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BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY The Relationship Between Policy and Research in National Laboratories, Universities, Government, and Industry November 1–2, 2003 Rice University Houston, Texas Hosted by: Rice University Department of Physics and Astronomy James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Los Alamos National Laboratory National Science Foundation Organized by: Rosina Bierbaum, University of Michigan James Cohen, Los Alamos National Laboratory Lee Collins, Los Alamos National Laboratory Barry Dunning, Rice University TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 7 Neal Lane, Civic Scientist and Mentor 9 Conference Agenda 15 Executive Summary 19 ENERGY John P. Holdren 41 Energy and the Human Condition Discussion 58 Energy and the Environment Science Panel Warren Washington 60 Modeling Future Climate Change Michael C. MacCracken 65 Uncertainties: How Little Do We Really Understand? Rosina Bierbaum 71 A Matter of Degrees Robert White 79 Climate Science, Technology, and Politics: A Tangled Web Richard Anthes 82 Equity, International Dimensions, and the Role of International Science Discussion 86 Energy and the Environment Technology Panel Henry Kelly 92 Energy Efficiency Larry Papay 101 The Energy Supply-Side Challenge: Barriers to Innovation for Renewables, DG, and Base Load Technologies Thomas Meyer 108 Fuel Cells: Timing and Limits to the Transition to a Hydrogen Economy William Wulf 112 The Gap Between Information Technology and Policy Richard Smalley 116 Our Energy Challenge Discussion 121 Ernest Moniz 124 Nuclear Energy and Security Discussion 132 Nuclear Security Panel Anita Jones 135 Expertise, Literacy, and the Capacity of a Nation Gregory Canavan 140 Raymond Juzaitis 148 Discussion 154 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY John Marburger III 161 Science Policy for the 21st Century Discussion 171 Science and Technology Policty Advice in Government H. Guyford Stever 176 Allan Bromley 179 John Gibbons 183 Neal Lane 187 Discussion 191 Edward P. Djerejian 195 Oil, the Middle East, and the U.S. Response, Post-September 11: A Push for Energy Breakthroughs EDUCATION AND TECHNICAL WORKFORCE Shirley Malcom 203 Education for a World Based on Science and Technology Discussion 214 Education and Technology Workforce Panel Duncan Moore 217 Science Education and Technical Workforce Thomas Kalil 223 Joseph Bordogna 228 Bruce Alberts 231 Science Education: The Challenges Ahead Discussion 239 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Norman P. Neureiter 245 International Cooperation International Panel Mildred Dresselhaus 258 Houston "Terry" Hawkins 262 Frederick Bernthal 267 Discussion 272 Acknowledgements 277 In Memoriam 279 Index 281 INTRODUCTION James Cohen and Rosina Bierbaum On November 1–2, 2003, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy along with Rice University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and Los Alamos National Laboratory convened a two-day workshop titled “Bridging the Gap between Science and Society: The Relationship between Policy and Research in National Laboratories, Universities, Gov- ernment, and Industry.” This unique event brought together more than 30 top scientists and policy experts to discuss critical issues of energy and related science and technology policy. This manuscript was produced to capture the presentations and discussions that took place at this conference. The speakers and panelists were asked to present their views dur- ing the conference as well as assist with the editing of their specific sections of the finished manuscript. The manuscript is not a literal transcript of the conference and many of the introductory remarks were not captured, but we hope that the spirit and intent of all the talks are reflected here. In addition, the views expressed in these talks are those of the in- dividuals and do not necessarily represent the view of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy or the other sponsoring organizations. Both the book and the conference are dedicated to Neal Lane. As you will read in the elo- quently written foreword, Neal Lane is a “civic scientist” and has had a substantial impact in both physics and public policy. We felt it was appropriate to organize this conference on some important aspects of science policy to encourage other scientists to engage in policy activities and to inform the general public about the positive public impacts of science in our society. The talks and comments captured in this volume had a similar goal, to insure that science brings solutions to the world’s problems. In addition, we would like to acknowledge Amy Jaffe and Kirstin Matthews for their work organizing and producing the materials in the manuscript. Without their efforts, this book would not have seen fruition. James Cohen is the Group Leader for the Theoretical Division of the Atomic and Optical Theory Group (T-4) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Rosina Bierbaum is the Dean of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. NEAL LANE, CIVIC