AMS AND PUBLIC POLICY
An Analytical Approach

By Genene M. Fisher

Public policy related to weather, water, and climate issues is increasingly important to the nation. Particularly as scientific knowledge expands at a rapid rate, the government needs even greater capacity to formulate, carry out, and monitor science and technology policies and programs for greater societal benefit. The AMS and its more than 13,000 members are continuing to realize we cannot treat science and policy in isolation.

WHY PUBLIC POLICY IS IMPORTANT TO THE AMS. 1) Our science is on the national agenda. Natural and man-made events are increasingly becoming part of the national agenda. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is still being felt three years later nationwide, but most especially in the Gulf Coast region. Many of the eastern states are coping with drought conditions as they face unprecedented diminishing water supplies. The western states are struggling to find human and financial resources to battle large wildfires. While some states experience increasingly warm temperatures each year, others are hit hard with severe winter precipitation. Climatic shifts and weather extremes are occurring in parallel with human demographic and behavior shifts that are most evident in population growth and questionable usage of natural resources at the local and regional levels. Layered on top of this problem set is another concern that our national emergency management policies inadequately engage society to be more prepared and resilient in the face of climate and weather fluctuations.

2) Limited policy options and infrastructure for policy analysis. Policy options and infrastructure for policy analysis are trailing behind the advances in science. Policy makers need options for making informed decisions. While science may just be one input into their decision-making process, it is essential that they have access to the best available science information to make informed decisions on public health and safety, water and ecosystem management, energy production and use, food production, transportation services, military readiness, etc.—which are only some of the areas where weather, water, and climate science are useful in the policy arena.

3) Role of scientists in the new administration. An upcoming new administration means new opportunities for nominating officials who are knowledgeable about science—in particular, atmospheric and related sciences— for leadership positions. There are less than 100 political appointee positions for science and engineering at the top levels of government. Of those, even fewer are from the weather and climate science disciplines. When making decisions about complex issues, policy makers must take into account the constantly evolving scientific knowledge, and given the complexity of our fields, it would be ideal to have people who can understand research findings and recommendations from our community. To succeed in this objective, however, the nation needs highly trained individuals to fill key science and technology positions. In recent decades, presidential assistants for science and technology (or presidential science advisors) have been chosen too late to participate in the initial recruitment within new administrations, and they seldom play a strong role in recruitment once on board. With the exception of Frank Press, presidential science advisors have been particle physicists. This is a narrow range, based on the numerous science issues facing the nation (e.g., biotechnology, nanotechnology, Earth science).

4) Next-generation scientists interested in policy issues. Just when things look dim, the next generation of scientists shows rising interest in policy dimensions of their work and in policy careers. At the AMS Student Conference, more and more students are requesting speakers who can talk about policy careers and want to know how to integrate policy activities into their research. The number of student applications for the AMS Summer Policy Colloquium (SPC) continues to grow. And as the number of students who have gone through the program increases each year, they contribute to a blossoming policy knowledge base within our membership. Since the inception of the SPC in 2001, more than 300 scientists have shaken hands with congressional members and staffers, and talked in person with administration officials in Washington, D.C., to get a firsthand understanding of how science information enters into the policy world. In addition, the AMS Policy Program (APP) staff also receives numerous requests from students and early-career scientists on how they can get a policy job and what they need to prepare for one. More than ever, we are seeing scientists wanting to know how to make their research more relevant and applicable to society.

A MORE ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO POLICY IS UNDERWAY. The Society is dealing with the above issues through many of its APP activities. We are educating policy makers about the science (e.g., Environmental Science Seminar Series) and educating scientists about the policy making process (e.g., Summer Policy Colloquium, Congressional Fellowship). An additional pursuit is encouraging AMS members to get involved in building an analytical approach to policy research. This can be accomplished through the following venues:

1) Policy and Socio-Economic Research Symposia. The 3rd AMS Symposium on Policy and Socio-Economic Research proved again that many of our members are interested in the implications of their research. At the January meeting in New Orleans, over 80 abstracts were submitted specifically to the Symposium. It was spread out over four days and consisted of joint sessions with over 10 other conferences and symposia. The kickoff panel discussion was on “Bridging the Gap: Initiatives Spanning the Physical and Social Sciences,” and the panel discussion on the last day summed things up with the “State of the Field: Social Dimensions.” The symposia organizing committee solicited input from the AMS Policy Program, Board on Societal Impacts, and the annual meeting organizers. The addition of more joint sessions this year proved that the AMS community is concerned with the policy and socioeconomic aspects of the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services.

2) BAMS Policy Articles. Some of our members have published policy and socioeconomic impact articles in BAMS, taking advantage of the fact that it provides a great venue for facilitating exchange between otherwise isolated communities of researchers, practitioners, educators, students, entrepreneurs, and broadcasters. BAMS encourages the following kinds of policy articles:

• reviews of policy analyses, policy perspectives, and societal impacts;

• findings or theories in policy and socioeconomic impacts;

• discussion of policy and societal priorities or intersections between science and society that have policy implications;

• discussion of policy or socioeconomic issues of interest to the broader AMS community; and

• commentaries on policy or socioeconomic issues.

A policy or socioeconomic article may fit into several sections in BAMS: articles, essays, comments and replies, and letters to the editor. Articles can also be submitted to the In Box and Nowcast sections, which focus on short essays, innovations, and news. We invite you to discuss your viewpoints, issues, and concerns.

3) New Journal on Policy and Socioeconomic Research. For the last several years, the APP explored the idea of a peer-reviewed journal that would allow physical and social scientists to publish work in the areas of societal impacts and policy issues in the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services. Currently, no scholarly publication provides a natural home for this work. Articles on related topics have been published in a number of journals and magazines (e.g., Science, Nature, Issues in Science and Technology, Atlantic Monthly), but some of these publications reach a broader audience and boost popular appeal in ways that make them less suitable for scholarly analysis. This past year, the AMS Council agreed that an AMS journal in this area is overdue and that a committee should draft a business plan. The journal, title to be determined, would operate under the AMS Publications Commission, with a volunteer chief editor and editorial board similar in structure to that found with other AMS journals. Manuscript solicitations for the journal are expected to begin in early 2009.

4) APP Policy Study Series. The APP staff have also been diligently pursuing policy research projects that engage the AMS membership. Recent topics include federal climate policy, extreme weather and public health, space weather, and the valuation of environmental information. More information about these studies can be found online at www.ametsoc.org/app.

If you have ideas on how AMS can better represent the membership’s interests in public policy, please contact any of our staff (see www.ametsoc.org/app). We are here to serve you, the Society, and society at large.

—GENENE FISHER

Genene Fisher is a senior policy fellow at the AMS Policy Program and a subject-matter editor for policy articles submitted to BAMS.

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