Opinion: Clearing the Air About Unenforceable Policies


Opinion: Clearing the Air About Unenforceable Policies

by Kristina Victoreen

Is a policy without enforcement really a policy, or is it just an aspiration? That question has been on my mind lately, in two different contexts, both related to the air we breathe. First, there’s Penn’s new “Tobacco-free Campus” policy. I first noticed the signs in November, when they quietly popped up here and there around campus. As someone who has spent many a lunch hour going from bench to bench all around campus in an often-vain attempt to find a place to sit and eat my lunch without having to breathe second-hand smoke, I was really excited to see those signs. But I confess I was much less excited when I went online and read the actual policy, particularly the section on enforcement. You can read it here.

What it seems to say is that there is no enforcement, and if you have any questions, ask the person you report to or your Dean. In other words, Penn wants you to not smoke but if you do, probably nothing will happen. This idea that the policy won’t be enforced, was confirmed in Rahul Chopra’s December 3rd DP article, in which Frank Leone, Director of the Comprehensive Smoking Treatment Program at Perelman School of Medicine, was quoted as stating that "There's not going to be enforcement or an effort to corral smokers." So Penn’s idea is to try to change the norms, and also provide supports for those who are trying to quit, perhaps partly by removing some of the triggers. For example, the smoking pole outside Van Pelt Library has been removed and replaced with a sign, with the expectation that folks won’t just stand where the pole used to be and drop their cigarette buts on the ground. I’m definitely not an expert on smoking cessation or behavioral economics principles and I know lots of research and some testing went into choosing this approach. Presumably robust baseline data have been collected on smoking behaviors, so that the success of the program can be measured with real outcomes, and I will be very interested to see the results, (and to enjoy a smoke free outdoor lunch when the weather gets warmer.) Certainly it’s no longer unusual to use "nudge" techniques to try to elicit desired behaviour changes, and such policies are popular because they are non-coercive and can be very cost effective. The alternative would be to have the campus police enforce the tobacco policy, and I’m guessing that this may be viewed by the Administration as much more trouble than it's worth, perhaps alienating the people the policy targets, and diverting resources from campus police who have other more pressing concerns. 

In Philadelphia, diesel and other vehicles are subject to several anti-idling laws, enforced (in theory) by different agencies. You can see them all in one place at this helpful site from Pennsylvania Diesel Difference. For example, you can be issued a ticket for $101 by the Philadelphia Parking Authority for excessive idling, and the Department of Health’s Air Management Services can issue a citation to the operator of a heavy duty diesel truck, bus or other vehicle under a separate law, for idling over 2 minutes. There are many exceptions, having to do with things like ambient temperature, (look here for the details) which make the laws incredibly difficult to enforce even if any agency were inclined to enforce them. In addition to Philadelphia’s laws, Pennsylvania has a separate diesel idling law that can be enforced by the State Police. Confused yet? Here’s an experiment to try. Next time you see a PPA agent giving out tickets, try to report an idling vehicle. You might get a quizzical look. I tried this only once, but the PPA officer I asked did not seem to have heard of the anti-idling law. There are a few No Idling signs here and there, but you have to look hard to find them. Thanks to the Clean Air Council, there is a web site where anyone can report an idling vehicle. But it’s doubtful that citations will be issued on the basis of only a citizen complaint, especially without a video to show how long the vehicle idled, and the citizen needs to know the law and be willing to do the reporting.

In short, there are many laws, little enforcement, and no incentive for compliance. So what’s the solution? Should the City be employing nudge methods, and/or trying to change the culture around idling? What would it take to do that? Should the PPA be issuing tickets? I am guessing that a $100 ticket may be seen as a reasonable cost of doing business for the operator of even a small fleet. What about higher fines? According the the New York State web site, there you can be fined up to $18,000 for a first offense with certain idling violations. It seems that steep fines might generate funds to pay for some grants for replacing older engines and doing clean diesel retrofits, but you still need enforcement in order to collect those fines. So at least in the case of vehicle emissions, it appears that policies without enforcement sometimes amount to little more than hope, and as Rudy Giuliani famously said, hope is not a strategy.

Event Recap: Intellectual Property Panel “From Research to Patent”


by Adrian Rivera-Reyes

On November 10th, the Penn Science Policy Group and the Penn Intellectual Property Group at Penn Law co-hosted a panel discussion focused on intellectual property and how to patent scientific research. The panel included Peter Cicala, Chief Patent Counsel at Celgene Corp.; Dr. Dora Mitchell, Director of the UPstart Program at the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) Ventures; and Dr. Michael C. Milone, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), and Assistant Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at Penn Medicine.

The event started with the introduction of both groups by their respective presidents and was proceeded by Kimberly Li giving an introduction of the panelists. Next, Peter gave a short PowerPoint presentation with a general introduction of intellectual property. Below are some key points to understand intellectual property/patent law 1,2:

1) In general, patents provide a “limited monopoly” that excludes others from making an invention, using, offering for sale, selling, or otherwise practicing an invention, but it does not confer upon the patentee a right to use the said invention. Thus, patents serve as a form of protection for the owner.
2) A single invention can only be patented once; once the patent on that invention expires, others may not file to patent the same invention again.
3) In order to confer a patent, the United States Patent and Trademark Office ensures that inventions of patentable subject matter meet the following legal requirements: i) inventions must be novel, ii) inventions must be useful, and iii) inventions must be non-obvious.
4) Utility patents only last for 20 years from the date of filing. After 20 years, anyone can make, use, offer for sale, sell, or practice the invention. A single invention cannot be re-patented after the time is done. In contrast, trademarks or trade secrets last forever, and copyrights last for the lifetime of the author.  
5) The United States Patent and Trademark Office follows the ‘first to file’ rule. Thus, the first person or entity to file a patent is the assumed owner.
6) Patents can be invalidated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

A clever example discussed by Peter Cicala was the patenting of a new car feature. If X company has submitted and received a patent for a car and Y company makes a new feature for the car, they can patent the new feature (as long as it meets the legal requirements introduced above). Once the patent for the new feature is conferred to Y company then they can produce that one feature, but not the car that was patented by X company, unless a license is provided by X company to Y company. Thus, the patent for Y company only gives them the power to prevent others from making that new feature.

Conferring Patents in the US and Internationally

First, there has to be an invention of some sort. Once there is an invention, a patent is filed. Patents are drafted free-hand, unlike a tax application where one has a specific form to fill. For patents, one has to start from scratch. Patents are usually long (some can reach 500 pages in length) and there are many legal requirements on what to say in the application and how to say it. Eventually, when one files a patent application it will go to the patent office. A patent examiner will, as the name suggests, examine it and deliberate with the patent office over the course of 3-5 years as they point out sections that need further editing, clarification, or justification. There is a lot of back and forth, until the examiner agrees that the invention has satisfied the patent requirements. Then, one pays fees and the patent is awarded. Fun fact: In the US, patents are granted only on Tuesdays.

On a global basis, one files a single international patent and the designated patent offices around the world examine it locally. If an office grants a patent, such patent will only be valid in that jurisdiction. That is why submitting patents cost so much, because one files and pays legal fees for each jurisdiction. For example, if a patent is filed in Japan for a compound, a different entity can manufacture the compound freely in the US, but not in Japan. This is one reason why companies and universities are very careful when filing patents.

Intellectual Property in Industry

Pharmaceutical products start with a great idea, but for every product in the market there are about 10,000 that fail. Therefore, companies file many patents even though many of those patents may not have any commercial value in 5-6 years. It costs about $500K to file (including filing and attorneys’ fees) and receive a single issued patent, which means companies spend a lot in patents (i.e. 10,000 patent submissions each worth $500K)! Out of those 10,000 patents, typically one will make the company about an estimated $5 billion a year in returns.

A student asked, “Is submitting a patent the same price for a university as it is for a company?” In essence, no! The patent office makes a distinction between large and small entities. Small entities, based on requirements provided by the patent office3, pay half the fees, but attorneys charge a fixed price. In the end, small entities save just a small percentage of money. Another question asked by an audience member was “what is patentable in the pharma business?” If one patents a molecule, no one else can infringe or use that molecule itself. That is how companies patent drugs or their associated components. One can also patent dosing regimens, formulations, modes of administration, etc. The compound claim gives the most protection, because it is very hard to make a knock-off of a molecule.

Intellectual Property in Academia

A student raised the issue that there is a lot of communication that occurs in science, especially at conferences, symposia, or amongst colleagues, classmates, etc. That seems to be a big risk in the context of protecting one's intellectual property, but doing so is an unavoidable risk when one does scientific research.

Dora, patent analyst from PCI Ventures, then proceeded to discuss the issues brought up from an academic perspective. She said, “The question raised here is that when one works in an academic institution the work is knowledge based and disseminated to others.... How does one draw the line from all that to protect something valuable?” What most, if not all, academic/research institution do is have their lawyers work very closely with faculty, so that anytime they are about to publish a paper, go to a conference, attend grand rounds, or any other such public appearance, the lawyers will hustle and get an application submitted before such events.

In addition to these more public forums, problems can arise from talking with friends who are not directly associated with the work. An example of this pertains to OPDIVO®, a drug patented by Ono Pharmaceuticals and the Kyoto University in the 90’s, which later was exclusively licensed to Bristol-Myers Squibb who launched the drug. Recently, Dana Farber Cancer Institute sued Ono Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb because the principal investigator at Kyoto University had periodically consulted a colleague at Dana Farber for his advice. The professor-consultant at Dana Farber would send some data he thought was helpful and consult with them. Dana Farber sued both companies, claiming that the now-retired professor from its institution should be included as an inventor in the patent. Because an inventor of a patent is part-owner, Dana Farber is actually claiming ownership of the patent and will receive compensation from the sales of products under the patent4,5.

