AMS policy colloquium June 2007
Washington Court Hotel
Websites to visit:
www.climatepolicy.org
www.aaas.org/spp/rd (what’s new and seminars and presentations)
http://www.thomas.gov/ (bills that are in congress)
www.usgcrp.gov/ (US Global Research Program)
www.scienceblogs.com (Chris Mooney’s home page)
Other opportunities
Christine Mirzayan S&T Policy Fellowship
10 weeks policy experience
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/policyfellows/
School House Rock (Bill becomes a law)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dVo3nbLYC0
Books to read:
Rise above the gathering storm- math and science education
The wisdom of crowds –about leadership
Policy Overview:
Tobin Smith- (TS)
“Policy is like sausage, if you knew how it was made, you wouldn’t want to eat it.” (TS)
What is science policy?
National Science Policy refers to the set of federal rules regulations, methods, practices and guidelines under
which scientific research is conducted. (The process, procedures, and how those processes and procedures are
implemented. (TS)
Science for policy is different. That would refer to what policy makers need to know to make good decisions
(ex. understanding how climate will impact their area and studies done to answer that question.) (TS)
Nothing is outside the politics realm. Very important to remember funding and programs can be cut if people
do not know about them.
SCIENTISTS
Numbers
Objective Facts
Hate to make promises
Quantitative
Technical
Problem seeking
Ask why
Background:science
Money = research
Think long term
Public avoidance
Science page
Specialist
POLICY MAKERS
Words
Subjective/Public Opinion
Love to make promises
Qualitative
Political
Issue seeking
Ask why they should care
Background: English, history, law
Money = reelected
Think short term
Love public eye
Front page
Speak broadly
(TS)
Who makes science policy? (TS)
 white house/president
o Office of management and budget (OMB)
 sign off on budget (this is an important slot, but often overlooked)
 Sarah Horrigan- said networking, listening, and determining agendas is important in
OMB
o Office of science and technology policy/Science Advisor
 Congress
o Members of congress
o Committee staff
o personal staff
o congressional support agencies
 government accountability office (GAO), CRS (watch dog group)
 Federal Agencies
o NSF, HHS, DOE, NASA, DOD, EPA,NIST,NOAA,USGS
 The Courts
 Higher Education Association
How do these entities make policy? (TS)
 President
o presidential directive and executive orders
o appointments of key officials
o budget president initiatives
o earmarks (about 20,000 of them)
o treaties
o veto authority
 Congress
o Laws
o Creation of new agencies and federal entities
o Budget appropriations
 authorizations – here is the $ limit and what we support
 appropriations – how much is distributed

Who are partner’s in carrying out science policy? (TS)
 Universities
 National Labs
 Industry
 States
 Public
Congress’ view of science: “A means to an end”, they think if they give money to science in two years we will
give them results that will create jobs.
How does congress get their science information? (TS)
 Office of Technology Assessment- no longer exists (Rush Holt and others have discussed this group
coming back)
 Congressional research library- a phone call away, only for congress
 National Academies – work with the NRC (national research council)
o usually takes about 18-24 months to do a report
o funded internally and sometimes externally (sponsor, institution, congress).
o Gold standard.
o working there (Ian K)
 e-mails among committee members
 writing and speaking skills important
 episodic (slow and fast times)
 dissemination of materials is the biggest challenge
 try to balance bias in groups
Science structure - Science has a very decentralized system (NSF slow to form and other agencies were created
during this time, duplication of effort is the idea).
 federal agencies, congressional comities, federal departments
Many ideas of how policy is made-(TS)
ex. muddling through (incrementationism)
Primordial soup (some rises up to the top)
Whirlpools or centers of activities
Iron triangles (subgovernment composed of administrative staff)
Current Budget: Kei Koizumi (KK)
Amount:
 2/3 of the budget is on autopilot (KK)
 1/3 is not ~ $2.9 trillion (KK)
o Trend: One out of every 7 discretionary spending dollars goes to R&D (KK)
o Our country spends about 2.6% of our budget on science and china and japan are spending 3%.
No one knows what the right formula is (KK).
Timing:
 October 1 is the first day of the budget (KK)
 Feb: budget is released from the president and moves to the congress(KK)
 Feb: authorization committees meet to guide spending decisions (KK)
 Dec or January: SCIENTISTS: make appointments to speak with appropriations people and offer
expertise
 Feb-June: congressional appropriations committees meet, they hold public hearings and gather
testimony on the budget (KK)
 Spring: budget committees write a budget resolution (KK)
 June; house and senate work on appropriations bills (deadline of oct 1 rarely met) (KK)
Current initiatives:
 American Competitiveness Initiative physical sciences are a priority (KK)
o led to more money in NSF,, DOE, Ofice of Science, NIST (KK)
 Shift in spending to space missions has lowered money for environmental sciences, but with a new
administration that could change. (KK)
How do senate members know what the public cares about?
