Obama Speaks on New Education Campaign Nov. 23

Updated with video:

Duncan and Holdren:

Obama will speak on a new education campaign called Educate to Innovate at 11:40 am eastern at the White House. It will be live streamed at cnn.com and WhiteHouse.gov. At 1 pm eastern, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and John Holdren, who heads up the White House policy for science and technology (or Czar if you're a wingnut), will discuss the program. That discussion will be live streamed at WhiteHouse.gov:

President Obama will announce a campaign Monday to enlist companies and nonprofit groups to spend money, time and volunteer effort to encourage students, especially in middle and high school, to pursue science, technology, engineering and math, officials say.

The campaign, called Educate to Innovate, will focus mainly on activities outside the classroom. For example, Discovery Communications has promised to use two hours of the afternoon schedule on its Science Channel cable network for commercial-free programming geared toward middle school students.

Science and engineering societies are promising to provide volunteers to work with students in the classroom, culminating in a National Lab Day in May.

The MacArthur Foundation and technology industry organizations are giving out prizes in a contest to develop video games that teach science and math.
....
The other parts of the campaign include a two-year focus on science on “Sesame Street,” the venerable public television children’s show, and a Web site, connectamillionminds.com, set up by Time Warner Cable, that provides a searchable directory of local science activities. The cable system will contribute television time and advertising to promote the site.

The White House has also recruited Sally K. Ride, the first American woman in space, and corporate executives like Craig R. Barrett, a former chairman of Intel, and Ursula M. Burns, chief executive of Xerox, to champion the cause of science and math education to corporations and philanthropists.

Dr. Ride said their role would be identifying successful programs and then connecting financing sources to spread the successes nationally. “The need is funding,” she said. “There is a lot of corporate interest and foundation interest in this issue.”
Read more at NYT

White House Astronomy Night Video

The "stars" in the house: science administrator John Holdren, Buzz Aldrin, NASA administrator Charles Bolden and his assistant Lori Garver, Sally Ride, Mae Jeminson, the first black female astronaut, and John Grunsfeld, the Hubble repairman. Obama looks at a "double double" star 160 light years away:

Astronaut Sally Ride answers questions:

Obama's Speech at National Academy of Sciences

Full speech:

Obama announced his President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) team--I've shortened their bios to just their current work but you can read the full bios here.

Rosina Bierbaum, a widely-recognized expert in climate-change science and ecology, is Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.

Christine Cassel is President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Christopher Chyba is Professor of Astrophysical Sciences and International Affairs at Princeton University and a member of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Sciences.

S. James Gates Jr. is the John S. Toll Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland, College Park.

John Holdren is serving as co-chair of PCAST in addition to his duties as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President and Assistant to the President for Science and Technology.

Shirley Ann Jackson is the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and former Chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1995-1999).

Eric Lander is serving as a co-chair of PCAST. He is the Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Professor of Biology at MIT, Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Richard Levin has served as President of Yale University since 1993 and is a distinguished economist.

Chad Mirkin is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, and Medicine at Northwestern University, as well as Director of Northwestern's International Institute of Nanotechnology.

Mario Molina is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego and the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, as well as Director of the Mario Molina Center for Energy and Environment in Mexico City.

Ernest J. Moniz is a Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Director of the Energy Initiative, and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at MIT.

Craig Mundie is Chief Research and Strategy Officer at Microsoft Corporation.

William Press is Professor of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, has wide-ranging expertise in computer science, astrophysics, and international security.

Maxine Savitz is retired general manager of Technology Partnerships at Honeywell, Inc.

Barbara Schaal is Professor of Biology at Washington University in St Louis.

Eric Schmidt is Chairman and CEO of Google Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc.

Daniel Schrag is the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University and Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is also Director
of the Harvard University-wide Center for Environment.

David E. Shaw is the chief scientist of D. E. Shaw Research, where he leads an interdisciplinary research group in the field of computational biochemistry.

Harold Varmus is the President and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and co-chair of PCAST.

Ahmed Zewail is Professor of Chemistry and Physics at Caltech and Director of the Physical Biology Center.

Obama Says Swine Flu No Cause for Alarm

Keep in mind that antibiotics are killing the flu. Obama spoke this morning at the National Academy of Sciences. Other than calming flu worries, he spoke on science research:

Politico: Made the case for public-sector investments in basic research, pledging to spend 3 percent of GDP on R&D, and announcing the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), modeled on DARPA, to perform high-risk, high-reward research.
- Won huge applause with his standard line about separating politics from science. Says that is one of John Holdren's biggest tasks.
- Pledged a major investment in math and science education: "[S]tates making strong commitments and progress in math and science education will be eligible to compete later this fall for additional funds under the Secretary of Education's $5 billion Race to the Top program."

Here's part of the speech. I'll post the rest of the video when it's up.

Staff:

Obama's Science Team's Ambitions

Check out Obama's science team here.

Science News:
The research community appears optimistic that the new president will follow through with as much as Congress allows. Many experts say they are impressed with the cadre of politically astute science and biomedical advisers that President Obama has already mustered to work for his White House and with Congress.

No surprise to anyone, “The real problem is going to be the economy,” observes physicist Leon Lederman, a Nobel laureate and former director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill.

Federal funding for science has been eroding over the past eight years, Lederman says. Meanwhile, the nation is in a recession, continues to direct huge sums of money into overseas wars and the importation of oil, faces an expected $1.2 trillion budget deficit this year, and strains under a national debt exceeding $10.6 trillion.

Against that backdrop, Lederman believes that reversing federal funding trends in science and engineering will prove a challenge. However, he adds, based on conversations with his former senator, Obama, “I’m convinced that he has an unusual grasp of science. Not that he can write down a differential equation. But Obama understands science in a deep way and reveals it by commenting on the beauty of new discoveries.

