[Sci-tech-public] TODAY! Harvard STS Circle (Nov. 26)

[Debbie Meinbresse]

>
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>Harvard STS Circle: November 26 (Monday), 2007
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>New Tools for Science Policy Making
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>Daniel Sarewitz
>(Director, Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, Arizona 
>State University)
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>12:15-2:00 PM at Room 106, Suite 100, 124 Mt. Auburn Street
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>Abstract:
>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.
>
>Biography:
>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 Living with the Genie: Essays on Technology and the 
>Quest for Human Mastery (co-edited with Alan Lightman and Christina 
>Desser; Island P ress, 2003).  He is also the co-editor of 
>Prediction: Science, Decision-Making, and the Future of Nature 
>(Island Press, 2000) and the author of Frontiers of Illusion: 
>Science, Technology, and the Politics of Progress, (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.
>
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>================================================
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>For more information about the Harvard STS circle, please visit our 
>website at: 
><http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/sts/events/weeklymeeting.htm>http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/sts/events/weeklymeeting.htm 
>
>or e-mail to: 
><mailto:jhurlbut at fas.harvard.edu>jhurlbut at fas.harvard.edu or 
><mailto:sang-hyun_kim at ksg.harvard.edu>sang-hyun_kim at ksg.harvard.edu.


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