Not everyone travels, people come to them (the appropriations committee) and show them. bottom line, people
need to let their representatives know what they care about
Jonathon Black
One of the Cap and Trade Bills – Introduced by United states Senator Jeff Bingaman from New Mexico
Lis’ search on Thomas:
Entered: “Climate Change” in the Thomas website and found these bill numbers:
640 Bills from the 110th Congress ranked by relevance on "climate+change ".
75 bills containing your phrase exactly as entered.
2 bills containing all your search words near each other in any order.
12 bills containing all your search words but not near each other.
551 bills containing one or more of your search words.
“Global Warming”
459 Bills from the 110th Congress ranked by relevance on "global+warming ".
41 bills containing your phrase exactly as entered.
1 bill containing all your search words near each other in any order.
4 bills containing all your search words but not near each other.
413 bills containing one or more of your search words.
Office of Science and Technology Policy (Gene Whitney)
 2 functions
o reactive
 need to know the technological aspects of everything
 inform the president about science
 use the experts
 30 technical people on staff
o proactive
 long term science strategy for the US
 try to make the science budget coherent
 generate reports
 affects the budgets within agencies
 they tell OMB what the nation needs to affect agency’s budgets
 “this is the year of climate change” climate impacts will be studied (Gene Whitney)
 Who works in OSTP
o political appointees
o USGS has an employee there (rotating position), NASA, NOAA
House of Representatives Visit
Chuck Atkins Chief of Majority Staff, House Science Committee and Janet Poppleton (chief of staff for Ralph
Hall)
Senate
Minority is slightly empowered
Larger offices with assistants (staff have less
interaction with their representative)
Jurisdictions are different
House of Reps
Tyranny of the majority
Small Offices (more time with rep)
Jurisdictions are different
Larger science presence about (70 staff working on
science)
Science and technology committee
Hearings: sometimes given just for show, to bring an issue to the record
Witnesses: majority often gets many, minority might just get one
Bills: might not be brought up depending on who is ranking and what he/she thinks about the topic
Rules Committee: determines who can amend bills, etc
Ethics:
Conflicts of interest (COI) happen and are important to recognize.
 Conflict of interest: clash between an individuals concern for the public interest and his or her private
interest or allegiance
o these can be real or perceived
 Effects
o compromises the effectiveness of decision making process by biasing judgments
o erodes confidence and trust in the integrity, effectiveness and evenhandedness of the decisionmaking process
 it takes a very short time to destroy integrity and a very long time to get it back
Fellowship: both congressional and executive available
 Application
o Apply for every fellowship you can (there are about 100 out there for scientists,
AGI,AGU,AMS,GSA,APS(American Physics Society),AAAS)
o Who can apply?
 Early, mid and late career scientists (Ph.D.s or equivalent)
o Qualities Wanted:
 dedication and community involvement
 diversity of thought
 saw beyond the research topics
 interaction with other people (must like happy hour )


Training
o 2 weeks of orientation
o learn about the congressional resource service
o learn the process
Role: often bridges the gap between house and senate because the fellows are friends
o introducing legislation is very important
o recognizing allies might not be allies
o sitting in many meetings
o briefings
o reading legislation (you learn this quickly on the job)
Speaking to a congressperson:
 One page of succinct points on it
 the abstract is what is important
 Quotes, “What do you mean by spatial… and anthropogenic?”
 Typical challenges
o failing to craft and highlight key messages
o not providing context for new findings (assuming prior knowledge)
o not anticipating and addressing potential misunderstandings
 read the op eds (opinion editorials)
o using jargon and too much detail
o not considering how the words can be taken out of context (ex. negative feedback)
o using or responding to poorly framed questions
Essential Components in an assessment:
1. salience, perceived relevance of information
2. credibility, which addresses the technical quality
3. legitimacy, fair and responsible
Communicating the science to the public and politicians
Popular Science vs. Reality
 Assumption: If the public knew more about process of science, then the public would view issues as
scientists do
 Emphasis: science education and mass mediated popular science


People want to easily make sense
o Frames organize centralized ideas on an issue. They endow central dimensions of a complex
topic w/greater apparent relevance
 Some frames for climate: lack of certainty, competitiveness will be an issue, economic
unfairness, Pandora’s box, alarmism
 Opposite side wants to get into a debate: (Danger, public doesn’t understand the science,
levels the playing field)
 Interesting frames: We have a duty not to pass on this problem, economic opportunityget ahead of your competitor you will be better off, like credit card debt, public
accountability and political responsibility
Communicating beyond the media: leaders (religious and community) and science navigators (e-mail
leaders) use film to engage the masses and targeted audiences
Written communication
 science reporters/writers are not usually the problem
 engage editors
 offer scientific reasoning courses for journalism majors
What can scientists do?
 make contacts with reporters
 make the science alive- be yourself it is more exciting
 hit them with the exciting finding first, then give background information
 if someone calls you, ask for 10 minutes to prepare (look them up, science writer?)
