News & Events

IEEE USA 2012 STEM Workshop on Measures for Innovation and Competitiveness

June 6th, 2012

CISTP and the AAAS will be co-sponsoring this event.

Conference Announcement
Conference Program
Transcript from the 2009 Conference

D. Allan Bromley Memorial Event 2012: William B. Bonvillian

5:00PM

University of Ottawa, Desmarais Building 4101

William B. Bonvillian is Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Washington, D.C. Office, where he works to support MIT's strong and historic relations with federal R&D agencies and its role in national science policy. Previously he served for seventeen years as a senior policy advisor in the U.S. Senate. His legislative efforts included science and technology policies and innovation issues, and he worked extensively on legislation for intelligence reform, defence and life science R&D, national competitiveness and innovation, as well as legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security.

About the D. Allan Bromley Memorial Event Since 2005 the University of Ottawa has collaborated with George Washington University in holding a series of annual events in memory of Dr. D. Allan Bromley. The memorial events alternate each year between Ottawa and Washington D.C. and offer an opportunity for graduate students interested in science and technology policy to meet with senior science and policy advisors in the United States and Canada. This year's event is hosted by the Institute for Science, Society and Policy.

Visit www.issp.uottawa.ca/eng/bromley for more information.

CISTP Seminar: David Alan Grier
"Crowdsource as a Tool of Diplomacy"

6:30 - 7:30pm

Lindner Family Commons
The Elliot School of International Affairs - Room 602
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

A crowdsourcing is an intriguing and highly flexible way of engaging large numbers of individuals in collective efforts. Utilizing the technologies of social media, it creates spot judgment markets that can be used to process large amounts of information. This talk will provide an introduction to the subject and will include a discussion of a current application of crowdsourcing in the US Department of State.

David Alan Grier is an associate professor of International Science and Technology Policy at the George Washington University. He is the author of three books on computation and society: When Computers Were Human (2005), Too Soon To Tell (2009) and The Company We Keep (2012). He also writes a biweekly column for The Daily Crowdsource.

RSVP at http://go.gwu.edu/2l or cistp@gwu.edu

Falling Back to Earth Book Discussion with Mark Albrecht

November 9, 2011

For more information please click here

To RSVP for the event please click here

CISTP Seminar: David Alan Grier
"Crowdsourcing and Social Computation in International Development"

5:30 - 7:00pm

Lindner Family Commons
The Elliot School of International Affairs - Room 602
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

Crowdsourcing, a form of social computation, has created global labor markets that have particular promise to developing economies. These markets have been able to engage workers who reside at great distances from centers of production, strengthen national infrastructure, and provide services to governments. This talk will discuss the basic structure of crowdsourcing, its applications to problems of development, and its potential benefits and drawbacks. The talk will take a detailed look at the use of crowdsourcing to provide emergency communications services in Haiti following the the 2008 earthquake. One of the leaders of that project, Vaughn Hester of Crowdflower will comment on the seminar via Skype.

RSVP at http://go.gwu.edu/griercrowdsourcing or cistp@gwu.edu

Conference on Adaptation to Climate Change

May 18 and 19, 2011

Organized by the Institute for International Economic Policy, the Department of Economics, and the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at GWU

In partnership with the World Bank Development Research Group and the United Nations Development Programme Environment and Energy Group (Global Environmental Finance Team)

Conference Program

Additional conference information will be posted here as it becomes available.

Allan Bromley Memorial Lecture Series 2011 - John Holdren

"Science and Technology Policy Challenges and Opportunities in the Obama Administration"

Wedensday, May 4th, 2011
5:30pm
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW

With introductory remarks by William Bonvillian, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Washington, D.C. Office.

John Holdren is Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Prior to joining the Obama administration Dr. Holdren was Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, as well as professor in Harvard's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Director of the independent, nonprofit Woods Hole Research Center. Previously he was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he co-founded in 1973 and co-led until 1996 the interdisciplinary graduate-degree program in energy and resources. During the Clinton administration Dr. Holdren served as a member of PCAST through both terms and in that capacity chaired studies requested by President Clinton on preventing theft of nuclear materials, disposition of surplus weapon plutonium, the prospects of fusion energy, U.S. energy R&D strategy, and international cooperation on energy-technology innovation.

The D. Allan Bromley Memorial Lecture. Since 2005 the University of Ottawa in cooperation with George Washington University have carried out a series of annual lectures in memory of Dr. D. Allan Bromley - a native of Westmeath, Ontario - who played a critical role in Science and Technology Policy in the United States in both the Regan and Bush Administrations. The memorial lectures offer an opportunity for graduate students focused on science and technology policy to meet with senior science and policy advisers in United States and Canada. One of the world's leading nuclear physicists, D. Allan Bromley, died on February 11, 2005. He was born in Westmeath, Ontario in 1926. Dr. Bromley was the first person to hold the Cabinet-level rank of Assistant to the President for Science and Technology from 1989 to 1993 during the first Bush administration. Prior to this Dr. Bromley sat on former President Reagan's White House Science Council. Dr. Bromley was a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a recipient of the National Medal of Science, the highest scientific distinction in the United States.

The presentation from Dr. Holdren's lecture is available here.
Link to Event Photos
Link to Event Video

T&I Seminar: István Hargittai: Judging Edward Teller

Wednesday, April 20th
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Lindner Family Commons, 6th Floor
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW

This seminar is co-sponsored by CISTP and the George Washington University Department of Physics

Additional information is available here.

István Hargittai is a physical chemist, research professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. He has been involved with molecular structure research by electron diffraction and other techniques. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Norwegian Academy of Sciences, and the Academia Europaea (London). He has honorary doctorates from Moscow State University, the University of North Carolina, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. His books include the six-volume Candid Science series of interviews with famous scientists; The Road to Stockholm; The Martians of Science; and The DNA Doctor (about J.D. Watson). His books have appeared in English, Hungarian, German, Russian, Italian, Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese.

Presentation abstract: The talk will be about the former GWU physics professor Edward Teller, a most controversial figure who continues being divisive in the community of scientists. To his supporters he was a hero of the Cold War. To his detractors he was evil personified. Between these extremes was the life of the real man. It is this real man that the presentation will be about, based on the author's new book, Judging Edward Teller: A Closer Look at One of the Most Influential Scientists of the Twentieth Century (Prometheus, Amherst, NY, 2010). The talk will be a non-technical discussion for a broad multi-disciplinary audience.