Michael, Penn Med professor who works intimately with a team of lawyers from PCI because he regularly files patents, said that balancing confidentiality with science communication is a difficult task. He commented, “I think it comes down to how important one thinks the invention is and a lot of the times the patent will not get developed if it will not bring any money to the owner (company/institution).” Moreover, there has to be a conversation with the university because the university pays for the patent, so it decides what to file. It also depends on the resources of the university. Regarding the work of graduate students or postdoctoral fellows, there are more considerations. Students and postdocs want and need to publish, go to conferences, and present their work in order to move forward with their careers; thus patents can be a rather limiting step for them.

From the industry perspective, Peter clarified that the rule at Celgene is that no one can talk about anything until the patent application is filed. Once the patent application is filed, employees are free to talk to whomever they wish without causing a situation like the one with Dana Farber and Bristol-Myers Squibb, since the patent application has been filed prior to any communication.

Thus, a clear difference between industry and academia is that in industry, things are kept under wraps and then a patent is filed, whereas in academia patents are filed early to make sure that the institution does not lose the rights of patenting by making the information public. Because universities file very early, there is a lot to deal with afterwards. The costs of prosecution are high, and sometimes the application does not make it through the full process, because universities cannot afford to throw $500K for an application if they are not confident on getting a return on the investment. The reason to file for some universities might be purely strategic.

Ownership vs. Inventorship

Another interesting topic discussed, was that of ownership vs. inventorship. There is the notion that ownership follows inventorship. In most cases, people do not file patents on their own; they work for companies or universities. Usually, an employment contract will state that if an employee invents something while employed by that entity, then ownership to a resultant patent will be assigned to the employer. Thus, the person is the inventor but not the owner of the patent; the entity is the owner. For academic research, the Bayh-Dole act was enacted to allow universities to own inventions that came from investigations funded by the federal government6. Dora explained that, “Government officials got together and agreed that they awarded so much money into research and good stuff came out of it, which the government would own but not file patents or do anything with it commercially."

A preliminary list of inventors is written when the patent is filed, but legally the inventors are the people that can point to a claim and say: "I thought of that one." Inventors have to swear under oath that they thought of a particular claim, and need to be able to present their notebooks with the data supporting a claim of inventorship. Inventors are undivided part-owners of the patent, which means that any inventor listed in the patent can license that patent in any way, without accounting for any of the other inventors. Additionally, there is a difference between the people that think about the claims and the people that actually execute the subject matter of the resulting claim. If a person is only executing experiments without contributing intellectually to the idea or procedure, then that person is not an inventor. For those in academic research, this often differs from how paper authorship is decided – usually performing an experiment is sufficient.

Summary

The discussion prompted the researchers in the room to be on the lookout for ideas they have that can result in patents, and to be careful when discussing data and results with people outside of their own research laboratory. Also, the discussion exposed key differences between intellectual property lawyers working for universities and industries, as opposed to law firms that have departments working on intellectual property. Ultimately, students felt they gained a basic understanding on how intellectual property works, the rules to file patents, and some intrinsic differences between academic and industry research.

References:

1) United States Patent and Trademark Office – (n.d.) Retrieved December 11, 2016 from https://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/general-information-concerning-patents
2) BITLAW – (n.d.) Retrieved December 11, 2016 from http://www.bitlaw.com/patent/requirements.html
3) United States Patent and Trademark Office – (n.d.) Retrieved December 20, 2016 from https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s2550.html
4) Bloomberg BNA – (2015, October 2) Retrieved December 11, 2016 FROM https://www.bna.com/dana-farber-says-n57982059025/
5) United States District Court (District Court of Massachusetts). http://www.dana-farber.org/uploadedFiles/Library/newsroom/news-releases/2015/dana-farber-inventorship-complaint.pdf
6) National Institute of Health, Office of Extramural Research – (2013, July 1) Retrieved December 11, 2016 from https://grants.nih.gov/grants/bayh-dole.htm

Event Recap: Anonymous Peer Review & PubPeer

by Ian McLaughlin 

On the 24th of October, the Penn Science Policy Group met to discuss the implications of a new mechanism by which individuals can essentially take part in the peer review process.  The group discussion focused on a particular platform, PubPeer.com, which emerged in 2012 and has since become a topic of interest and controversy among the scientific community.  In essence, PubPeer is an online forum that focuses on enabling post-publication commentary, which ranges from small concerns by motivated article readers, to deeper dives into the legitimacy of figures, data, and statistics in the publication.  Given the current state of the widely criticized peer-review process, we considered the advantages and disadvantages of democratizing the process with the added layer of anonymity applied to reviewers.