SCIENTIST AND MENTOR Michael A. Morrison His scientific life broadened into a life of public service that caused him to put all his knowledge and skills to work for the improvement of society. – Neal Lane, “Benjamin Franklin, Civic Scientist’’ (2003) You are about to read a remarkable collection of essays. Each essay evolved from a talk its author presented during an intensive two-day conference held during November, 2003 at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy on the campus of Rice Univer- sity in Houston. The authors comprise a veritable Who’s Who of leaders in the branches of the federal government that are responsible for the health of science and technology in America. Several traits unite these essays. First, each essay addresses an urgent global problem. Here you will read about energy, the environment, nuclear security, the escalating sci- entific illiteracy of the public, and more. Second, each essay addresses issues at the turbulent interface between science and public policy. And third, each essay addresses a major concern of the remarkable man in whose honor this conference was held, Neal Lane. The authors of these essays acknowledge, directly or indirectly, the contributions Neal made to public policy during his recent tenure in Washington: first, from October 1993 to August 1998, as Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF); then, from August 1998 to January 2001, as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Di- rector of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. I want to introduce you to Neal as I know him, to the Neal Lane these essays will not tell you about. Attendees at the Rice Conference got a glimpse of the “other” Neal Lane during a raucous post-dinner roast masterfully presented by Peet Hickman, a faculty member at Lehigh University. Like Peet, James Cohen and Lee Collins of the Los Alamos National Laboratory—the driving forces behind the conception and realization of this 10 • BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY conference—were students of theoretical physics in Neal’s graduate research group in the Rice Physics Department long before Neal left the academy for Washington. I, too, was one of the lucky few in that group. Neal trained graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at Rice from 1966 to 1984. He had come to Rice, via a postdoctoral appointment at Queen’s University, Belfast, after getting his doctorate in 1964 from the University of Oklahoma. A native of the state, Neal spent his undergraduate and graduate years at Oklahoma, where, among his many accomplishments, he wooed and won his wife and partner Joni—who did almost as much as Neal to help us students survive the rigors of graduate training. Raised by parents who loved learning, Neal seemed born with a hunger for knowledge, a passion for learning, and a knack for explaining what he knew to others. After discovering while an undergraduate that, as he puts it, his “experimental skills were wanting,” Neal turned to theoretical physics and joined the research group of Prof. Chun Lin, who is now a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin. Luckily for Neal, his wife Joni also loved computing and helped with his research during his graduate, postdoctoral, and early faculty years. Armed with a solid background in physics and mathematics, a visionary commitment to education as necessary concomitant to research, and a talented and computationally literate wife, Neal entered the academy and set up the group of students I later joined. In those early years Neal focused, as must all newly-minted university faculty, on honing his skills as a teacher and forging his career as a scientist. In courses that ranged from the canonical and vital “Physics for Poets” to the archetypical arcana of advanced gradu- ate specialty classes, he rapidly earned a campus-wide reputation as a witty, caring, and demanding teacher. In his research on the theoretical physics of atoms and molecules, he earned an international reputation as a careful and insightful scientist. (On cam- pus, Neal’s reputation as a scientist included his knack for devising thesis problems that turned out to be vastly more difficult than they initially seemed.) From 1962 to 1994 Neal, his collaborators, and his students wrote 105 refereed research papers that were published in the premier journals of professional physics. These papers, which reported research on such topics as ion collisions in plasmas, the physics of liquid helium, and collisions of low-energy electrons with molecules present in planetary atmospheres, rep- resent an important contribution to our ever-growing base of knowledge about the physi- cal universe and to exigent technologies such as lasers and potential sources of energy based on nuclear fusion. CIVIC SCIENTIST AND MENTOR • 11 What was it like to work for Neal? It was really hard. I once overheard Neal reveal a bit more about himself than he may have intended. A student in his freshman course for non-physics majors asked him how she could do well on an upcoming exam.

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