Supporting Federal Decision Making through Participatory Technology Assessment
Summary
The incoming administration faces complex issues at the intersections of science, technology, and society. As such, the next administration should establish a special unit within the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI)—an existing federally funded research and development center (FFRDC)—to provide capacity for Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and across executive branch agencies.
A pTA unit within STPI would provide pTA as a service for the executive branch regarding emerging scientific and technological issues and questions. By integrating public voices alongside expert assessments, the next administration can ensure that federal science and technology decisions provide the greatest benefit to society.
Science funding agencies are biased against risk, making transformative research difficult to fund. Forecast-based approaches to grantmaking could improve funding outcomes for high-risk, high-reward research.
With a PhD in materials science, a postdoc position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a stint as a AAAS Fellow, Dr. Shawn Chen has had a range of roles in the research community.
Like climate change, the societal risks from AI will likely come from the cumulative impact of many different systems. Unilateral commitments are poor tools to address such risks.
Despite the uphill battle the country is facing, Dr. Schlaerth feels optimistic about the future possibilities of industrial decarbonization.