Local Science Engagement Network Community

@Robin Oliverio @Brooke Eastman @Kate Dickerson @Natasha DeLeon-Rodriguez @Greer Arthur @Faith Bowman @Douglas Rao @Barrett-Anne Briggs

What are your ideas about how science can improve your local community?

Leaders on the local and state levels make decisions every day that aim to solve problems and create opportunities. Many issues facing policy, civic, and community leaders could benefit from science facts and analyses that support informed decision making.

What are the issues in your community, or state, that would benefit from more science information? Which leaders would you want to work with to elevate the use of science in informing local policies and programs? 

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Dan Barry
Associate Director, LSEN Engagement
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Washington DC
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I live in St. Louis, MO.  As a community we have some real issues with radioactive waste materials and continued secrecy around the details of open air tests conducted in the 1950s and 60s without informed consent.  We would benefit greatly by actually being able to have more transparency about historical research. The previous behavior of scientists and corporations engaged in research have created real distrust for the process of science and governmentally funded research, even as the new geospacial center (N2W) is being built across the street from where the former Pruitt-Igoe housing project used to stand.

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Margaret Weck
retired
Not currently employed
Saint Louis MO
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By creating a network that bridges the gaps between scientists, policy leaders, and community members, we will be able to improve communication, advance knowledge, and enhance decision making to lead to improvements in all aspects of society. When science is left out, there will always be repercussions. As scientists and community leaders, it is our job to make sure we work together and develop a network the general public can trust. A key community issue that would be of scientific benefit in West Virginia would be addressing the overwhelming distrust in community leaders and scientists with the hope that individuals would gather trust in order to have a better understanding of various environmental, health, etc. issues and make better individual decisions. 

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Barrett-Anne Briggs
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The Kentucky Academy of Science has a Science Policy Committee that is doing our best to follow state legislation and advocate where we can bring more science into the legislative process. Here's how some of our members responded to this question:

• Could there be a AAAS representative as a resource for us? There are certain issues where we don't have a local member with expertise on a topic that comes up, so it would be good to know where we can look outside of our in-state network (e..g. Every year there are a lot of bills related to health & medical issues and we'd like helpers on those topics; Right now there are initiatives on nuclear energy and medical cannabis, and there aren't many experts in our state on those issues.)

• There is quite a lot of state-level legislation in recent years swiping at public education. We have seen research showing that private / charter schools do not outperform in STEM, and we also know that data about K12 STEM performance can get skewed. As scientists in higher education, we want to ensure that public schools don't lose funding thereby exacerbating an existing teacher shortage crisis-- higher ed. faculty want to make sure ALL incoming students have gotten a solid STEM education. There are not many voices on this topic and scientists could be more vocal.

• In our state, very little STEM-focused legislation is being introduced proactively, and those bills are not getting hearings. Our organization is in a reactive position.

• We know there are state issues getting cut & pasted  and others are specific to Ky. We love the MOST website & library but we don't know where else to go to see how other state level organizations are responding to these "cut & paste" issues

• With a new EPSCoR landscape in place, there is a huge effort in Kentucky to understand implications & pivot so that we can continue to get support for fantastic research here and make that support available in more institutions.

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Amanda Fuller
Louisville KY
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Hi Amanda,

I live and work in West Virginia, at West Virginia University. We have a science and technology policy initiative called Bridge that is building a library of Science and Technology Notes similar to MOST's. It will be up soon at this site https://scitechpolicy.com  

Also, WV and KY have a lot of similarities. I'm sure many experts here would be willing to provide guidance on topics relevant to KY. I am working on building a Local Science Engagement Network here in West Virginia currently, and would love to stay in touch.

Brooke Eastman

USDA Postdoctoral Fellow

West Virginia University

brooke.eastman@mail.wvu.edu

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Brooke Eastman
Morgantown WV
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2024 03:19 PM
From: Amanda Fuller
Subject: How can science improve your local community?

The Kentucky Academy of Science has a Science Policy Committee that is doing our best to follow state legislation and advocate where we can bring more science into the legislative process. Here's how some of our members responded to this question:

• Could there be a AAAS representative as a resource for us? There are certain issues where we don't have a local member with expertise on a topic that comes up, so it would be good to know where we can look outside of our in-state network (e..g. Every year there are a lot of bills related to health & medical issues and we'd like helpers on those topics; Right now there are initiatives on nuclear energy and medical cannabis, and there aren't many experts in our state on those issues.)

• There is quite a lot of state-level legislation in recent years swiping at public education. We have seen research showing that private / charter schools do not outperform in STEM, and we also know that data about K12 STEM performance can get skewed. As scientists in higher education, we want to ensure that public schools don't lose funding thereby exacerbating an existing teacher shortage crisis-- higher ed. faculty want to make sure ALL incoming students have gotten a solid STEM education. There are not many voices on this topic and scientists could be more vocal.

• In our state, very little STEM-focused legislation is being introduced proactively, and those bills are not getting hearings. Our organization is in a reactive position.

• We know there are state issues getting cut & pasted  and others are specific to Ky. We love the MOST website & library but we don't know where else to go to see how other state level organizations are responding to these "cut & paste" issues

• With a new EPSCoR landscape in place, there is a huge effort in Kentucky to understand implications & pivot so that we can continue to get support for fantastic research here and make that support available in more institutions.

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Amanda Fuller
Louisville KY
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