The President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST), created in 2001 to advise the President on science, technology, and innovation issues, draws its membership from the private sector and academia. PCAST met on July 11 for forward-looking presentations and lively discussions about Research with Societal Impacts: Climate Resilience and Expanding STEM Talent in the Federal Workforce (Meeting Agenda).
Drs. Idowu Ajibade, Emory University; Amy McGovern, University of Oklahoma; and Dawn Wright, ESRI delivered compelling and complimentary presentations about the opportunities and challenges of convergence science. Speakers agreed that addressing big, societal impacts require convergence research. They provided examples from their work including big steps forward using AI to forecast and mitigate consequences of extreme weather and local impacts and engaging risk communication scientists interviewing end users to make guidance trustworthy.
The enthusiasm was tempered by the complexity of reducing existing silos, addressing epistemic inequities, reducing structural biases built into knowledge production systems and frameworks, and embracing intentionally disruptive approaches.
Speakers and PCAST members called for increasing the investment in social sciences, declaring that the solutions will come from these disciplines. Recognizing that “Data does not change things, people do,” speakers underscored the need for increasing the supply of behavioral and social scientists trained and interested in collaborating with interdisciplinary teams including natural and biological scientists.
PCAST member and psychologist, Dr. Jennifer Richeson, Yale asked presenters to suggest ways to encourage and cultivate convergence research on the teams from the beginning, while the research questions are still being developed? Ajibade pointed to the role of federal funders requiring social and behavioral leads of multidisciplinary teams. She also raised the importance of finding common language and assumptions, explaining that the process of learning and working together takes time and funding upfront. McGovern identified different timelines as a barrier – working with humans takes a lot more time than testing a new AI model. McGovern also encouraged developing pathways from academia to federal government and industry, stating that there are no real mechanisms in place. This was a perfect segue to the second portion on the meeting.
Expanding STEM Talent in the Federal Workforce. PCAST member and working group cochair Dr. Dan Arvizu, Former Chancellor/President, New Mexico State University System, shared highlights and recommendations from the report Expanding STEM Talent in the Federal Workforce.
Arvizu explained the critical role of the federal government to support and train a future STEM workforce, calling for innovation and creativity. The following six recommendations were approved by the Council.
- Adopt Office of Personnel Management (OPM) pilots for hiring flexibility.
- OPM should modernize STEM recruiting and accelerate hiring processes.
- Federal agencies should “ambitiously” expand use of OPM’s Pathways Program.
- The government should “lower barriers” for detailing seasoned experts to agencies, particularly at the Pentagon.
- Each agency should designate an executive leader to spearhead the recruitment and retention of the STEM workforce.
- OPM should create a repository to share successful initiatives and best practices for bolstering the Federal STEM workforce governmentwide.
FABBS will be thinking about these recommendations and working to support them, particularly as they relate to increasing the number of behavioral and cognitive scientists across the federal government.
