Center for Science and Technology Policy Research

The last decade has seen a growing demand by public and private decision makers for “usable” scientific information. Such information can serve decisions that have a scientific component or decisions about the structures, organizations, and priorities of science itself. An area of inquiry that seeks to meet this growing demand for information is science and technology policy research. Such research focuses on “problems” and “decisions” (or more accurately, “decision processes”) as the units of analysis with an explicit objective of providing information that is useful and relevant in decision making. It is the focus on problems and decisions that sets science and technology policy research apart from other efforts to integrate knowledge across traditional disciplines. Because problems and decisions are not bounded by any discipline or set of disciplines, science and technology policy research is necessarily integrative across the physical, social, and biological sciences (as well as other fields, including the humanities). The specific decision or problem that is the focus of inquiry dictates the sort of knowledge that is relevant to the research. The recent decade also has seen growing interest among scientists in research problems that require the input of more than just a single traditional discipline. At the same time, both public and private sector decision makers have asked the science and technology communities to provide knowledge that is more directly useful in their decision making. Science and technology policy research provides a mechanism to reconcile these two closely related – but not identical – trends. By linking integrative science with the needs of decision makers, science and technology policy research can serve a valuable role in helping the research community better focus its efforts on issues of importance to society, and decision makers can more effectively incorporate scientific and technological advances into their decision processes. Science and technology policy research depends critically upon cutting edge research in a variety of fields – climatology, hydrology, geography, sociology, economics, political science, etc. It also depends upon innovative approaches to multidisciplinary research in order to integrate knowledge from these areas in a way that directly contributes useful information to decision makers. An explicit focus on science and technology policy research can contribute needed expertise and perspective in the quest for scientific and technical knowledge usable by decision makers.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE CENTER

The Center for Science and Technology Policy Research was initiated within CIRES at the University of Colorado-Boulder in the summer of 2001 as a contribution to both the CIRES theme “promoting science in service to society” and the University’s vision of establishing research and outreach across traditional academic boundaries. Our long-term vision is to become a center of excellence in the research community and a national and international leader in research, teaching, and outreach in science and technology policy research, and more specifically in the areas of science policy, technology policy, and technology assessment. To work toward this vision the Center has adopted the following as its mission statement: The recent decade has seen growing interest among scientists in investigating research problems that require the input of more than just a single traditional discipline. At the same time, decision makers in both public and private settings have asked the science and technology communities to provide knowledge that is more directly usable in their decision making. Science and technology policy research provides a mechanism to reconcile these two closely related - but not identical - trends. By linking integrative science with the needs of decision makers, science and technology policy research can serve a valuable role in helping the research community better focus its efforts on issues of importance to society, and in helping decision makers to effectively incorporate scientific and technological advances into their decision processes. The mission of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research is research and education at the interface of science and decision making.

RESEARCH

The Center’s research is highly integrated with the ongoing activities of CIRES, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University, and the broader science and technology community. Each of these areas is described below:

• Science policy. The traditional scholarly interest in science policy has for many years been captured by the phrases "science for policy" and "policy for science." The Center will explore how scientific information is linked to decision making and will also examine governance of the scientific enterprise with topics that range from broad federal government resource allocation issues to the practice of peer review.
• Technology policy. Technology policy refers to the interrelationship of government, academia, and the private sector, and their shared goal of enhancing economic vitality through the transfer of knowledge to useful products and processes. Technology policy research seeks to understand these relationships and to develop, evaluate, and critique them.
• Technology assessment. Technology assessment seeks to integrate knowledge of technological systems with their broader social and policy context as a contribution to the governance of science and technology. Decisions about how to allocate finite (and frequently scarce) resources can be made more effectively when decision makers consider integrated understandings of technology in society.

EDUCATION

In partnership with University departments in the social and physical sciences, law, humanities, engineering, and other areas, the Center seeks to develop a pedagogical presence at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Courses that the Center has or may participate in include focused seminars in policy research and methodology, crossdisciplinary courses in science policy, and topical courses designed to focus on the specific science and technology policy research issues of particular relevance to certain disciplines. The Center is developing internship programs that involve partners in both public and private settings, as well as a visitor program that brings people from those settings into the University environment. The Center will pay particular attention to issues of diversity – both in traditional and non-traditional terms – in its activities as it seeks to bring together people and communities in ways that cross traditional boundaries.

OUTREACH

The Center emphasizes outreach to the academic community and to private and public decision makers. It works closely with CIRES and University public outreach and education efforts. The Center seeks to make extensive use of the WWW in its outreach and community-building efforts. In January 2002 the Center initiated a newsletter – called Ogmius -- that includes an exchange among leading voices in the science and technology policy community, updates on Center projects and websites, recent Center publications, web and media resources, information about educational and other science and technology policy opportunities and meetings, and other news and information of interest to the community. It sponsors several email list-servs and leads a monthly forum for graduate students and early career scientists interested in science and technology policy that features a guest speaker.