PubPeer has been involved in fostering investigations of several scandals in science.  Some examples include a critical evaluation of papers published in Nature 2014 entitled Stimulus-triggered fate conversion of somatic cells into pluripotency [1].  The paper described a novel mechanism by which pluripotency might be induced by manipulating the pH environments of somatic cells.  However, following publication, concerns regarding the scientific integrity of published experiments were raised, resulting in the retraction of both papers and an institutional investigation.
  
Subsequently, the publications of a prolific cancer researcher received attention on PubPeer, ultimately resulting in the rescission of a prestigious position at a new institution eleven days before the start date due, at least in part, to PubPeer commenters contacting faculty at the institution.  When trying to return the professor’s former position, it was no longer available.  The professor then sued PubPeer commenters, arguing that the site must identify the commenters that have prevented a continued career in science.  PubPeer, advised by lawyers from the ACLU working pro-bono, is refusing to comply – and enjoy the support of both Google and Twitter, both of which have filed a court brief in defense of the website [2]. 
                  
Arguably at its best, PubPeer ostensibly fulfills an unmet, or poorly-met, need in the science publication process.  Our discussion group felt that the goal of PubPeer is one that the peer review process is meant to pursue, but occasionally falls short of accomplishing. While increased vigilance is welcome, and bad science – or intentionally misleading figures – should certainly not be published, perhaps the popularity and activity on PubPeer reveals a correctable problem in the review process rather than a fundamental flaw. While the discussion group didn’t focus specifically on problems with the current peer review process – a topic deserving its own discussion [3] – the group felt that there were opportunities to improve the process, and was ambivalent that a platform like PubPeer is sufficiently moderated, vetted, and transparent in the right ways to be an optimal means to this end.
                  
Some ideas proposed by discussion participants were to make the peer-review process more transparent, with increased visibility applied to the reasons a manuscript is or is not published.  Additionally, peer-review often relies upon the input of just a handful of volunteer experts, all of whom are frequently under time constraints that can jeopardize their abilities to thoroughly evaluate manuscripts – occasionally resulting in the assignment of peer review to members of related, though not optimally relevant, fields [4].  Some discussion participants highlighted that a democratized review process, similar to that of PubPeer, may indeed alleviate some of these problems with the requirement that commenters be moderated to ensure they have relevant expertise.  Alternatively, some discussion participants argued, given the role of gate-keeper played by journals, often determining the career trajectories of aspiring scientists, the onus is on Journals’ editorial staffs to render peer review more effective.  Finally, another concept discussed was to layer a 3rd party moderation mechanism on top of a platform like PubPeer, ensuring comments are objective, constructive, and unbiased.
                  
The concept of a more open peer review is one that many scientists are beginning to seriously consider.  In Nature News, Ewen Callaway reported that 60% of the authors in Nature Communications agreed to have publication reviews published [7].  However, while a majority of responders to a survey funded by the European Commission believed that open peer review ought to become more routine, not all strategies of open peer review received equivalent support.

[7]

                  
Ultimately, the group unanimously felt that the popularity of PubPeer ought to be a signal to the scientific community that something is wrong with the publication process that requires our attention with potentially destructive ramifications [5].  Every time a significantly flawed article is published, damage is done to the perception of science and the scientific community, and at a time when the scientific community still enjoys broadly positive public perception [6], now is likely an opportune time to reconsider the peer-review process – and perhaps learn some lessons that an anonymous post-publication website like PubPeer might teach us.

References


1) PubPeer - Stimulus-triggered fate conversion of somatic cells into pluripotency. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2016, from https://pubpeer.com/publications/8B755710BADFE6FB0A848A44B70F7D 

2) Brief of Amici Curiae Google Inc. and Twitter Inc. in Support of PubPeer, LLC. (Michigan Court of Appeals). https://pubpeer.com/Google_Twitter_Brief.pdf

3) Balietti, S. (2016). Science Is Suffering Because of Peer Review’s Big Problems. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from https://newrepublic.com/article/135921/science-suffering-peer-reviews-big-problems

4)Arns M. Open access is tiring out peer reviewers. Nature. 2014 Nov 27;515(7528):467. doi: 10.1038/515467a. PubMed PMID: 25428463.

