Global warming. Alternative energy. New pharmaceuticals. The next wave of technology. Many of today's big policy debates center on science.
The key to getting the most from those debates is to arm policy makers with the scientific knowledge needed to distinguish valid arguments from poorly researched claims.
Yet very few members of today's Congress have backgrounds in science or science-related fields. A more diversified Congress could offer a more diversified, and possibly more discerning, look at scientific issues.
At least that's what the advocacy group Scientists and Engineers for America, or SEA, thinks. The group has launched a campaign to give you more chances to vote for representatives who have technical and scientific expertise to bring to these deliberations.
"Scientists and engineers can help the government understand the language of some of the most important issues of our time. They can be a bridge between science and politics. They have a valuable way of thinking--of making decisions based on facts," says Lesley Stone, SEA executive director. Stone goes into more detail in the upcoming print issue of symmetry; you can read an advance copy of her commentary now.
To inject more evidence-based reasoning into policy debates, more scientists and engineers need to run for office, the SEA says. With the help of a group of scientific societies, it has launched a campaign to get scientists and engineers elected to everything from school, park and township boards to state offices and all the way up to the Congressional level.
Eight members of the current US House of Representatives have science PhDs, including three physicists. Anecdotally, Stone says, physicists seem to have made some of the largest inroads into politics at all levels.
"They are pretty into politics," she says.
To ease the transition from laboratory to campaign trail, SEA is hosting its second conference on May 10 at Georgetown University to give advice on how to register as a candidate, raise funds, and formulate campaign messages. A video unveiled last week shows politically active scientists and engineers, including Illinois State Rep. Michael Fortner, of Fermilab, offering tips and encouragement.
"If you can learn nuclear physics, you can learn politics," says Michigan Congressman Vern Ehlers, who holds a physics PhD.
SEA plans to periodically update its Web site with information on how to enter the political arena and eventually hopes scientists and engineers will write in with advice and serve as chat room mentors for novice politicians.
