Global collaboration key for US, says Obama’s Science Director-designate

President Obama’s move to focus on “science as economic saviour” stalled this week when the appointment of key advisors was put on hold. But there is still optimism about the impact the new administration will have on innovation, the economy and international collaboration.

Only a week ago, the Obama administration’s innovation agenda appeared to be marching ahead. With the senate confirmation hearings on presidential science director-nominee John Holdren and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator-nominee Jane Lubchenco complete, their appointments were expected to be completed by the end of February. Then earlier this week, a hold was put on the confirmations for apparently unrelated political reasons.

The politics must be sorted out, but scientists and others remain hopeful about the impact Holdren, Lubchenco and other of President Obama’s science appointees will make on innovation and the economy, and on international collaboration.

Holdren, the Harvard University professor who is director-designate of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), an Executive Office of the President, told his confirmation hearing last month that international collaboration, especially on big science projects including climate issues, will be a key part of his plan.

The hearing also included Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University professor of marine biology and nominee for Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who is expected to lead the administration’s full-hearted engagement in climate change.

But despite being armed with new monies from the recently passed US economic stimulus package, and a well-heeled panel of scientist nominees receiving an overall positive reception by the US Congress, the Obama administration remains cautious about its innovation agenda, continuing to emphasise that change will not happen overnight.

The stimulus package and budget contain funding for both shorter-term projects that are aimed at boosting jobs and productivity, for example moving toward standardised electronic patient records that could reform healthcare and help with drug development, to longer-term goals like environmental sustainability.                 

Science and technology need an international view

Holdren made it clear in his hearing that science and technology are important for civilian and economic uses and for national security. And both require an international view, he said.  

OSTP is responsible for international research partnerships in science and the technologies needed to address challenges that can only be surmounted by multilateral collaborations, such as climate change, oil-import vulnerabilities, and the condition of the world’s oceans. “The cost and complexity of cutting-edge accelerators, telescopes, and certain experimental energy technologies, such as the ITER fusion experiment, are good reasons in themselves for sharing the costs and risks internationally,” said Holdren, noting that he has been involved in international cooperation on fusion and other energy technologies since 1971. “If confirmed by the Senate I will be most eager to put the insights derived from that experience to good use in OSTP.”

Until Holdren is confirmed, he and fellow nominees Eric Lander, a geneticist at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus, president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, have been quiet about the specifics of their plans. But Holdren did give general insights about his priorities to the committee.

“US scientific leadership requires both creating an environment that encourages private investment in research and development while maintaining strong and balanced federal research programmes that support the promising areas of R&D that are too far from obvious application, too uncertain in outcome, too costly, or too related to public as opposed to private goods to attract private funding,” he said.

Holdren also emphasised the importance of the sustainability and predictability of the federal investment in science and engineering, saying, “The boom and bust cycles that have characterised much federal support in these domains over the past 40 years are inefficient and disruptive of scientific progress.”

In concert with helping to nurture R&D in general, OSTP has an important function in promoting the translation of R&D results into new products and services that benefit Americans through widespread application. “This country has long demonstrated a high capacity for turning novel ideas into new businesses and improved services in domains ranging from medical diagnostics, to instant access to information, to entertainment. Fostering this capacity for translating science and technology into widespread benefit will be crucial in rebuilding our economy as well in addressing our most pressing challenges in energy, environment, health, and national security,” said Holdren.

Turning challenge to opportunity

Holdren noted the US clearly faces immense challenges in the economic, environmental, health, and security domains, among others. But, he said, “It is equally clear that science and technology can be key ingredients in turning those challenges into opportunities.”

Science is on the threshold of remarkable new discoveries about the universe, about how the planet and its living systems work, and about how humans learn, think, and remember. “And we are on the verge of huge advances in computing and other information systems, in biotech, in nanotech, in greentech, and in the intersection of these domains.”

Gaining consensus

Holdren, 64, is seen by some as an environmental alarmist whose disaster predictions haven’t come true. But colleagues have said he is someone who can gain consensus on important activities and get things done. He also is known to take strong positions, even on controversial topics. Holdren is credited with building the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. His predictions about global warming were shown in charts and graphs and reportedly helped ex-Vice President Al Gore in his award-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” He won a MacArthur Foundation genius fellowship in 1981, served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006, and was a guest professor at Tsinghua University in China in 2008. His work has focused on causes and consequences of global environmental change, analysis of energy technologies and policies, ways to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and materials, and the interaction of content and process in science and technology policy.

As the president’s top scientific advisor, Holdren will manage a staff of about 60 people. His primary function as the OSTP director is to provide advice on the scientific, engineering, and technological aspects of issues that require attention at the highest level of government.

The OSTP also is a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the president for major policies, plans, and programs of the federal government. The OSTP director also manages the National Science and Technology Council, and co-chairs the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.