5) Jha, Alok. (2012). False positives: Fraud and misconduct are threatening scientific research. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/sep/13/scientific-research-fraud-bad-practice

6) Hayden, E. C. (2015, January 29). Survey finds US public still supports science. Retrieved November 25, 2016, from http://www.nature.com/news/survey-finds-us-public-still-supports-science-1.16818 

7) Callaway E. Open peer review finds more takers. Nature. 2016 Nov 10;539(7629):343. doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20969. PubMed PMID: 27853233

Event Recap: The Importance of Science-Informed Policy & Law Making

by Ian McLaughlin          

Last week, we held a panel discussion focused on the importance of science-informed policy & law making.  The panel included Dr. Michael Mann, a climatologist and geophysicist at Pennsylvania State University who recently wrote The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy.   Dr. Andrew Zwicker, a member of the New Jersey General Assembly and a physicist who heads the Science Education Department of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, joined him.  Finally, Shaughnessy Naughton, a chemist and entrepreneur who ran for congressional office in Pennsylvania and founded the 314 PAC, which promotes the election of candidates with backgrounds in STEM fields to public office, joined the panel as well.

The event began with personal introductions, with each member characterizing their unique perspectives and personal histories.  Shaughnessy Naughton highlighted the scarcity of legislators with backgrounds in math and science as a primary motivator for encouraging people with science backgrounds to get involved beyond just advocacy. 

Dr. Andrew Zwicker, having previously run for office in the US House of Representatives, ultimately was successful in his run for the state assembly in an extremely tight race, winning by just 78 votes, or 0.2456%  – a level of precision that he’s been told would only be spoken by a scientist, as most would simplify the value to a quarter of a percent.  He credited two primary features of his campaign as contributing to his success.  First, on a practical level, he utilized a more sophisticated voter model.  As the first Democrat ever elected to his district in its 42 years[1], it was critical to optimally allocate resources to effectively communicate his message.  Second, he identified his background in science as a strength.  When campaigning, he made it clear that he’d ensure facts would guide his decisions – and his constituents found that pragmatism appealing.

Next, Dr. Michael Mann summarized his pathway to prominence in the climate change debate by recounting the political fallout that occurred following the publication of his now famous “hockey-stick graph”[2].  In short, the graph depicts that average global temperatures had been fairly stable until 1900 (forming the shaft of the hockey stick), at which point a sharp rise in temperature begins (forming the blade).  In articulating why exactly this publication made such a splash, he highlighted the simplicity of the graph. It summarizes what is otherwise fairly esoteric data in a way that’s accessible to non-scientists.  “You don’t have to understand the complex physics to understand what the graph was saying: there’s something unprecedented taking place today, and, by implication, probably has something to do with what we’re doing.”  After its publication, he was in for a whirlwind.  The graph became iconic in the climate change debate, provoking the ire of special interests who then pursued a strategy to personally discredit Mann.

Naughton initiated the conversation by asking Zwicker if his background in science has influenced what he’s been able to accomplish in his past 9 months of public office.  While at times it has given him credibility and garnered trust among his peers and constituents, the nature of science is often incongruous with politics: rather than relying solely on facts, politics requires emotional and personal appeals to get things done.  A specific example: the fear of jobs being lost due to legislation, particularly reforms focused on energy and climate change, oftentimes obscures what would otherwise be a less volatile debate.

Naughton then asked Mann to describe his experience with Ken Cuccinelli, the former Attorney General (AG) of Virginia under former governor Bob McDonnell.  One of the former AG’s priorities was to target the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, as well as demand the University of Virginia – the institution where Dr. Mann had been an assistant professor from 1999 to 2005 – to provide a sweeping compilation of documents associated with Dr. Mann.  Cuccinelli was relying upon the 2002 Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, devised to enable the AG to ferret out state waste and fraud, to serve the civil investigative demand.  Ultimately, Cuccinelli’s case was rejected, and has since been considered a major victory to the integrity of academic research and scientists’ privacy.

The panel then invited questions from attendees, which ranged from technical inquiries of how climate estimates were made for the Hockey Stick Curve to perspectives on policy & science communication. 

One question focused on the public’s ability to digest and think critically about scientific knowledge – highlighting that organizations and institutions like AAAS and the NSF regularly require funded investigators to spend time communicating their research to a broader audience.  However, the relationship between the public and science remains tenuous.  Zwicker responded by identifying a critical difference in efficacy between the beautiful images and data from NASA or press releases and the personal experiences of people outside of science.  Special interest groups can disseminate opinions and perspectives that don’t comport with the scientific consensus, and without truly effective science communication, the public simply can’t know whom to trust.  He argued that scientists do remain a broadly trusted group, but without competent efforts to communicate the best science, it remains a major challenge.  Ultimately, the solution involves a focus on early education and teaching critical thinking skills.

Moreover, Mann commented on a problematic fallacy that arises from a misunderstanding of how science works: “there’s a fallacy that because we don’t know something, we know nothing.  And that’s obviously incorrect.” There are many issues at the forefront of science that remain to be understood, but that forefront exists because of relevant established knowledge.  “We know greenhouse gasses warm the planet, and it’ll warm more if we continue burning carbon.  There’s still uncertainty with gravity.  We haven’t reconciled quantum mechanics with general relativity.  Just because we haven’t reconciled all of the forces, and there’s still something to be learned about gravity at certain scales – we still understand that if we jump out the window, we’ll plummet to our deaths.”

