CSPO Events CSPO in DC

New Tools for Science Policy

Reframing the Debate around CRISPR and Genome Editing

To what extent can or should scientists shape society’s response to new technologies? Do we need new models for responsible governance of biotechnology in the 21^st century?

Emma Frow

New Tools for Science Policy

Different Technologies, Different Learning Rates: Policy implications for energy investments

Learning curves have become a robust technique for modeling technological change in energy portfolios and as inputs into forecasting models. However traditional financial strategies have been applied to energy generation portfolios without full consideration of the effect of learning rates.

The simplicity and universality of the experience curve (or performance curve) framework led R&D managers to apply it to everything from airplane manufacturing to nuclear power plants.  It has been well understood for some time that different technologies have very different learning rates, but there was little or no theory as to why. Deborah Strumsky will discuss recent work that provided insights on the underlying determinants of learning rates differences across technologies, and the extent to which policies are able to accelerate or influence them.

Dr. Strumsky will discuss the implications of her research for policies related to mitigating climate change. Learning curves have become a robust technique for modeling technological change in energy portfolios and as inputs into forecasting models. However traditional financial strategies have been applied to energy generation portfolios without full consideration of the effect of learning rates. Dr. Strumsky will offer simulation results from recent work on improved energy portfolio investment strategies, and what it may mean for technologies like photovoltaics.

Deborah Strumsky

New Tools for Science Policy

Innovation in Higher Education – Africa’s Turn

All over the industrialized world, university education is undergoing long-anticipated change. Universities, in Europe and especially North America, are emphasizing more learning through real-world experience, interdisciplinary studies, integrated teaching and research, social media, and online courses. For policymakers in developing countries, university-level education remains a lower priority, but emerging trends suggest wider participation by the children of middle classes and reduced reliance on top-down models of learning. Increasingly, the best and brightest of developing countries view university degrees as the new normal, and star students seek to balance mastery of established fields of disciplinary knowledge with an advanced education in interdisciplinarity, creativity, and entrepreneurship. In an unexpected turn, these trends are growing in visibility and significance in sub-Saharan Africa.

Drawing on parallel studies of public and private universities in Uganda and Kenya, Matthew Harsh (Concordia) and Gregg Pascal Zachary (Arizona State) present preliminary findings on innovations in higher education that augur well for workforce development, economic growth, and directing knowledge workers towards the pursuit of unmet societal goals, as well as rewarding individual careers. Harsh and Zachary pay special attention to the emergence of university-based studies in computer science at undergraduate and graduate levels. Dramatic growth in CS graduates in both countries since 2000 reflects demographic trends: widening access to universities for both men and women, as well as a move away from traditional professions and disciplines towards applied and theoretical studies in computing, information technology, and communications. Harsh and Zachary will provide a survey of what’s working and what isn’t in two East African countries where enrollments are growing rapidly and where economies are absorbing talented, well-educated graduates at rates without historical precedent for the region.

Matthew Harsh, G. Pascal (Gregg) Zachary

Citizen Science: Empowering a Robust National Effort

Anyone can learn how to use the scientific method in ways that contribute to investigations of how nature works and applying that understanding to develop new technologies. As professional scientists explore the universe, they find instances and places where more hands, eyes, and voices are needed to collect, analyze, and report data: Examples include documenting the biology and chemistry around rivers and lakes, monitoring the weather in sparsely populated regions, or logging the daily course of a disease or exercise regimen. Citizen scientists are increasingly answering the call, be it as enthusiastic hobbyists, STEM students augmenting their learning, or empowered friends and family of medical patients. This panel will discuss how various citizens are enhancing the nation’s scientific enterprise as well as ensuring that the government maximizes its benefits while avoiding any negative impact on the progress of science.

Future Directions of Usable Science for Rangeland Sustainability

As funding for rangeland research becomes more difficult to secure, researchers and funding organizations must ensure that the information needs of public and private land managers are met. Usable science that involves the intended end users through the scientific enterprise and gives rise to improved outcomes and informed management on the ground should be emphasized. The Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable workshop on Future Directions of Usable Science for Rangeland Sustainability brought together university and agency researchers, public and private land managers and producers, non-governmental organizations, and representatives of funding agencies and organizations to initiate the process of charting a research agenda for future directions of usable science for rangeland sustainability. Workshop outcomes address issues and research questions for soil health, water, vegetation (plants), animals, and socio-economic aspects of rangeland sustainability. A special issue of the journal Rangelands summarizes these outcomes, and will provided to session attendees. Presentations will be followed by a moderated discussion.

New Tools for Science Policy

The Illusion of Average: Implications for Scientists

Improving Scientific Research in the Age of Personalization and Open Data

In this conversation, we focus on the changing role of scientists when “on average” provides increasingly less useful information. Specifically, we present “agile science” as an organizing structure for generating and curating scientific evidence that can feasibly better embrace individual and contextual differences. Agile science draws from a variety of domains, but, at its core, builds on the logic of modularity that is central to today’s complex computing systems (e.g., operating systems, the Internet). We provide some active case studies of this approach in behavioral science, and discuss changes to the current roles and activities of researchers implied by agile science process, particularly for generating evidence to support decision-making on the “right” health intervention for specific individuals, in context, and over time.

Eric Hekler, Predrag Klasnja

New Tools for Science Policy

The Illusion of Average: An Open Science Approach to Research

Improving Scientific Research in the Age of Personalization and Open Data

Public participation for science or advocacy has an inconsistent history of effectiveness. New tools for crowdsourcing and challenge platforms have unflattering track records, revealing the current limits of technologies to enable the centralization or decentralization of power and influence. Local expertise can be harnessed toward a new reality in which communities provide feedback on their own conditions. When challenges arise, publics equipped with new tools can legitimately participate by studying their circumstances, testing alternatives for improving their communities, and advocating for the actions that best reflect their current values. Further, these strategies can be tailored to local realities to increase the likelihood of successful adoption and implementation.

Erik Johnston, Darlene Cavalier

New Tools for Science Policy

The Illusion of Average: Renewing Research Infrastructure

When the Differences Matter: Implications for Research Infrastructure in an Age of Personalization

In this talk, Dr. William T. Riley and Paul Tarini discuss their experiences with establishing research portfolios to support research in an age of personalization. Dr. Riley provides insights into public sector management based on his work with the Precision Medicine Initiative and to transition the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) to a “data rich” endeavor integrating behavioral, social, and biomedical sciences for human health outcomes. He also speaks about balancing this transition in an office with a policy advising and public communications mission. Mr. Tarini discusses the goals and mission of the Pioneering Ideas portfolio within the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). His particular emphasis is on cultivating research at boundary of new modes of inquiry and discovery for a national “Culture of Health.” Dr. Eric Hekler moderates the session to draw out questions, challenges, and strategies facing public and private research managers advancing scientific research for human health.

Eric Hekler, William Riley, Paul Tarini