Category Archives: STEM Policy

What Representative Lamar Smith Is Really Trying to Do at NSF – ScienceInsider

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Essential reading: What Representative Lamar Smith Is Really Trying to Do at NSF – ScienceInsider. The real question is whether an ‘extra layer’ of accountability is necessary. Before adding more government red tape, it would be better to ask NSF … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, NSF, STEM Policy, US Science Agencies | 1 Comment

Not Safe for Funding: The N.S.F. and the Economics of Science : The New Yorker

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Aside from the inherent interest of all things having to do with NSF merit review … what, that’s not just us CSID folks, is it? … anyway, there’s also some really interesting stuff about what motivates scientists in this article. … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Future of the University, Metrics, NSF, Peer Review, STEM Policy, Transformative Research, US Science Agencies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Humanity 2.0: What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future | LSE Review of Books

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Francis Remedios offers his review of Steve Fuller’s Humanity 2.0. Book Review: Humanity 2.0: What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future | LSE Review of Books.

Posted in Economics & STEM Research, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy, TechnoScience & Technoscientism, Transformative Research | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Communities of Integration Workshop – Field Philosophy

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

I’m very pleased to be attending the upcoming workshop at Arizona State on “Communities of Integration” at the invitation of Erik Fisher of STIR fame. You can get a sneak peak at the developing website, including our contribution on Field … Continue reading →

Posted in Future of the University, Gas Fracking, institutionalizing interdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, Metrics, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy, Transdisciplinarity | Tagged | 1 Comment

Holdren Attacks House Bill, Defends NSF’s Grant Selection Process – ScienceInsider

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Holdren Attacks House Bill, Defends NSF’s Grant Selection Process – ScienceInsider.

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Future of the University, Metrics, NSF, Peer Review, STEM Policy, US Science Agencies | Leave a comment

Developing nations should avoid ‘slow science’ – SciDev.Net

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Developing nations should avoid ‘slow science’ – SciDev.Net. Worth reading, even if you disagree.

Posted in Metrics, STEM Policy, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

The ‘Broader Impacts’ of Sequestration on Science

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Keith Brown

CSID Director Bob Frodeman has some suggestions about the interconnection of research & society in post-austerity world. Now that we’ve been driven off the “fiscal cliff,” perhaps we should look around and assess the results. It turns out that sequestration … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Economics & STEM Research, Public Pedagogy, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Subcommittee Reviews NSF’s FY 2014 Budget Request | Democrats -Committee on Science, Space and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Links on NSF Merit Review hearing: Subcommittee Reviews NSF’s FY 2014 Budget Request | Democrats -Committee on Science, Space and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives. http://science.house.gov/press-release/subcommittee-reviews-nsf-budget-explores-ways-improve-grant-approval-process http://science.house.gov/hearing/research-subcommittee-hearing-overview-national-science-foundation-budget-fiscal-year-2014 http://science.edgeboss.net/wmedia/science/sst2013/RS041713.wvx        

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Economics & STEM Research, NSF, Peer Review, STEM Policy, US Science Agencies | Leave a comment

NSF Peer Review Under Scrutiny by House Science Panel – ScienceInsider

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

John Holdren to Science House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology: “I think it’s a dangerous thing for Congress, or anybody else, to be trying to specify in detail what types of fundamental research NSF should be funding.” NSF Peer … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Future of the University, NSF, Peer Review, STEM Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Exchange on Holbrook and Briggle’s “Knowing and Acting”, Briggle, Fuller, Holbrook and Lipinska « Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Exchange on Holbrook and Briggle’s “Knowing and Acting”, Briggle, Fuller, Holbrook and Lipinska « Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective.

Posted in CSID Publications, Philosophy & Politics, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Knowing and acting: The precautionary and proactionary principles in relation to policy making, J. Britt Holbrook and Adam Briggle « Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

The Social Epistemology Review and Reply collective is now hosting preprints: Knowing and acting: The precautionary and proactionary principles in relation to policy making, J. Britt Holbrook and Adam Briggle « Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective. Yes! Adam and … Continue reading →

Posted in CSID Publications, Gas Fracking, Innovation, Open Access, STEM Policy, TechnoScience & Technoscientism, Transdisciplinarity | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The price of innovation – thoughts from Beyond the PDF | Impact of Social Sciences

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

The price of innovation – thoughts from Beyond the PDF | Impact of Social Sciences.

