Scientists and Engineers for America
Encyclopedia
Mission statement
The organization's mission statement states:SHARP Network
The Science, Health and Related Policies Network is a wikiWiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
to track congressional representatives, senators, and candidates as well as presidential candidates.
Innovation & the Elections 2008
Scientists and Engineers for America organized a coalition of 19 science organizations to submit a set of 7 questions to all the candidates for United States CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. The coalition includes groups such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
, National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, and Science Debate 2008
Science Debate 2008
Science Debate 2008 was a grassroots campaign to call for a public debate in which the candidates for the 2008 U.S. presidential election discuss issues relating to the environment, health and medicine, and science and technology policy. The effort was co-chaired by U.S. House representatives...
.
Campaign Education and Training
The Campaign Education and Training project is a workshop aimed at training science-oriented professionals to run for public office.Along with the workshop, SEA also hosts an online advice column called Campaign Lab for scientists to ask political experts on different aspects of running for political office.
SEA Chapters
SEA Chapters provide a way for students and members of the scientific community to influence the interface between science and politics. These chapters develop the means for both current and future scientists and engineers to influence the policy arena and expand the forum through which SEA involves scientists and engineers in the political and civic process.Board of Advisers
Among others, the SEA Board of Advisers includes noted Nobel LaureatesNobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
such as:.
- Peter AgrePeter AgrePeter Agre is an American medical doctor, professor, and molecular biologist who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of aquaporins. Aquaporins are water-channel proteins that move water molecules through the cell membrane...
- Sidney AltmanSidney AltmanSidney Altman is a Canadian American molecular biologist, who is currently the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R...
- Philip W. AndersonPhilip Warren AndersonPhilip Warren Anderson is an American physicist and Nobel laureate. Anderson has made contributions to the theories of localization, antiferromagnetism and high-temperature superconductivity.- Biography :...
- Johann DeisenhoferJohann DeisenhoferJohann Deisenhofer is a German biochemist who, along with Hartmut Michel and Robert Huber, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1988 for their determination of the structure of a membrane-bound complex of proteins and co-factors that is essential to photosynthesis.Deisenhofer earned his...
- Alfred Gilman
- Douglas D. OsheroffDouglas D. OsheroffDouglas Dean Osheroff is an American physicist known for his work in experimental condensed matter physics, in particular for his co-discovery of superfluidity in Helium-3. For his contributions he shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics along with David Lee and Robert C...
- Martin Perl
- Burton RichterBurton RichterBurton Richter is a Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory team led by Samuel Ting. This discovery was part of the so-called November Revolution of particle...
- Harold E. VarmusHarold E. VarmusHarold Elliot Varmus is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the 14th and current Director of the National Cancer Institute, a post he was appointed to by President Barack Obama. He was a co-recipient Harold Elliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning...
Criticism
Soon after its foundation, the organization was accused of partisanship by several conservative media outlets. An editorial in The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
criticised the organization for seeming to stifle scientific dissent:
In a rebuttal posted on the SEA website, founding executive director Michael Brown stated:
See also
- Politicization of sciencePoliticization of scienceThe politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of...
- Scientific Integrity in PolicymakingScientific Integrity in Policymaking"Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science" is the title of a report published by the Union of Concerned Scientists in February, 2004. The report was the culmination of an investigation of the Bush administration's objectivity in...
- Union of Concerned ScientistsUnion of Concerned ScientistsThe Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit science advocacy group based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. James J...
- Federation of American ScientistsFederation of American ScientistsThe Federation of American Scientists is a nonpartisan, 501 organization intent on using science and scientific analysis to attempt make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1945 by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs...