Science, Policy, and the Community: A Symposium in Post-Katrina New Orleans

该项目由科学、技术和社会计划资助，支持一个研讨会，该研讨会调查后卡特里娜飓风后新奥尔良的政策决策中利益相关者、科学家和公众之间的沟通。研讨会于2010年11月中旬举行，恰逢卡特里娜飓风五周年。研讨会的两个目标是：1)检查和改善新奥尔良地区科学家、工程师、其他学术学者、政策制定者和公众之间的互动，改进公众对研究和政策决策的投入机制，并仔细审查科学家和学者在社区事务中所起的作用；2)汇聚来自不同领域的学者，他们通常不进行互动，鼓励研究新奥尔良地区生态和社会动态的创新、跨学科研究，研究能够满足公民和政策制定者的需求并提高地区复原力。学术价值：研讨会代表了对科学家、工程师和其他学术学者的社会、公民角色的审视。这是一种智力练习，它指导着科学研究的开展方式，以及科学家和学者开展工作的方式。研讨会的一个主要目的是将学术界和非学术界的研究人员和利益攸关方聚集在一起，他们很少有机会互动和合作。由此产生的讨论、联盟、协作团队和跨学科研究计划催化了创新的、协作的学术研究。广泛的影响：研讨会的一个主要目标是让公众和代表性不足的群体的成员参与进来，检查和加强公众对新奥尔良地区(和其他地区)科学政策的投入场所，并在一个面临环境和社会脆弱性严重挑战的地区改善社会和个人福祉。主办机构迪拉德大学是一所历史悠久的黑人学院，与新奥尔良的非裔美国人社区有着长期密切的联系，其性质加强了来自代表性不足群体的学者以及经常被剥夺学术和公共政策工作权利的社区成员和领导人对研讨会的参与。纳入当地公民和来自代表性不足群体的学生带来了包容性研究和政策制定的新范式，这是一个关键目标，因为世界各地面临社会经济挑战的社区往往是受全球变化影响最大的社区。因此，为这次研讨会计划的讨论和互动有可能改变学术研究和公共政策制定的进行方式。

This project funded by the Science, Technology & Society program supports a symposium that investigates communication among stakeholders, scientists, and publics into policy decisions in post-Katrina New Orleans. The symposium takes place in mid-November 2010, which coincides closely with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The two objectives for the symposium are: 1) To examine and improve the interaction among scientists, engineers, other academic scholars, policy makers, and the public in the New Orleans region, to improve mechanisms for public input into research and policy decisions, and to scrutinize the role scientists and scholars play in community affairs; 2) To bring together scholars from diverse fields who do not normally interact, to stimulate innovative, interdisciplinary research addressing ecological and social dynamics in the New Orleans region, research that can satisfy the needs of citizens and policy makers and improve regional resilience. Intellectual merits: The symposium represents an effort to scrutinize the societal, civic role of scientists, engineers, and other academic scholars. This is an intellectual exercise that informs the way scientific research is carried out, and the way scientists and scholars go about their work. A key aim of the symposium is to bring together groups of researchers and stakeholders, academic and non-academic, who rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to interact and collaborate. The resulting discussions, coalitions, collaborative teams, and interdisciplinary research programs catalyze innovative, collaborative academic research.Broader impacts: A major goal of the symposium is to involve public citizens and members of underrepresented groups, to examine and enhance the venues for public input into science policy in the New Orleans region (and beyond) and to improve social and individual well-being in an area facing grave challenges in terms of environmental and social vulnerability. The nature of the hosting institution, Dillard University, a Historically Black College with longstanding close ties to the African American community in New Orleans, enhances the participation in the symposium of scholars from underrepresented groups, as well as community members and leaders who are often disenfranchised from the workings of academics and public policy. The inclusion of local citizens and students from underrepresented groups bring about a new paradigm in inclusive research and policy-making, a crucial goal when socioeconomically challenged communities worldwide are often the ones most impacted by global change. The discussion and interaction planned for this symposium thus has the potential to change the way academic inquiry and public policy-making are carried out.