Conference and Workshop Support: Models and Prediction: A Research Workshop, University of California, San Diego; May 26-28, 2006

项目概要本提案寻求资金，以支持在圣地亚哥的加州大学举办为期三天的研究讲习班，从历史、哲学、社会学和政策的角度研究模型在科学中的作用。这个跨学科的研讨会将绘制该领域的现状，综合来自不同科学和人文领域的见解，并考虑在公共政策决策中使用（和滥用）模型的影响。参与者将包括UCSD人文，社会科学和自然科学教师;科学研究生;和18-20名外部演讲者。外部演讲者将包括科学研究学者，他们是该主题的公认专家，以及建模者和对建模的历史，哲学或社会学感兴趣的科学家。请拨经费支付来自海外的五名外部发言者的旅费。国际与会者是主要学者，也是讲习班的重要组成部分。所有其他会议费用的资金已经从UCSD人文中心，UCSD科学研究计划，UCSD物理科学，生物科学和海洋学研究所的部门筹集。知识价值在于理解模型作为现代科学的普遍工具的重要性，以及对全球变暖，臭氧消耗和饮用水中的砷等主题的政策决策的主要投入。 尽管科学建模受到了关注，但在科学研究内部或科学研究与科学之间，从各个学科的角度工作的学者之间的思想交流相对较少。基于专家的工作可以通过更广泛地了解其他地方所做的工作以及与建模科学家的讨论来加强。这次讲习班将促进这种认识和讨论。这样做，将有助于学者获得更深入和更全面的理解当代科学实践，其中建模的数字突出。该讲习班旨在产生更广泛的影响，因为组织者相信科学研究对社会使用科学知识的相关性。 该研讨会将研究和教育结合起来，补充了作为现有NSF小额研究和培训赠款“证明说服力和政策”（PPP）的一部分而开展的教学活动。研究生将积极参与，组织研讨会将是现任博士后专业发展的重要组成部分。 该研讨会将促进人文和科学的跨学科合作;几位讨论者将是具有建模专业知识的UCSD科学家。视研讨会的成功和论文的质量而定，组织者希望出版一本编辑过的书，汇集研讨会上的主要见解和成果。 最终，我们希望更好地理解科学建模可以促进更明智地使用模型来制定和评估公共政策，并有助于消除公共政策辩论各方之间的混乱和困惑。

PROJECT SUMMARYThis proposal seeks funds to support a three-day Research Workshop at the University of California, San Diego, examining the role of models in science from a historical, philosophical, sociological and policy perspective. This interdisciplinary workshop will map the current state of the field, synthesize insights derived from different scientific and humanistic domains, and consider the implications for the use (and abuse)of models in public policy decision-making. Participants will include UCSD faculty in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences; science studies graduate students; and 18-20 outside speakers. Outside speakers will include science studies scholars who are acknowledged experts on the topic, and scientists who are modelers and have an interest in the history, philosophy, or sociology of modeling. Funds are requested to cover travel costs of five outside speakers who will be coming from overseas. The international participants are leading scholars and an important component of the workshop. Funding for all other conference costs has beenraised from the UCSD Humanities Center, the UCSD Science Studies Program, and UCSD divisions of Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, and ScrippsInstitution of Oceanography. The intellectual merit resides in the importance of understanding models as a ubiquitous tool of modern science, and a major input to policy decisions on such topics as global warming, ozone depletion, and arsenic in drinking water. Despite the attention paid to scientific modeling, there remains relatively little cross-pollination of ideas among scholars who work from the perspectives of individual disciplines either within science studies, or between science studies and the sciences. Specialist work based can be enhanced by a broader awareness of work done elsewhere, as well as by discussion with scientists who are modelers. This workshop will facilitate such awareness and discussion. In doing so, it will help scholars to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the contemporary practice of science, in which modeling figures prominently. The workshop is designed to have significant broader impact, as the organizers are convinced of the pertinence of science studies for the use of scientific knowledge in society. The workshop integrates research and education, complementing the pedagogical activities undertaken as part of an existing NSF Small Research and Training Grant, "Proof Persuasion and Policy" (PPP). Graduate students will be active participants, and organizing the workshop will be an important part of the professional development of the current postdoctoral fellow. The workshop will promote interdisciplinary collaboration in the humanities and the sciences; several discussants will be UCSD scientists with modeling expertise. Contingent on the success of the workshop and the quality of the papers, the organizers hope to publish an edited book that brings together the key insights and results arrived at in the workshop. Ultimately, we hope that a better understanding of scientific modeling may facilitate wiser use of models in developing and evaluating public policies andhelp to obviate confusion and obfuscation among parties to public policy debates.