Societal Impacts

Inuit people on the islands of Alaska and the story that Bob Corell told us about the senator not knowing
what to do and the amount of money it would take to move all of these people and possibly lose their
culture
Heat wave (Eric Klinenberg)
 Electrical Grid couldn’t handle the use, city wasn’t prepared to take care of the people (ambulance and
hospital gap)
o Two factors to watch - Rise of aging alone and the geography of vulnerability
President’s role :The ability for the president to tell the public what he thinks is important and what he does not
care about. ex. rose garden speech on June 11,2001 about climate change.
Academia vs. Research and Policy –
 as long as you are working for a reputable institution ex. Brookings Institution- Think tank that is well
respected, you can do both. Brookings is funded by policy makers though. You write op eds. You do

radio and television interviews, convene meetings and public events. The research is driven by the
scholars.
o Often the company is government in exile (ex. former science advisors to the president). They
are there to stay in touch with gov’t officials. People are often chosen from Brookings to go
back into the government.
o 5 areas within brookings (foreign policy, economics, global development, etc) Bryan studies
climate issues.
Whenever you are in D.C. you are a policy maker _NOT TRUE
o you can still be objective
o you need to communicate effectively
Hot topics for policy makers:
Economics, law and policy
Carbon Cycle modeling
Climate impacts and adaptations
Biodiesel – economics, business, scientists
Other jobs:
 Brookings is an Non Governmental Organization (NGO)- Funding comes from foundations and policy
makers.
 Union of concerned scientists
 British Embassy on environmental issues ½ time looking out and in
Ideas for grad students to get started:
 summer internships
 volunteering
 Christine M. fellowship
 NGO
Speaker Bios
2007 SUMMER POLICY COLLOQUIUM
Speaker Biographies
Allyson K. Anderson, American Geological Institute, William Fisher congressional Science Fellow
Allyson K. Anderson is the American Geological Institute, William Fisher Congressional Science Fellow
working on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for Committee Chairman Senator Jeff
Bingaman (D-NM). Prior to joining the committee staff, Allyson was a Senior Petroleum Geologist
(Petrophysicist) in the Formation Evaluation Core Group of the ExxonMobil Exploration Company. Her work
and research was focused on reservoir characterization of deep water siliciclastic depositional systems.
Previously, Allyson worked as a research scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey conducting research in the
Energy Research Section focusing on hazard mitigation and prevention involving integrated remote sensing
systems and traditional field geology. She earned her Master ’s degree in Geology at Indiana University
(IUPUI) in 2000. Allyson has published primarily in the field of surficial processes and soil geomorphology in
the mid-continent. Concurrent with her present employment, Allyson served a three-year term as President for
the National Association for Women Geoscientists. She has worked extensively with non-profit professional
geoscientific societies especially focusing on K-12 science outreach and recruitment/retention of women and
minorities in the geosciences.
back to agenda
David Arthur, Senior Analyst, Congressional Budget Office
Dr. Arthur is a Senior Analyst with the Congressional Budget Office. He has been working on assessments of
the system effectiveness and budgetary implications of Department of Defense and other government
investment programs. His work at CBO has encompassed a broad range of issues including overall defense
budgets, long-range strike, strategic mobility, missile defense, and NASA’s plans for manned space exploration.
Prior to joining CBO he was a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses where he
worked on issues ranging from naval mine warfare to military space policy. He is a graduate of Stanford
University with degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering.
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Chuck Atkins, Chief of Majority Staff, House Science Committee
Chuck Atkins is Democratic Staff Director of the House Committee on Science. The Committee is responsible
for legislation and oversight of most Federal government civilian research and development programs. These
programs include space, aeronautics, energy, transportation, basic research, math and science education,
cooperative industry-government R &D and the environment. As Staff Director he serves as senior policy
advisor to the Ranking Member, managing a staff of 20 professionals, including scientists, engineers and
attorneys, in carrying out the oversight and legislative agenda for the Democratic Membership. He holds Top
Secret and DOE “Q” security clearances.
Chuck began his service in Congress in 1993 after managing the successful campaign for former Congressman
Scotty Baesler of Kentucky and serving as his Chief of Staff until 1999. In 1999 he became Chief of Staff to
Congressman Bart Gordon of Tennessee. Concurrent with his Science Committee responsibilities he also
serves a Chief of Staff to the Ranking Member, Rep. Bart Gordon.
In 1995 Chuck was elected and served one term as president of the House Administrative Assistants’/Chiefs’ of
Staff Association, a non-partisan professional and education association of senior House staff leaders. In 1997
he was selected to serve as a John C. Tennis Center for public Service Congressional Staff Fellow for the 105th
Congress.
