THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU?
Kennan Kellaris Salinero
Interactive dialogue @
University of California, Berkeley
November 15, 2011
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Science – End of an Era?
Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of
Science
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Vannevar Bush’s 1945 Proposal for growth of
US scientific capability:
Combined graduate education and basic research
“Publicly and privately supported colleges and
universities and the endowed research institutes
must furnish both the new scientific knowledge and
the trained research workers.”
‘Science the Endless Frontier’ A Report to President
Roosevelt, July 1945 by Vannevar Bush*
(*Science Advisor to President Roosevelt during World War II)
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It worked then….and now?
• “Can an effective program be proposed for discovering
and developing scientific talent in American youth so
that the continuing future of scientific research in this
country may be assured on a level comparable to what
has been done during the war?” from Science the
Endless Frontier, Vannevar Bush (1946)
• Fifty years later: “The 50 years since the end of World
War II have seen unprecedented growth in the life
sciences.“ from NAS Trends in the Early Careers of
Life Scientists, Shirley Tilghman (1998)
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A growing need for STEM
education….
“16 of the 20 occupations
with the largest projected
growth in the next decade
are STEM related, but only
4 of them require an
advanced degree.”*
*from
Lacey, T.A. and Wright, B. (2009).
Occupational employment projections to
2018. Monthly Labor Review, 132 (11),
82-123
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K-12 STEM…and on to college:
communication gap
“What
postsecondary
instructors expect
entering college
students to know
is far more
targeted and
specific than what
high school
teachers view as
important.”
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Hew and Cry for more STEM
education
Yes—
But what is happening with the
most educated (PhD and
above)?
Yet it is a golden age for scientific
research – who wouldn’t want to
be a scientist?
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Not a new debate
This Issue Paper was
delivered at the
National Academies
GUIRR
Pan-Organizational
Summit on the U.S.
Science and
Engineering
Workforce, November
12, 2002.
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At the PhD Level:
Improving Graduate Education to
Support a Branching Career
Pipeline:
Recommendations Based on a
Survey of Doctoral Students in the
Basic Biomedical Sciences
C. N. Fuhrmann, D. G. Halme,* P.
S. O’Sullivan, and B. Lindstaedt
University of California, San
Francisco
CBE—Life Sciences Education
Vol. 10, 239–249, Fall 2011
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Education: The PhD factory
The world is producing more PhDs
than ever before. Is it time to stop?
David Cyranoski , Natasha Gilbert , Heidi Ledford , Anjali
Nayar & Mohammed Yahia
Published online 20 April 2011 | Nature 472, 276-279 (2011) | doi:10.1038/472276a
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Steady as She Goes?
Three Generations of Students through the Science
and Engineering Pipeline *
October 2009
Study of
labor
statistics,
high school
test scores
since 1972
by B.
Lindsay
Lowell
Hal
Salzman
Hamutal
Bernstein
presented at:
Association for Public Policy
Analysis and Management
Washington, D.C.
November 7, 2009
Everett
Henderson
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Leadership is Calling for Change
• Shirley Tilghman, scientist and President, Princeton University
– study highlighting crisis in scientific training pipeline
National Academy of Sciences ‘Trends in
the Early Careers of Life Scientists’ 1998
study chaired by Dr. Tilghman
• Bruce Alberts Science editorial on “Overbuilding Research
Capacity”
Both call for downsizing of
graduate school programs –
yet their recommendations
remain largely ignored
Science 10 September
2010: Vol. 329 p. 1257
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What’s happening in other
countries?
• Beyond dialog
- James Wilsdon & Rebecca Willis, Demos
‘See Through Science’
http://www.nanoandsociety.com/framing
/papers/SeeThroughScience.pdf
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United Kingdom, con’d…
-Sir Roland Jackson, chair, ‘Science for All’
• Beyond open space
http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/NR/rdonlyres/D6B1ACFC-2F42-4F07-A5D1938E1D83F3ED/0/ScienceforAllFinalReport.pdf
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What’s happening in other
industries?
• Beyond shared resources
– Derek Neighbors, Gangplank, Chandler Arizona (relationships
with Arizona State University)
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What’s Happening in Silicon
Valley?
from http://www.executivebrief.com/agile/scrum-agile-teams-building-performance-development/
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What’s Happening in Universities?
“Collaboration can be one of the
most difficult and challenging
human endeavors. Part of this
difficulty is related to Western
philosophies and values (to
speak in the most generic terms)
that celebrate the individual and
structure institutions to support
individual activity”
-from Kezar and Lester and references there-in
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NSF: Integrative Graduate Education and
Research Traineeship Program
81 percent of IGERT PIs said the
IGERT grant did not result in
changes in criteria for faculty
promotion, tenure, or merit awards at
their university or other universities
participating in their project.
from Chapter 5: Impact of IGERT Institutions
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2006/nsf0617/nsf0617_7.pdf
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NSF CREATIV grants
• Launched last week (11/9/11)
– In response to internal and external
concerns over perceived risk-averse
funding
– Interdisciplinary
– High risk
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Overloading an already full plate
“No one is
concentrating just
on research anymore—
we all have half a
dozen jobs
now.” – Anne Giersch
From “Broken
Pipeline?”
http://www.brokenpipeline.org/
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Rise in Interest in Communication
• Alan Alda’s Center for Communicating
Science
–
http://www.centerforcommunicatingscience.org/
• EMBO’s Laboratory Management training
workshops
–
http://www.embo.org/programmes/courses-workshops/lab-managementcourses.html
• Improv workshops – various
• NIH Office of Intramural Training &
Education (OITE)
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Rise in Interest from the Public
• Bay Area Science Festival
– A first for the bay area: Oct 29-Nov 6 2011
• IPSEC conference February 2011
• Enormous rise in numbers of science
cafés, science festivals world-wide
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Rise in Interest in Policy
• AAAS Science Policy fellows
•Initiated by the fellows
•Begun in 1972
•California Science
Policy fellow program
•Begun in 2009
Photo source: http://med.stanford.edu/careercenter/
highlights/files/AAASppt.2.13.07.pdf
Photo source: http://www.ccst.us/news/2010/20100104fellows.php
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Scientists and Policy…Interactions
with the Public
1.
Pure Scientist
Focuses on research with absolutely no
consideration of its use or utility
2.
Issues Advocate
Focuses on the implications of research for a
particular political agenda
3.
Science Arbiter
Recognizes that decision makers may have
specific questions needing judgment of
experts
4.
Honest Broker
Engages in decision-making by clarifying,
and, at times, seeking to expand the
scope of choice available
Common confusion: value-judgment vs
information-judgment
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Communication as a Two-Way
Street
Chris Mooney
Randy Olson
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Rise in Team-Driven Leadership
• Trust as a necessary basis for teamwork
• Development of self
• Development of the Group
• Supporting the success of all
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