Understanding the Impacts of the Post-September 11 Environment on Science

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This is a NSF Small Grants for Exploratory Research to enable the American Association for the Advancement of Science to gather and establish time-critical base-line data on the impacts of post 9/11 security measures on the conduct of scientific research. Since 9/11, finding the right balance between serving the national security and maintaining the openness required for the advancement of science has increasingly become a challenge. The scientific community has acknowledged its responsibilities to contribute to the nation's security, but has voiced concerns about the impacts on science of increased emphasis on national security. There is anecdotal evidence that the research community has been affected in ways that have disrupted the conduct and communication of scientific research. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) project will track and analyze the impacts on science of new national security initiatives. In the initial year of what is intended to be a longer-term effort, AAAS will design a database to collect and manage data documenting instances of how science and scientists have been affected. It will collect these data through several different methodologies, and create a web site to serve as a clearinghouse of information on issues related to science and security. AAAS will eventually make the database accessible to others for extended analyses of the data. During the course of the project, AAAS will periodically brief the media, U.S. policy makers, representatives of industry and foreign embassies, and members of the scientific community on its findings.