Other career milestones include founding a community development and housing consulting firm, Atkins-Elrod
and Associates in 1977. In addition to consulting, he formed real estate investment partnerships to re-develop
historic properties as housing. Church also taught political science and public policy at the university level
during his career as a consultant. Prior to consulting he served a Local Government Services Director for a
Kentucky regional planning and development district.
He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1966-1968. His service included a tour of duty in Vietnam
with the 2nd Battalion/4th Marine Regiment.
Mr. Atkins earned a B.S., with honors, from Georgia State University in 1972 with majors in Psychology and
Urban Administration. He earned a M.A. in public administration from The Ohio State University in 1973.
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Kit Batten, Director of Environmental Policy, Center for American Progress
Kit Batten is the Director of Environmental Policy at the Center for American Progress. Batten is a Ph.D.
ecologist who most recently joins us from the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) where she worked as a
Legislative Assistant on climate change, energy, transportation, and agriculture policy. She also served as an
American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow in the office of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT)
where she worked on climate change legislation, energy policy, land conservation and management, fisheries
policy, and Endangered Species Act reauthorization.
Batten also worked with Lieberman to investigate allegations of climate science censorship at several
government agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Forest Service.
As a postdoctoral associate, Batten worked for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) at the
American Institute of Biological Sciences. At NEON, she helped design a national observation and
experimentation system to explore the effects of ecological drivers such as climate change, invasive species,
infectious disease, and land use change on important ecosystem services including nutrient cycling, hydrology,
and biodiversity.
She received a B.A. in chemistry from Oberlin College and a M.S. and Ph.D. in ecology from the University of
California, Davis. Her dissertation research focused on examining how invasive plants changed the soil
microbial community in serpentine grassland and looked at impacts of these changes on native plant
performance and ecosystem function.
Tegan Blaine, U.S. Department of State
Tegan recently finished her Ph.D. at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She has taken a fellowship for
scientists in international policy supported by the American Institute of Physics in combination with the
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She will spend one year working at the State
Department in Washington, D.C., in their Office of Policy Coordiation and Initiatives, as one of two sustainable
development and water specialists.
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James Bradbury, AMS-UCAR Congressional Science Fellow, on staff for Congressman Jay Inslee (D-WA)
James Bradbury is the 2006/2007 American Meteorological Society/University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research Congressional Science Fellow. He is working in the office of Congressman Jay Inslee (WA-1) on
issues related to energy, climate and environmental policy. In August 2006, James completed his doctoral work
at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst (UMass), Department of Geosciences. His dissertation research
examined regional hydroclimate in East Asia through global and regional-scale modeling and analyses of
instrumental and paleoclimate records. He was recently a volunteer contributor to the Northeast Climate
Impacts Assessment report, organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Before UMass, James received a
Masters degree in Hydrology from the University of New Hampshire where he studied climate change in New
England during the past century.
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Lynne Carter, Co-director, Adaptation Network
Lynne Carter began her career as a marine biologist and earned advanced degrees in marine science (MS),
science policy (MMA), and science education (Ph.D.) with an emphasis on climate change education. She has
become a leader in communicating the urgency and the science of climate change to the public since her first
workshop on the subject in 1989 as the executive director of the Center for Ocean Management Studies at the
University of Rhode Island. Her goal in all her work is to help people live more sustainably and lightly on the
Earth. She National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change in 1998.
She has developed and taught semester long and short courses (including the first climate change course in the
U.S. to combine science, society, and policy in 1991) on climate change issues for both formal education
(students and faculty) and informally for the interested public and for informal educators (e.g. museums, nature
centers, etc). She developed a climate change distance-learning course that was offered through the University
of Maryland, has taught adult students at Vermont College, and was an invited teaching fellow at the
Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University. Her public presentations have included most recently
keynoting a Connecticut conference for coastal cities and towns. She has organized conferences and workshops
on various aspects of climate change, most recently for the bi-national New England Governors' and Eastern
Canadian Premiers' on likely climate impacts to natural resources. She has written and contributed to articles
and reports on climate change for a variety of audiences. She is now a consultant and the co-director of the
newly established Adaptation Network.
