Upcoming Events
Vedlitz Invited to Participate in National Energy and Climate Policy Conversation
Dr. Arnold Vedlitz, director of the Institute for Science, Technology, and Public Policy, has been invited by the Howard Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars to help organize and participate in a workshop entitled "Foundation of Energy and Climate Policy: Toward an Open and Transparent Process."
Scheduled for June 18-19, 2009, in Washington, D.C., the invitation-only workshop will explore how systems thinking and modeling approaches can be used to create a transparent framework that supports policymakers; engages expert knowledge; and informs government, private sector, and individual American stakeholders on the trade-offs and consequences of various policy options. Dr. Vedlitz will serve as chair of a discussion panel entitled "Energy and Climate Policy and Stakeholder Domains: Goals, Perspectives and Interconnections."
This two day conference is the second event in the "Joint Program on Presidential Policy-Making: Formulating a Bipartisan Energy and Climate Policy for America." The Joint Program was formed to explore how best to assist policymakers in understanding the implications of various energy and climate policy options. On May 18th, Wilson Center Director Lee Hamilton and Baker Center founder, Howard Baker, hosted the "Roundtable on White House Policy-Making." The roundtable brought together a group of former White House, federal agency, and congressional leaders.
A written report will summarize the key findings and recommendations of the workshop and become part of the final report of the overall Joint Program. This final report will be sent to the president and key members of his administration; to leaders in Congress; and to other interested individuals and institutions in government, education, and industry.
Research Highlights
West, Lindquist, and Mosher-Howe publish in PAR
ISTPP's Eric Lindquist, associate director and associate research scientist, and Katrina Mosher-Howe, assistant research scientist, along with William F. West, professor and holder of the Sara Lindsey Chair in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, published their article, "NOAA's Resurrection of Program Budgeting: Déjà Vu All Over Again," in the April 2009 issue of Public Administration Review, considered one of the premiere journals in the field of public administration. The article examines the experience of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in implementing program planning and budgeting. The article is available to PAR subscribers online at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122325148/HTMLSTART
Lindquist attends Copenhagen Climate Congress
In March 2009, more than 2,500 climate experts from 80 countries gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, for Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions, an international scientific congress on climate change. ISTPP research scientist Eric Lindquist was one of these experts. "Attending the Climate Congress in Copenhagen was an exciting experience. Social and policy sciences, and the significant contributions they can provide to the climate science and policy community, were in the forefront of the plenary sessions. It was exciting to witness and participate in the interdisciplinary discussions and panels."
The main goal of this congress was to identify, discuss, and synthesize the scientific, technological, and policy information needed to make decisions regarding responses to climate change. The congress provides a summary of existing scientific knowledge two years after the last IPCC report and precedes the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled for Copenhagen in December 2009. All findings will be compiled in a book on climate change, and a synthesis report with the main findings will be provided to policy makers before the UN conference.
Full text of the final statement from the International Scientific Conference on Climate Change — Copenhagen, March 10-12, 2009
ARCHIVE
Dr. Xinsheng Liu, ISTPP Associate Research Scientist, and Dr. Ren Mu, assistant professor in the Bush School, will be co-directing an international field seminar entitled "China's Economic Development and Foreign Policy," and leading a group of Bush School students to visit the China Foreign Affairs University and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies at the end of May 2009. The seminar will introduce students to the social, economic, political, security and cultural aspects of a country that is in the process of rapidly transforming itself in all these dimensions.