And this my friends is welcome news to scientists and the public alike. Certainly if you have been paying attention, this comes as no surprise. The news here is that Obama made this applause line at his recent visit to the National Academy of Science (NAS) last week.
text of Obama's speech to the academy
I encourage everyone, especially the scientists in our midst, to look at that speech. Like so many others that Obama has given, it gives me chills.
Obama is the first newly elected president to visit the National Academy of Sciences since John Kennedy. Since John Kennedy.... i think that pretty much says it all right there. There are so many money quotes that i just don't know where to start. So we'll start with the picture.
and a great quote
At such a difficult moment, there are those who say we cannot afford to invest in science, that support for research is somehow a luxury at moments defined by necessities. I fundamentally disagree. Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been before.
And Obama goes on to describe his initiatives, which are bold and exciting. As a scientist, I think what is most exciting to me is his encouragement to scientists to get out to the classrooms to talk to students about our work
So I want to persuade you to spend time in the classroom, talking and showing young people what it is that your work can mean, and what it means to you. I want to encourage you to participate in programs to allow students to get a degree in science fields and a teaching certificate at the same time. I want us all to think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, whether it's science festivals, robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and build and invent -- to be makers of things, not just consumers of things.
As a personal aside, this is something I have done since my oldest daughter (now 24) was in preschool and I continue to do it today. I'm referred to as the 'brain lady' as my grad students and I can frequently be found in my youngest daughters school with human brains from the anatomy lab.
Also introduced at the meeting was John Holdren, President Obama's new Science Adviser. Holdren has an editiorial in this week's Science. If you don't have a subscription you may not be able to link to it, but in the editorial he states his four challenges are
The practical challenges are: bringing S&T more fully to bear on driving economic recovery, job creation, and growth; driving the energy-technology innovation needed to reduce energy imports and climate-change risks while creating green jobs and competitive new businesses; applying advances in biomedical science and information technology together to help Americans live longer, healthier lives with reduced health care costs; and ensuring that we have the defense, homeland security, and national intelligence technologies needed to protect our troops, citizens, and national interests, and to verify the old and new arms control and nonproliferation agreements that are likewise essential to our security.
These are indeed challenges. But we're up to it. All of this is welcome news and bodes well for the future of science in our country. And since I hadn't seen a diary about the President's visit to the NAS, I thought it would be good to share. Welcome back to the 21st century!
Update: with apologies to erratic synapse who had a diary i missed on this last week.