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Brenda Ekwurzel, Union of Concerned Scientists
Brenda Ekwurzel works on the national climate program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). She is
leading UCS's climate science education work aimed at strengthening support for strong federal climate
legislation and sound U.S. climate policies. Prior to joining UCS, Dr. Ekwurzel was on the faculty of the
University of Arizona Department of Hydrology and Water Resources with a joint appointment in the
Geosciences Department. Her specialty is isotope geochemistry, a tool she has used to study climate variability
in places as disparate as the Arctic Ocean and the desert Southwest. She has published on topics that include
climate variability and fire, isotopic dating of groundwater, Arctic Ocean tracer oceanography, paleohydrology,
and coastal sediment erosion. She has also worked as a hydrologist with the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection, working with communities to protect groundwater sources. Dr. Ekwurzel completed
her doctorate work at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and post-doctoral research at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California
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George M. Gray, Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, EPA
On November 1, 2005, Dr. Gray was sworn in to serve as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research
and Development, which is the 1,900-person, $600 million science and technology arm of the Environmental
Protection Agency. Dr. Gray was appointed to this position by President George W. Bush and confirmed—by
unanimous consent—by the U.S. Senate. Prior to joining EPA, George was Executive Director of the Harvard
Center for Risk Analysis and a Lecturer in Risk Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). In 16
years at HSPH, his researched focused on scientific bases of human health risk assessment and its application to
risk policy with a focus on risk/risk tradeoffs in risk management. George taught toxicology and risk assessment
to both graduate students and participants in the School’s Continuing Professional Education program. George
holds a B.S. degree in biology from the University of Michigan, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in toxicology from
the University of Rochester. He and his wife, Ann, and their two children make their home in McLean,
Virginia.
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Scott Gudes, Chief of Staff, Senate Committee on the Budget
In June 1998, Scott B. Gudes was named deputy under secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere for the
Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As NOAA's third highest
ranking official, the deputy under secretary oversees the management of NOAA's seven line offices: the
National Weather Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Ocean Service, NOAA
Research, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, the Office of Finance and
Administration and the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, as well as NOAA's Staff Offices. With
employees in every U.S. state, at sea, and at many overseas locations, NOAA employs more than 12,500 people
with a FY2002 Budget of more than $3.3 billion. In addition to his duties as DUS, Mr. Gudes has served as the
assistant secretary/chief financial officer for the Department of Commerce from July to October 1999, as acting
assistant secretary/deputy administrator of NOAA from November 1999 to June 2000, and from January to
December 2001 as the acting undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere/acting NOAA administrator. NOAA is
responsible for all U.S. weather and climate forecasting, monitoring and archiving of ocean and atmospheric
data, management of marine fisheries and mammals, mapping and charting of all U.S. waters, coastal zone
management, and research and development in all of these areas. NOAA is the largest part of the Department of
Commerce and manages the U.S. operational weather and environmental satellites, a fleet of ships and aircraft
for oceanographic, surveying, fisheries, coastal, and atmospheric studies, twelve environmental research
laboratories, and several large supercomputers. Mr. Gudes' background and experience have kept him involved
in NOAA issues for the past 17 years. He served as NOAA's budget examiner beginning in 1983 at the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget until 1986 when he began a career as a Professional Staff Member for the
U.S. Senate's Committee on Appropriations. While at Senate Appropriations, he worked for both political
parties thus gaining a reputation for bipartisanship. In 1990, Mr. Gudes became the staff director for the
Commerce, Justice and State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies Subcommittee, under whose auspices the
NOAA Budget is supported. His background in Appropriations has made him an integral part and a key figure
in the way NOAA presents its budget to Congress, and he is frequently called upon to brief Congressional
committees and members on a great variety of NOAA science and management issues. At NOAA he is known
for a focus on employees, human resource issues and a commitment to rebuilding the agency's infrastructure.
Mr. Gudes was born and raised in California and studied at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, and
in California, where he graduated from San Diego State University in 1976. He earned his Masters of Public
Administration from California State University at Fullerton two years later. He served as a Presidential
Management Intern after graduate school, working in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. An avid
recreational fisherman, golfer and SCUBA diver, Mr. Gudes highly values marine and coastal conservation and
is a champion of NOAA's critical role as the nation's ocean resource steward.
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Jonna Hamilton, Congressional Fellow for the American Institute of Physics
Jonna Hamilton is the 2006-2007 Congressional Fellow for the American Institute of Physics. She is currently
working on energy and environment issues in the office of Senator Richard J Durbin of Illinois, the Assistant
Majority Leader of the Senate. During the summer of 2006, Jonna was a Fellow at the Rhode Island Economic
Policy Council where she helped develop environmental indicators to be used in urban development planning
and examined state land use changes. Jonna received her PhD from the Department of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology at Brown University in May 2006.For her dissertation, she investigated the movement
and muscle activity patterns of birds that use their wings to both fly and swim (puffins and murres) with a focus
on the biomechanical constraints imposed by medium. While at Brown, she was a Fulbright Fellow to Iceland
and studied the diving behavior of puffins. Prior to earning her doctorate, Jonna worked for two years as a
Laboratory Specialist at the University of Virginia researching crustacean neurophysiology. She earned her
Master 's Degree at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where she investigated the structure and
material properties of porpoise blubber. While in graduate school, she was active in student government local
politics and engaged in teaching pedagogy, both as a participant and consultant.
