Science leaders urged to take charge at December meeting
By Gaylen Bradley, CSSP Board member
More than 90 scientists, science educators and science policy
leaders convened in the headquarters of the American Chemical Society in
Washington D.C. to exchange information, share views and propose alternative
strategies to address current and anticipated challenges at the beginning of
December.
The meeting schedule had been changed from a start date on
Saturday to a start date on Thursday in order to accommodate the newly confirmed
officials of the Obama Administration, as the conference in Copenhagen on
climate change required many of these officials to travel or to fill in for
their executive officers who were traveling. The schedule change also caught
CSSP Chair Bill Carroll in transit from Geneva to Washington DC. Carroll
delivered his welcome and charge as an audio presentation. Bill posed the
question: "What are the career opportunities for talented high school students
pursuing a career in scientific research?"
President and Executive Officer Martin Apple gave a
detailed analysis of the State of Science and set forth his Grand Challenges for
the Winter 2009 CSSP meeting. Marty's emphasis was on "Needed Now: Scientist
Leaders to Guide the 21st Century Productively, Proactively." The first
challenge is to enable each scientific society to thrive during the current
economic crisis. The current decade is the "E-period: Environment, Energy,
Education and Economy." Society presidents' greatest risk is to stop taking
risks. Marty cautioned that no one discipline has a monopoly on the knowledge or
skills to solve the grand challenges and that an integrated network of
scientists is required. Marty identified the 10 leading challenges as
restoration of the water ecosystem, population control, sustainable energy,
improved mathematics and science education, new economic models not dependent on
population or biosphere degradation, food security, understanding human
behavior, control of disease and interfacing discovery science and
technology.
Several areas were identified as failures in leadership by
universities but important to professional scientific societies: allowing
themselves to be directed by the federal and commercial interests; increasing
costs of education that deter access; avoiding responsibility for K-12
education; inability to document the value of their activities; and allowing
intellectual pursuits not funded by extramural grant to wither. Marty offered
the view that the much anticipated Copenhagen World Meeting on Climate Change
will not meet the most optimistic expectations but that scientist need to push
ahead in providing solutions, such as alternative energy sources. In addition,
the feasibility of carbon capture needs to be assessed, and well as population
mitigation. Efficiency and conservation are important goals in the energy
equation. There are cautionary notes on controlling the ecosystem: intervene
only when necessary to the extent required; intervene in steps that are
reversible; and evaluates interventions before implementation as well as monitor
after implementation. Economic models must move away from short-term return to
shareholders and consider the environment as one of the stakeholders. All
leadership, including scientific and academic leadership, must seek
opportunities, focus on value, act expeditiously pull together teams, remove
barriers, empower others to act, and persevere.
Apple reviewed the mega trends that have an impact on
scientific societies (e.g., members wanting services a la carte) demand for
transparency in association activities, and expanded use of web-based
communication. It is a time for leadership that involves establishing
directions, aligning people and motivating participants. The goal is to thrive,
find opportunity and to centralize spending while decentralizing innovation and
learning. Above all: don't panic, identify key issues and have face-to-face
dialog. He took the group through an exercise in overcoming barriers to
innovation in their organizations.
At the end of the regular program, the CSSP Council
received the reports of the committees and selected officers for 2010: Artie
Bienenstock (APS) as Chair; George Corcoran(SOT) Chair-elect; Bill Carroll ,Past
Chair; Sabine O'Hara (SEE) secretary; John Sharp Jr.(GSA) treasurer; Bill
Thomas as Past Treasurer, and members at large - Thoman Bohan, Deborah Bronk,
Richard Duschl (NARST), Joseph Francisco(ACS) and Ralph James
(SPIE).
The evening awards banquet celebrated the ethical
standards leadership of Harvard provost David Korn, who served as Dean of
Medicine at Stanford University and as Vice president of the Association of
American Medical Colleges. David Korn spoke about ethics in clinical trials,
including both individual and institutional conflicts of interest.
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