech writer for
Committee Chairman George E. Brown, Jr. Before moving into the
policy arena he was a research associate in the Dept. of Geological
Sciences at Cornell University, with field areas in the Philippines,
Argentina, and Tajikistan. He received his Ph.D. in geological
sciences from Cornell University in 1986.<br>
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For more information about the Harvard STS circle, please visit our
website at:
<a href="http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/sts/events/weeklymeeting.htm">
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/sts/events/weeklymeeting.htm</a> <br>
or e-mail to:
<a href="mailto:jhurlbut@fas.harvard.edu">jhurlbut@fas.harvard.edu</a> or
<a href="mailto:sang-hyun_kim@ksg.harvard.edu">
sang-hyun_kim@ksg.harvard.edu</a>.</blockquote>
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