“To me, he deserves three checks for clearly understanding the power of science.”

And that, Lederman argues, is why Obama’s inauguration brought him a genuine sense of hope: “It feels like the marines are arriving — and just in time, hopefully.”

Health | A shot in the arm

The first wave of those marines has been dropping from the skies in what have been termed “parachute teams.” Beginning immediately after election day, the Obama transition advisers dispatched small groups to study federal agencies — through interviews with staff and talks with outsiders who monitor federal activities. The goal: to investigate not only what Uncle Sam has been charged with doing but also what major obstacles exist to carrying out those charges.

Some parachutists dropped in on Mary Woolley and her colleagues at Research!America. Woolley’s team, based in Alexandria, Va., has been documenting declining federal investment in biomedical and health research, and the impacts of that decline. She offered Obama’s team the following assessment of the big picture:

With an estimated one-in-six Americans lacking health insurance, a key campaign issue in 2008 was how to help people qualify for affordable insurance even if they’d lost their jobs.

Medical costs have continued to spiral upward while nearly every other economic indicator has fallen. Crucial to reining in costs will be smarter use of health resources — be they physician access, medicines, diagnostic procedures or patient data, Woolley explains. The health care industry would work more efficiently now if it knew how to, she contends. Read the rest. 

Steven Chu Rocks Capitol Hill

Steven Chu testified at his confirmation hearing today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Here is the rest of Obama's green team.
Green types are excited about Chu and today, he got rock star treatment:

Only on Capitol Hill - and maybe an elite physics department near you - does a Nobel-winning scientist garner round-the-corner lines, an overflow crowd and a cascade of flashbulbs when he steps out in public.

That was the reception this morning for Steven Chu, the physicist and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Labratory, when he showed up in a Senate committee room this morning for a hearing on his nomination as Barack Obama's energy secretary.

Hillary Clinton may have the bigger star power in the confirmation world today, as she prepares for a committee grilling on her nomination as secretary of state. But here in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, packed with energy lobbyists and non-profit executives, Chu is the one basking in a warm, bipartisan welcome.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who chairs the energy committee, opened the floodgates of praise for Chu's academic and scientific record, saying he uniquely possesses "the vision and insight necessary to forge an energy policy for the 21st century."

The committee's top Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, told Chu "It's probably fair to say that you are uniquely poised in your ability to bring with you your background that relates the science and the technology" of the energy department. read more at The Swamp.

Chu vows to fight climate change. Notice that "climate change" is now being used more often now than "global warming." That may have to do with the fact that scientists are taking into consideration all of the affects of climate change on the Earth such as wildfires, flooding... not just global warming. Obama's science head John Holdren calls it "global disruption." Here's Chu:

"Climate change is a growing and pressing problem. It is now clear that if we continue on our current path, we run the risk of dramatic, disruptive changes to our climate in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren," Chu said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Chu said the Obama administration will seek to impose a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Under such a system, power plants, oil refineries and other industrial facilities would have to buy and sell pollution permits to spew global warming emissions. Reuters.

Obama's Science Head John Holdren On Global Disruption

The pick of John Holdren says Obama's serious about countering global warming or as Holdren calls it, global disruption. See video below.
See the video announcement of Obama's entire science and tech team here.
John Holdren: Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Holdren will also serve as a Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology—or PCAST.

Jane Lubchenco: Administrator of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Dr. Harold Varmus: Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology—or PCAST

Dr. Eric Lander: Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology—or PCAST

John Holdren currently is director, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy, and director of the Woods Hole Research Center. Here is his CV. His many publications show that like Obama, he has a holistic view of government.

Science mag: Holdren is well known for his work on energy, climate change, and nuclear proliferation. Trained in fluid dynamics and plasma physics, Holdren branched out into policy early in his career. He has led the Woods Hole Research Center for the past 3 years and served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (which publishes ScienceInsider) in 2006.

Holdren talking about why science and technology matter:

Holdren prefers "global disruption" to "global warming." He says global warming infers temperature but what's happening is more than temperature warming.
Global disruption accounts for all the wildfires, droughts, expanding range of malaria.

Obama Announces Science and Technology Team in YouTube Address Dec. 20

Good morning USA! It really is a new day.
This for me is so exciting-- Obama appreciates science and gets its purpose. We have a new acronym: PCAST - President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Holdren comes from Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. I love Woods Hole! I'll put some photos up later if I can find them. I'll also dig up more on his PCAST picks for another post. 

Dr. John Holdren has agreed to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. John is a professor and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as President and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center. A physicist renowned for his work on climate and energy, he’s received numerous honors and awards for his contributions and has been one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change. I look forward to his wise counsel in the years ahead.

John will also serve as a Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology—or PCAST—as will Dr. Harold Varmus and Dr. Eric Lander. Together, they will work to remake PCAST into a vigorous external advisory council that will shape my thinking on the scientific aspects of my policy priorities.

Dr. Varmus is no stranger to this work. He is not just a path-breaking scientist, having won a Nobel Prize for his research on the causes of cancer—he also served as Director of the National Institutes of Health during the Clinton Administration. I am grateful he has answered the call to serve once again.

Dr. Eric Lander is the Founding Director of the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard and was one of the driving forces behind mapping the human genome—one of the greatest scientific achievements in history. I know he will be a powerful voice in my Administration as we seek to find the causes and cures of our most devastating diseases.

Finally, Dr. Jane Lubchenco has accepted my nomination as the Administrator of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is devoted to conserving our marine and coastal resources and monitoring our weather. An internationally known environmental scientist and ecologist and former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Jane has advised the President and Congress on scientific matters, and I am confident she will provide passionate and dedicated leadership at NOAA.