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Vincent Kiernan, Assistant Dean, Georgetown School of Continuing Studies
Dr. Kiernan is in charge of the Bachelor's of Liberal Studies program, in which working adults take courses at
night and on weekends toward an interdisciplinary college degree. He has been a journalist for more than 20
years. Most recently, he worked for nine years as a senior editor and senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher
Education (http://chronicle.com), a weekly trade newspaper in Washington, D.C., that covers all sorts of goingson in academe. Dr. Kiernan was one of the information technology reporters, assigned to follow advancedtechnology projects such as supercomputing. Most of his career, has been spent in journalism about science,
medicine, and technology. He has been the U.S. correspondent for New Scientist, a British weekly science
magazine, which dispatched him to the South Pole, among other interesting assignments; and a reporter for
Space News, for which he trolled the halls of the Pentagon for news. In his pursuit of studying science
journalism has walked through a nuclear reactor, seen gigantic lasers, watched the disassembly of nuclear
weapons, played with DNA, witnessed a nighttime space shuttle launch, and interviewed Nobel Prize winners.
He’s published two books on computer technology, "Writing Your Dissertation with Microsoft Word" and
"Finding an Online High School." Besides being a working journalist, he is a scholar of journalism. In 2002,
earned a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Maryland at College Park. His research
examines the relationships between the media and the scientific establishment. A book based on his dissertation,
"Embargoed Science," was published in August by the University of Illinois Press.
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Eric Klinenberg, Associate Professor of Sociology New York University
Eric Klinenberg, PhD, is assistant professor of Sociology at New York University. He is the author of Heat
Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2002), which received the prize
for Best Book in Sociology and Anthropology from the Association of American Publishers, the Robert Park
Book Award from the American Sociological Association, the Komarovsky Book Award from the Eastern
Sociological Society, the Biannual Book Award from the Urban Affairs Association, the Sociology of Health
and Illness Book Award from the British Sociological Association, and was a “Favorite Book” selection of the
Chicago Tribune. Klinenberg is also the editor of a special volume of the Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science on "Cultural Production in a Digital Age," and a co-editor of The Making and
Unmaking of Whiteness (Duke University Press, 2001). He has published in several academic journals, as well
as the London Review of Books, the Nation, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, and Slate.
In addition to his research on social isolation, Klinenberg is writing a book about the state of local media in the
U.S., to be published by Henry Holt.
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Kei Koizumi, Director, R & D Budget and Policy Program, AAAS
Kei Koizumi is known as a leading authority on the federal budget, federal support for research and
development, science policy issues, and R&D funding data. He is the principal budget analyst, editor, and writer
for the annual AAAS reports on federal R&D and for the continually updated analyses of federal R&D on the
AAAS R&D web site. He is widely quoted in the general and trade press on federal science funding issues and
speaks on R&D funding trends and federal budget policy toward R&D to numerous public groups and seminars.
Kei Koizumi received his M.A. from the Center for International Science, Technology, and Public Policy
program at the George Washington University and received his B.A. from Boston University in Political
Science and Economics.
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Molly Macauley, Resources for the Future
Molly K. Macauley is a Senior Fellow with Resources for the Future (RFF), Washington DC. She has been
Director of Academic Programs at RFF since 1996. Dr. Macauley’s research at RFF includes the areas of public
finance, energy economics, regulation of toxic substances, environmental economics, advanced materials
economics, and the value of information. She also focuses on economics and policy issues of outer space and
the valuation of nonpriced space resources, the design of incentive arrangements to improve space resource use,
and the appropriate relationship between public and private endeavors in space research, development, and
commercial enterprise. Dr. Macauley has been a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, Department of
Economics and at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs. Dr. Macauley has testified
before congress on the Commercial Space Act of 1997, the Omnibus Space Commercialization Act of 1996,
and the Space Business Incentives Act of 1996. Dr. Macauley has served on many national level committees
and panels including the congressionally mandated Economic Study of Space Solar Power (chair), The National
Research Council’s (NRC) Board on Physics and Astronomy, Helium Reserve Committee, the NRC Space
Studies Board Steering Group on Space Applications and Commercialization, and the NRC Space Studies
Board Task Force on Priorities in Space Research. Dr. Macauley has published extensively with more than 80
journal articles, books, and chapters of books. Dr. Macauley is on the Board of Directors of Women in
Aerospace and the Thomas Jefferson Public Policy Program, College of William and Mary.
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Michael MacCracken, The Climate Institute
Michael MacCracken has been Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs with the Climate Institute in
Washington DC since 2002; he was also elected to its Board of Directors in 2006. Both of these positions are
held on a volunteer basis. Dr. MacCracken received his B.S. in Engineering degree from Princeton University in
1964 and his Ph.D. degree in Applied Science from the University of California Davis/Livermore in 1968. His
dissertation used a 2-D climate model to evaluate the plausibility of several hypotheses of the causes of ice
ages. Following his graduate work, he joined the Physics Department of the University of California's Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as an atmospheric physicist. His research in the ensuing 25 years
included numerical modeling of various causes of climate change (including study of the potential climatic
effects of greenhouse gases, volcanic aerosols, land-cover change, and nuclear war) and of factors affecting air
quality (including photochemical pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area and sulfate air pollution in the
northeastern United States). At LLNL, he also served as division leader for atmospheric and geophysical
sciences from 1987-1993 and as deputy division leader from 1974-1987. From 1993-2002, Dr. MacCracken
was on assignment as senior global change scientist to the interagency Office of the U.S. Global Change
Research Program (USGCRP) in Washington D.C., also serving as its first executive director from 1993-1997.
