This July, Nobel Laureates as well as a number of other leading scientists, government and industry leaders and academics will gather at Dartmouth in order to help guide Congressional policy for the next 25 years.
The Dow Chemical Company and the National Science Foundation announced at a recent press conference that they will award a $100,000 grant to Dartmouth as part of the National Science Foundation's 50th anniversary program, "NSF 50: Where Discoveries Begin."
The week-long series of roundtable discussions to be held at Dartmouth -- "S.E.E.ing (Science, Engineering and Education) the Future Institute" -- will be hosted by former astronaut and Dartmouth professor of environmental studies, Mae Jemison.
George Langford, a professor of biological sciences at the College, said at the press conference that the discussions will focus on "the major areas that we should be thinking about for science and engineering research."
The discussions will consider the future impact of science, engineering and technology on society.
"Science is researched, engineering applied, technology developed and education offered based on the will of society," Langford said at the Washington event.
"That will relate directly to how well the public and our leaders understand the pivotal role science and technology play in our everyday lives. The roundtables will help bolster public understanding," Langford continued.
The NSF hopes the discussions hosted by Dartmouth will establish a framework for the roles and priorities of government, industry and academies in the coming years.
The end product of the discussions will be a paper full of recommendations that will help to guide U.S. policy in science and engineering research and development, and education over the next 25 years.
Participants of the conference will convene again in Washington, D.C. in September in order to present these recommendations to Congress.
The conference at Dartmouth is only one of several initiatives launched by the NSF in partnership with the College, and the Dow Chemical Company and Science Service, a nonprofit organization that works to promote public understanding of science.
The anniversary program -- "NSF 50" -- is designed to educate the public about the role of the NSF in transforming the way Americans live and work and to guide public-private relationships in the years to come.
As part of the program, Dow has also given a 600,000 dollar grant to the NSF for the "Scientists and Engineers In the Schools" program.
That program is intended to bring some of today's top scientists into middle schools across the nation.
The Foundation hopes that by sharing their experiences, the prestigious scientists will both introduce students to the opportunities available to them as well as foster personal relationships with role models.
The third component of the National Science Foundation's initiative is a new website at designed to educate the public about the role of the NSF as well as to present information on its anniversary initiatives.
The discoveries featured on the webpage, nsfoutreach.org, include the Internet, Doppler Radar, magnetic resonance imaging and fiber optics.