Naughton suggested that much of this disconnect between scientific knowledge and public sentiment comes down to communication.  “For many scientists, it’s very difficult to communicate very complex processes and theories in a language that people can understand.  As scientists, you want to be truthful and honest.  You don’t learn everything about quantum mechanics in your first year of physics; by not explaining everything, that doesn’t mean you’re being dishonest.” 

Zwicker highlighted that there aren’t many prominent science communicators, asking the audience to name as many as they could.  Then, he asked if we could name prominent female science communicators, which proved more difficult for the audience.  There isn’t necessarily a simple solution to this obvious problem, given the influence of special interests and concerns of profitability.

An audience member then asked whether the panelists considered nuclear energy a viable alternative – and, in particular “warehouse-ready nuclear”, which describes small modular reactors that operate on a much smaller scale than the massive reactors to which we’ve become accustomed.  Zwicker, as a physicist, expressed skepticism: “You’ll notice there are no small reactors anywhere in the world.  By the time you build a reactor and get through the regulation – and we’re talking 10-30 years to be completed – we’re still far away from them being economically viable.”  He also noted that he’s encountered the argument that investment allocation matters to the success of a given technology, and that investment in one sustainable energy platform may delay progress in others.  The audience then asked about the panel’s perspectives on natural gas, which is characterized by some as a bridge fuel to a lower carbon-emitting future energy source.  Summarizing his perspective on natural gas, Mann argued “a fossil fuel ultimately can’t be the solution to a problem caused by fossil fuels.”

Jamie DeNizio, a member of PSPG, asked if the panel thought coalitions between state and local governments could be an effective strategy to get around current barriers at the national level.  Naughton noted that this is ultimately the goal behind the federal Clean Power Plan, with goals tailored to specific states for cutting carbon output.  Mann, highlighting the prevalent lack of acceptance of climate change at the federal level, suggested that the examples of state consortia that currently exist – like The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in New England, or the Pacific Coast Collaborative (PCC) on the West Coast – are causes for optimism, indicating that progress can be made despite gridlock at the federal level.  Zwicker noted that New Jersey’s participation in trading carbon credits had resulted in substantial revenue, as New Jersey was able to bring in funds to build a new hospital.  He suggested that Governor Chris Christie’s decision to withdraw from RGGI was imprudent, and the New York Times noted that, in 2011, New Jersey had received over $100 million in revenue from RGGI[3].

Another issue that was brought up by the panel was how counterproductive infighting among environmentalists and climate change activists can be to the overall effort.  In particular, this splintering enables critics to portray climate change as broadly incoherent, rendering the data and proposals less convincing to skeptics of anthropogenic climate change.

Adrian Rivera, also a PSPG member, asked the panel to comment on whether they felt social media is an effective strategy to communicate science to the general public.  Mann stated that scientist that do not engage on social media are not being as effective as they can be, mostly because there is a growing subset of the population that derives information via social media platforms. In contrast, Zwicker highlighted the lack of depth on social media, and that some issues simply require more in-depth discussion than social media tends to accommodate. Importantly, Zwicker emphasized the importance and value of face-to-face communication. Naughton then brought this point to a specific example of poor science communication translating into tangible problems.  “It’s not all about policy or NIH/NSF funding.  It’s about making sure evolution is being taught in public schools.”  She noted the experience of a botany professor in Susquehanna, PA, who was holding an info-session on biology for high-school teachers. One of the attending high-school teachers told him that he was brave for teaching evolution in school, which Naughton identified as an example of ineffective science communication.

Finally, an environmental activist in the audience noted that a major problem he’d observed in his own approach to advocacy was that he was often speaking through feelings of anger rather than positive terms.  Mann thoroughly agreed, and noted that “there’s a danger when we approach from doom and gloom.  This takes us to the wrong place; it becomes an excuse for inaction, and it actually has been co-opted by the forces of denial.  It is important to communicate that there is urgency in confronting this problem [climate change] – but that we can do it, and have a more prosperous planet for our children and grandchildren.  It’s critical to communicate that.  If you don’t provide a path forward, you’re leading people in the wrong direction.”

The event was co-hosted by 314 Action, a non-profit affiliated with 314 PAC with the goal of strengthening communication among the STEM community, the public, and elected officials.