From 1997-2001, he served as executive director of the USGCRP's National Assessment Coordination Office,
which coordinated the efforts of 20 regional assessment teams, 5 sectoral teams, and the National Assessment
Synthesis Team (which was constituted as a federal advisory committee) that prepared the national climate
impacts assessment report that was forwarded to the President and on to the Congress in late 2000. During this
period with the Office of the USGCRP, Dr. MacCracken also coordinated the official U.S. Government reviews
of several of the assessment reports prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and
he was a co-author/contributing author for various chapters in the IPCC assessment reports. When Dr.
MacCracken's assignment with the Office of the USGCRP concluded on September 30, 2002, he
simultaneously retired from LLNL. In addition to his activities with the Climate Institute, he served on the
integration team for the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment from 2002-2004. Dr. MacCracken is also near
completing a 4-year term (2003-2007) as president of the International Association of Meteorology and
Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS), members of which are the national academies of science or their equivalent in
about 50 nations. As president of IAMAS, Dr. MacCracken also serves on the executive committees of
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and the Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research
(SCOR). From 2004 to 2005, he served on a panel of the Scientific Committee on Problems in the Environment
that prepared a report on what is known about the likelihood and consequences of an asteroid or comet impact,
and from 2004-2007 on a scientific expert group convened by Sigma Xi and the UN Foundation at the request
of the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development to suggest the best measures for mitigating and adapting
to global climate change. Dr. MacCracken is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) and a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the Oceanography Society,
and the American Geophysical Union (AGU), among other organizations. His affidavit relating global climate
change and impacts on particular regions was recently cited favorably by Justice Stevens in his opinion in the
recent decision in Massachusetts et al. versus EPA.
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The Honorable John H. Marburger, III, Science Advisor to the President, and Director, Office of Science
and Technology Policy
John H. Marburger, III is the President’s Science Advisor and Director of the Office of Science and technology.
Dr. Marburger is the former Director of the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and
President of Brookhaven science Associates. He is presently on a leave of absence from the State University of
New York at Stony Brook where he served as President and Professor from 1980 to 1994 and as a University
Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering from 1994 to 1997. Dr. Marburger served as the Dean of the
College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California from 1976 to 1980. He has been a
member of numerous professional, civic and philanthropic organizations including the Universities Research
Association, the advisory Committee to the New York State Senate Committee on Higher Education and the
Board of Directors of the Museums at Stony Brook. He is a graduate of Princeton University and received a
Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University.
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Bryan Mignone, Brookings Institution
Mignone develops and uses numerical models to study the modern oceanic carbon cycle and its response to
human perturbation over centennial timescales. He uses similar models to investigate the oceanic retention of
deliberately injected carbon as a first step toward evaluating the viability of such sequestration strategies. Most
recently, Mignone has been developing a descriptive bargaining model of environmental treaty-making in order
to assess the feasibility of international climate change agreements.
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Chris Mooney, Author
Chris Mooney is Washington correspondent for Seed magazine and a senior correspondent for the American
Prospect. He focuses on issues at the intersection of science and politics, and is author of the bestselling book
The Republican War on Science, dubbed “a landmark in contemporary political reporting” by Salon.com and a
“well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing’s assault on science and
scientists” by Scientific American. In addition, The Republican War on Science was named a finalist for the
2005 Los Angeles Times book prize in the category of “Science and Technology,” and Chris’s 2005 Mother
Jones feature story about ExxonMobil, conservative think tanks, and climate change was nominated for a
National Magazine Award in the “public interest” category (as part of a cover package on global warming).
Chris was born in Mesa, Arizona, and grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana; he graduated from Yale University
in 1999, where he wrote a column for the Yale Daily News. Before becoming a freelance writer, Chris worked
for two years at The American Prospect as a writing fellow, then staff writer, then online editor (where he
helped to create the popular blog Tapped). Chris has contributed to a variety of other publications in recent
years, including Wired, Seed, New Scientist, Slate, Salon, Mother Jones, Legal Affairs, Reason, The American
Scholar, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, Columbia Journalism Review, The Washington Post,
The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. In addition, Chris’s blog, ;The Intersection,” was a recipient of
Scientific American’s 2005 Science and Technology web award, which noted that “science is lucky to have
such a staunch ally in acclaimed journalist Chris Mooney.” Chris speaks regularly at academic meetings,
bookstores, university campuses, and other events. Recent university stops include Yale University, Princeton,
Harvard, Rockefeller University, and MIT. Other venues where Chris has spoken include San Francisco’s
famous Commonwealth Club, Town Hall Seattle, and acclaimed bookstores like Cody’s in Berkeley, California.
