CSPO News

  • Science for the Messy and the Mysterious

    Bringing Social Science to Bear on the Pandemic

    By uncovering the uniquely human factors that affect responses to catastrophes, the social sciences can inform more nuanced and effective policy, now and in the future.

  • Stuck in 1955

    Educating Engineers for the Century to Come

    Why is engineering education stuck in time? Engineering curriculums are still rooted in a 1955 report that emphasized theory over practical, hands-on work. This situation calls for sweeping change.

  • Science, Values, and Democracy

    Announcing the newest title in the Rightful Place of Science book series.

    In an urgent new book, philosopher of science Heather Douglas argues that science requires social and ethical values for both the direction of research and for sound scientific inference.

  • Reinvigorating the Scientific Enterprise

    Envisioning the Next 75 Years of Science Policy

    How can we structure science policy and scientific research to meet human needs in a world of accelerating changes? Global leaders, early career researchers, policymakers, businesspeople and more consider the future of the scientific enterprise and how it could be changed to create a healthier, more equitable, and secure society in an essay collection in Issues in Science & Technology.

  • He Told Us There’d Be Days Like These

    Dan Sarewitz Retires

    In 1999, Dan Sarewitz helped found the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO). Over the past two decades, Dan and CSPO have worked to improve the interactions of science, technology, and society, advocating for science and science policy that is created by and benefits everyone. Dan’s leadership as co-director of CSPO and editor of Issues in Science and Technology will be missed.

  • A Vision for the Future

    Taking On Big Questions

    Congress established the National Science Foundation in 1950 to “promote the progress of science; advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; secure the national defense; and for other purposes.” What’s the best way to ensure that NSF fulfills this mandate?

  • At the Vanguard

    National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan spoke with Issues about about his vision for the agency, keeping the United States at the forefront of global science, and diversity as a driver of innovation.

  • Mikhail Chester and Braden Allenby

    Infrastructure in the Anthropocene

    Humans are rapidly approaching a period of destabilization that requires new thinking and competencies for how we approach infrastructure into the future.

    It’s time to rethink the relationship with the core systems that serve as the backbone for virtually every activity and service that society demands. New accelerating and interactive forces are redefining what infrastructure can and should do, and how it should function on a planet dominated by human systems. Read the first chapter of Mikhail Chester and Braden Allenby’s indispensable new book, The Rightful Place of Science: Infrastructure in the Anthropocene.

  • 17 Visions of Our Postpandemic World

    COVID-19 marks a transition between a past where we were much less prepared than we should have been, and a future that invites us to try to do better.