References:

1. Qian, K. (2015, November 11). Zwicker elected as first Democrat in NJ 16th district. Retrieved October 6, 2016, from http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2015/11/zwicker-elected-as-first-democrat-in-nj-16th-district/

2. Mann, Michael E.; Bradley, Raymond S.; Hughes, Malcolm K. (1999), "Northern hemisphere temperatures during the past millennium: Inferences, uncertainties, and limitations" (PDF), Geophysical Research Letters, 26 (6): 759–762, Bibcode:1999GeoRL..26..759M, doi:10.1029/1999GL900070

3. Navarro, M. (2011, May 26). Christie Pulls New Jersey From 10-State Climate Initiative. Retrieved October 6, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/nyregion/christie-pulls-nj-from-greenhouse-gas-coalition.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion

2015 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Forum Summary


I recently had the opportunity to attend the 2015 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. This annual meeting brings together a range of academics and professionals to discuss the broad S&T policy landscape. Below are some of my takeaways from the meeting. I hope to have additional comments from other National Science Policy Group members up soon.

By Chris Yarosh

The talks and panels at the Forum encompassed a huge range of topics from the federal budget and the appropriations outlook to manufacturing policy and, of course, shrimp treadmills. My opinion of the uniting themes tying this gamut together is just that—my opinion— and should only be taken as such. That being said, the threads I picked on in many of the talks can be summarized by three C’s: cooperation, communication, and citizenship.

First up, cooperation. Although sequestration’s most jarring impacts have faded, AAAS’s budget guru Matthew Hourihan warns that fiscal year 2016 could see a return of…let’s call it enhanced frugality. These cuts will fall disproportionately on social science, clean energy, and geoscience programs. With the possibility of more cuts to come, many speakers suggested that increased cooperation between entities could maximize value. This means increased partnership between science agencies and private organizations, as mentioned by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren, and between federal agencies and state and local governments, as highlighted by NSF Director France Córdova. Cooperation across directorates and agencies will also be a major focus of big interdisciplinary science and efforts to improve STEM education. Whatever the form, the name of the game will be recognizing fiscal limitations and fostering cooperation to make the most of what is available.

The next “C” is communication. Dr. Córdova made a point of listing communication among the top challenges facing the NSF, and talks given by Drs. Patricia Brennan (of duck penis fame) and David Scholnick (the aforementioned shrimp) reinforced the scale of this challenge. As these two researchers reminded us so clearly, information on the Web and in the media can be easily be misconstrued for political or other purposes in absence of the correct scientific context. To combat this, many speakers made it clear that basic science researchers must engage a wider audience, including elected officials, or risk our research being misconstrued, distorted, or deemed unnecessary. As Dr. Brennan said, it is important to remind the public that while not every basic research project develops into something applied, “every application derives from basic science.”

The last “C” is citizenship. Several of the speakers discussed the culture of science and interconnections between scientists and non-scientists. I think that these presentations collectively described what I’ll call good science citizenship.  For one, good science citizenship means that scientists will increasingly need to recognize our role in the wider innovation ecosystem if major new programs are ever going to move forward. For example, a panel on new initiatives in biomedical research focused on 21st Century Cures and President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative. Both of these proposal are going to be massive undertakings; the former will involve the NIH and FDA collaborating to speed the development and introduction of new drugs to the market, while the latter is going to require buy in from a spectrum of stakeholders including funders, patient groups, bioethicists, and civil liberty organizations. Scientists are critical to these endeavors, obviously, but we will need to work seamlessly across disciplines and with other stakeholders to ensure the data collected from these programs are interpreted and applied responsibly.

Good science citizenship will also require critical evaluation of the scientific enterprise and the separation of the scientific process from scientific values, a duality discussed during the William D. Carey lecture given by Dr. William Press. This means that scientists must actively protect the integrity of the research enterprise by supporting all branches of science, including the social sciences (a topic highlighted throughout the event), and by rigorously weeding out misconduct and fraud. Scientists must also do a better job of making our rationalist approach works with different value systems, recognizing that people will need to come together to address major challenges like climate change.  Part of this will be better communication to the public, but part of it will also be learning how different value systems influence judgement of complicated scientific issues (a subject of another great panel about Public Opinion and Policy Making). Good science citizenship, cultivated through professionalism and respectful engagement of non-scientists, will ultimately be critical to maintaining broad support for science in the U.S.

Asking for a Small Piece of the Nation’s Pie

By Rosalind Mott, PhD


This article was originally published in the Penn Biomed Postdoctoral Council Newsletter (Spring 2015).

Historically, the NIH has received straightforward bipartisan support; in particular, the doubling of the NIH budget from FY98-03 led to a rapid growth in university based research. Unfortunately, ever since 2003, inflation has been slowly eating away at the doubling effort (Figure 1). There seems little hope for recovery other than the brief restoration in 2009 by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Making matters worse, Congress now has an abysmal record of moving policy through as bipartisan fighting dominates the Hill.