Posted in Accountability, Future of the University, Libraries, Metrics, Open Access, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy | Leave a comment

Broader Impacts of the Fact that NASA Suspends All Education and Public Outreach Update – NASA Watch

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Effective immediately, all education and public outreach activities should be suspended, pending further review. In terms of scope, this includes all public engagement and outreach events, programs, activities, and products developed and implemented by Headquarters, Mission Directorates, and Centers across … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Economics & STEM Research, Metrics, NASA, NSF, Public Pedagogy, STEM Policy, US Science Agencies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Open Access, the Impact Agenda and resistance to the neoliberal paradigm | Impact of Social Sciences

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Yesterday’s post introduced the context of neoliberalism as the backdrop of change in higher education. Here Martin Eve provides further clarification of the neoliberal context, linking the impact agenda under the Research Excellence Framework as a key trait of a privatised … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Economics & STEM Research, Future of the University, Libraries, Metrics, Open Access, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Tagged | Leave a comment

SRA International :: Sequestration Resource

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

SRA International :: About SRA International.

Posted in Accountability, Basic News, Economics & STEM Research, Future of the University, STEM Policy | Leave a comment

Five habits of great students: Lessons from top-ranked STEM school | WSJ

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Kelli Barr

I like this piece from the WSJ. The authors are a world history and an English teacher at the top-ranked high school for STEM education. They identify five habits of their most successful students: 1) frequent reading in a variety of subjects … Continue reading →

Posted in Interdisciplinarity, STEM Policy | 1 Comment

Does technological liberation have to come at a price?

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Kelli Barr

A good read from Evgeny Morozov at the WSJ: Are Smart Gadgets Making Us Dumb? Once we step into this magic space, we are surrounded by video cameras that recognize whatever ingredients we hold in our hands. Tiny countertop robots inform … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment

Conservatives declare war on college – Salon.com

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Good insight from Andrew Leonard: For many conservatives, the humanities departments of public universities are bastions of the “tenured left” busily brainwashing the young people of America into godless socialist postmodernism. They’d much rather for-profit corporations were in charge of … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Economics & STEM Research, Future of the University, Open Access, STEM Policy | Leave a comment

Institutions starting to walk the Broader Impacts walk

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Kelli Barr

CSID’s own Robert Frodeman is slated to keynote an upcoming Broader Impacts Infrastructure Summit. This summit marks the first of its kind for its focus on institutional infrastructure, primarily at universities and colleges, to support faculty and staff in coordinating, … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Conferences Upcoming, NSF, STEM Policy | 1 Comment

What are the goalposts for science, and why should we care?

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Kelli Barr

I recently ran across this analysis by Dan Hind in Al Jazeera. It’s a delighfully cogent summary of the main drivers of the scientific enterprise: unaccountable power in the form of national and corporate investment, which determines to a large … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Economics & STEM Research, STEM Policy | Leave a comment

“The Individual and Scholarly Networks” webinar: Notes from the not-so-underground philosopher

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Kelli Barr

My initial reaction is that the single-day webinar in which I presented on Tuesday (and in which I was the only humanist – !) was a success. Excepting some minor and very intermittent technical difficulties with sound and visual, the presenters … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Future of the University, Metrics, Open Access, Peer Review, Public Philosophizing, STEM Policy, Transdisciplinarity | Leave a comment

“The Individual and Scholarly Networks” — Research Trends Webinar

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Just finished listening to this webinar, in which CSID’s own Kelli Barr participated as a presenter. One of the most interesting aspects of the webinar was the discussion of the use of new ways for the individual researcher to extend … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Future of the University, Metrics, Open Access, Peer Review, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy | 1 Comment

Is NSF’s ‘Product’ Category a Finished Product? – Science Careers

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

Science Careers weighs in on NSF’s recent changes to the Grant Proposal Guide: Is NSF’s ‘Product’ Category a Finished Product? – Science Careers – Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Faculty, Postdoc jobs on Science Careers. Interesting take on what counts as a ‘product’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Broader Impacts, NSF, Peer Review, STEM Policy, Transformative Research, US Science Agencies | Leave a comment

John Kay – London’s rise from sewer to spectacle

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

John Kay – London’s rise from sewer to spectacle. On the limits of cost-benefit analysis.

Posted in Accountability, Metrics, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Don’t Underestimate NSF’s New Grant-Submission Rules – Manage Your Career – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Britt Holbrook

I left a comment* about one point I take issue with; but this is a good article, with lots of good advice. Don’t Underestimate NSF’s New Grant-Submission Rules – Manage Your Career – The Chronicle of Higher Education. * Just … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, NSF, Peer Review, STEM Policy | Leave a comment