Our efforts were recently mentioned in an editorial in Nature:
Election year offers a chance for scientists who aspire to a direct role in the political process to make their voices heard. Prompted by seven years of what they see as manipulation of scientific findings by the Bush administration, groups are trying to raise the profile of science in the upcoming campaign. An organization called Scientists and Engineers for America plans to launch a project tracking the science- and health-related votes of all members of Congress, plus challengers for their seats as well as the presidential candidates. Meanwhile, dozens of prominent scientific leaders have mounted a push for a 'Science Debate 2008', calling for a candidates' debate on science and technology issues. It's a laudable idea, and even if the prospects of such a debate are rather remote, the campaign can play a useful role in raising the profile of important issues as the election unfolds. For it is now -- while candidates are striving to win their respective party nominations -- that their priorities, preferences and policy teams will be forged. Many researchers, of all political stripes, are deeply troubled by what they regard as the dysfunctional relationship between science and the outgoing Bush administration. There is a better chance of a more fruitful relationship arising next time round if scientists get involved early with the candidates, and with the energetic, nationwide public debate that already characterizes this most intense and open of primary seasons.
Meanwhile, here's just a sampling of the many new signatories that came in over the holidays:
Eric Chivian, Director, Center For Health And The Global Environment, Harvard Medical School; co-founder, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Nobel Peace Prize, 1985 Judith Curry, Chair, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology Vernon Ellingstad, Director, Office of Research and Engineering, National Transportation Safety Board Ira Flatow, Executive Producer and Host, Science Friday Kevin Finneran, Editor-in-Chief, Issues in Science and Technology Mauri Katz, Former Director, U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Defense Program Laboratories Eric Lander, Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; first author of the Human Genome Project; one of TIME's 100 most influential people of our time (2004) Russell Lefevre, President, IEEE-USA, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Martin Peretz, Editor-in-Chief, The New Republic Richard Schrock, Frederick G. Keyes Professor Of Chemistry, M.I.T.; Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2005 Lesley Stone, Executive Director, Scientists and Engineers for America
Momentum continues to grow....