Fig 1: The slow erosion of the NIH budget over the past decade
(figure adapted from: http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43341.pdf)
Currently, support directed to the NIH is a mere 0.79% of federal discretionary spending. The bulk of this funding goes directly to extramural research, providing salaries for over 300,000 scientists across 2500 universities.  As the majority of biomedical researchers rely on government funding, it behooves these unique constituents to rally for sustainable support from Congress. Along with other scientists across the country who are becoming more politically involved, the Penn Science Policy Group  arranged for a Congressional Visit Day (CVD) in which a small group of post doctoral researchers and graduate students visited Capitol Hill on March 18th to remind the House and Senate that scientific research is a cornerstone to the US economy and to alert them to the impact of the erosion on young researchers. 

Led by post-docs Shaun O’Brien and Caleph Wilson, the group partnered with the National Science Policy Group (NSPG), a coalition of young scientists across the nation, to make over 60 visits to Congressional staff. NSPG leaders from other parts of the country, Alison Leaf (UCSF) and Sam Brinton (Third Way, Wash. DC), arranged for a productive experience in which newcomers to the Hill trained for their meetings.  The Science Coalition (TSC) provided advice on how to effectively communicate with politicians: keep the message clear and simple, provide them with evidence of how science positively impacts society and the economy, and tell personal stories of how budget-cuts are affecting your research. TSC pointed out the undeniable fact that face to face meetings with Congress are the most effective way to communicate our needs as scientists. With the announcement of President Obama’s FY16 budget request in February, the House and Senate are in the midst of the appropriations season, so it was no better time to remind them of just how important the funding mechanism is.

Meeting with the offices of Pennsylvania senators, Pat Toomey and Bob Casey, and representatives, Glenn Thompson and Chaka Fattah were key goals, but the meetings were extended to reach out to the states where the young scientists were born and raised – everywhere from Delaware to California. Each meeting was fifteen to twenty minutes of rapid discussion of the importance of federally funded basic research. At the end of the day, bipartisan support for the NIH was found to exist at the government’s core, but the hotly debated topic of how to fund the system has stalled its growth.
Shaun O’Brien recaps a disappointing experience in basic requests made to Senator Toomey. Sen. Toomey has slowly shifted his stance to be more supportive of the NIH, so meeting with his office was an important step in reaching the Republicans:

We mentioned the "Dear Colleague" letter by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) that is asking budget appropriators to "give strong financial support for the NIH in the FY2016 budget". Sen. Toomey didn't sign onto it last year, especially as that letter asked for an increase in NIH funding to $31-32 billion and would have violated the sequester caps-which Sen. Toomey paints as a necessary evil to keep Washington spending in check. I asked the staffer for his thoughts on this year's letter, especially as it has no specific dollar figure and Sen. Toomey has stated his support for basic science research. The staffer said he would pass it along to Sen. Toomey and let him know about this letter.

Unfortunately, three weeks later, Sen. Toomey missed an opportunity to show his "newfound" support for science research as he declined to sign a letter that essentially supports the mission of the NIH.  I plan to call his office and see if I can get an explanation for why he failed to support this letter, especially as I thought it wouldn't have any political liability for him to sign.

Working with Congressman Chaka Fattah balanced the disappointment from Toomey with a spark of optimism. Rep. Fattah, a strong science supporter and member of the House Appropriations Committee, encourages scientists to implement twitter (tweet @chakafattah) to keep him posted on recent success stories and breakthroughs; these bits of information are useful tools in arguing the importance of basic research to other politicians.

Keeping those lines of communication strong is the most valuable role that we can play away from the lab.  Walking through the Russell Senate Office building, a glimpse of John McCain waiting for the elevator made the day surreal, removed from the normalcy of another day at the bench. The reality though is that our future as productive scientists is gravely dependent upon public opinion and in turn, government support. The simple act of outreach to the public and politicians is a common duty for all scientists alike whether it be through trips to the Hill or simple dinner conversations with our non-scientist friends.


Participants represented either their professional society and/or the National Science Policy Group, independent from their university affiliations. Support for the training and experience was provided by both the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Cambridge, MA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS of Washington, DC).

Welcome!

Welcome to the Penn Science Policy Group.  We are a group of scientists interested in the relationship between science and public policy, examining how both domains affect each other to shape our society.  

Our mission is:

1) To educate scientists about the process of science policy, namely how research and public policy can inform and guide each other.

2) To advocate for research and improve communication of science to the public.

3) To provide resources and training for scientists interested in developing a career in science policy.


We achieve these goals by discussing current issues in interactive monthly meetings, receiving career information from speakers and info sessions, and refining relevant skills through written and oral public communication.  

Whether you are planning a science policy career, or simply looking to stay abreast with important issues, we are here to help you learn about and navigate the field of science policy. 

For more information, please email penn.science.policy@gmail.com.

Thanks,
PSPG