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Arizona State University Is New Home to Science and Technology Policy Consortium

Posted on: Thursday, 12 February 2004, 06:00 CST

TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- Arizona State University is the new headquarters for the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO), a science policy organization launched by ASU President Michael Crow when he was at Columbia University.

The consortium, which was founded in 1998, creates knowledge, cultivates public discourse and fosters policies to help decision makers and institutions grapple with the power and importance of science and technology as society charts a course for the future.

Throughout his career, Crow's academic and professional experience has focused on science and technology policy. He is deeply committed to transforming academic research from disinterested inquiry to research with a purpose.

"The social outcome of research is not always considered in an academic culture that regards knowledge as an end in itself," Crow said. "At ASU, we are committed to setting the standard for conducting use inspired research, and with the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes headquartered here we are better equipped to assess and guide our ambitious science and technology initiatives in that regard."

Dan Sarewitz, director of CSPO since it's founding, said the consortium will continue its science policy analysis with ASU's major science and technology initiatives at the forefront.

"There's a tremendous amount of interest at ASU in considering the societal implications of its leading edge research and technology programs," Sarewitz said. "Bringing the consortium to ASU offers an opportunity for integrating technology assessment and frontier research, which nobody else is doing anywhere."

Sarewitz says Arizona is a prime example of what science has allowed humans to accomplish. Over the last 75 years, technological innovation has made metropolitan life in the desert possible, but at tremendous cost to the area's ecological and socio-political traditions. CSPO recognizes that these sorts of problems, which are among the most important practical and moral challenges of our day, are in part, problems of science and technology policy.

"Our need to preserve an environment that facilitates both economic vitality and a sustainable high quality of life compels us to better understand this confluence of issues," Sarewitz added. "CSPO aims to create knowledge and ideas, and to foster discourse and policies that aim to confront some of these challenges."

CSPO will cultivate strong collaborative relations among interested ASU faculty (including two new faculty hires) in natural and social sciences, while building a consortium of universities, foundations and other organizations involved in science policy. Other initial goals include enhancing and broadening graduate IGERT curriculum for science graduate students, developing a symposium program for the ASU community and developing internship and post-doctoral programs in science policy.

Sarewitz's work has focused on understanding and strengthening the connections between scientific research and social benefit. He is the author of several books, including "Frontiers of Illusion: Science, Technology and the Politics of Progress" (1996) and he recently collaborated on "Living with the Genie: Essays on Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery" (2003). He has written many other articles, speeches and reports about the relationship between science and social progress.

Sarewitz begins his appointment with ASU on April 1.

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