Chris has also been featured regularly by the national media. He has appeared on The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart, CSPAN’s Book TV, Fresh Air With Terry Gross, NPR’s Science Friday (here and here), and The Al
Franken Show, among many other television and radio programs. He has been profiled by The Toronto Star and
The Seattle Times, and interviewed by many outlets including Grist and Mother Jones.
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Matthew Nisbet, American University
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D., is assistant professor in the School of Communication at American University.
Trained as a social scientist, he studies the nature and impacts of strategic communication. His current research
tracks scientific and environmental controversies, examining the interactions between experts, journalists, and
various publics. In this work, Nisbet focuses on several key questions: How does news coverage both reflect
and shape policy? How do citizens make sense of controversies, and in what ways do strategists try to mold
public opinion? What mobilizes citizens to get involved in a debate? He has studied a wide range of
controversies including those over stem cell research, global warming, intelligent design, plant biotechnology,
and hurricanes. The author or co-author of twenty research articles and book chapters, his work appears across a
number of leading journals including Public Opinion Quarterly, the International Journal of Public Opinion
Research, the Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Communication Research, Political
Communication, Political Behavior, Mass Communication and Society, Science Communication, and Public
Understanding of Science. Over the past three years, these studies have been cited more than a hundred times in
the peer-reviewed literature. He is a frequent invited speaker at conferences and meetings across the U.S. and
Canada, and he is often called upon for his expert analysis by major news organizations, with past interviews
including the BBC World Service, Nature, Science, Chronicle of Higher Education, Toronto Globe & Mail,
Adweek, Houston Chronicle, Salon.com, MSNBC.com, and Wisconsin Public Radio. Nisbet has served as a
consultant to the National Science Foundation, as well as other government agencies and non-governmental
organizations. He holds an A.B. in Government from Dartmouth College, and an MS/Ph.D. in Communication
from Cornell University.
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Dr. Michael Slimak is an associate director in EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment. He is
primarily responsible for developing and implementing an assessment program to understand risks associated
with global climate change, chemical pollutants, habitat and biodiversity loss, and invasive species. Dr. Slimak
has been with EPA for over 27 years and has worked in a number of programs. He has been directly involved
with the CCSP and USGCRP since its inception in 1990. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science, an MS in
Wildlife Ecology, and a BS in Biology.
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Tobin L. Smith, (Toby) Associate Director of Federal Relations at the Association of American Universities
(AAU)
In this position, Toby is responsible for overseeing physical sciences and engineering research and has closely
monitored budgets and programs at the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of
Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Toby is currently responsible for issues relating to innovation
and national competitiveness. He shares responsibility for monitoring several key science policy issues for
AAU including export controls, technology transfer, and costs of research among other things. Prior to joining
the AAU in January 2003, Toby was the Director of Federal Relations for Research for the University of
Michigan. From 1992-1999 he served as Federal Relations Representative and Assistant Director of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Washington D.C. Office. From 1988 to 1992, Tobin served as a
legislative assistant to Congressman Bob Traxler (D-Michigan). Representing universities, Toby has developed
and coordinated university federal relations activities and legislative and executive branch strategies across a
wide range of science policy issues. He has also maintained regular interactions with key policy makers on
Capitol Hill, in the White House and within the federal science and research agencies including the NIH, NSF,
NASA, and the Departments of Energy, Defense and Homeland Security. Toby has written and spoken widely
on science policy and funding issues. He is a regular contributor to the AAAS Intersociety Working Group
Annual Report on the R&D budget having written or co-written the NSF chapter for the last four years. He is
the co-author of a soon to be published book, Beyond Sputnik – National Science Policy in the 21st Century,
expected to be released by the University of Michigan Press early next year. He especially enjoys speaking to
scientists and engineers about how they can more effectively work and communicate with members of
Congress. He holds a Masters Degree in Arts of Legislative Affairs from George Washington University, and a
Bachelor Degree in General Studies from the University of Michigan.
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David Verardo, National Science Foundation
Dave is currently the Director of the Paleoclimate Program in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences at the
National Science Foundation. He has held this position for the last seven years. Previously, Dave was Deputy
Director for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Land Use, Land-Use
Change, and Forestry; AAAS Congressional Science Fellow in the Office of US Senator Ron Wyden; and
Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. Dave
served for six years in the US Coast Guard. Dave holds a PhD in Earth & Environmental Sciences from the City
University of New York and a BA in Geology from Long Island University. He is currently completing a JD
from Concord Law School.