# Presentation: 173864

## SBE Advisory Committee Meeting

- Michael J. Feuer, Executive Director
- Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
- The National Academies
- November 20-21, 2008

## The National Academies

**National Academy of Sciences ****(1863)**
**National Research Council****(1916)**
**National Academy of Engineering ****(1964)**
**Institute of Medicine                    ****(1970)**

***Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine***

## NAS Act of Incorporation 

**“****... the Academy shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art ... **
**     ****the Academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States.”**
**- 1863**

## Magnetic Deviation

## Fast forward

- 1863	NAS Act of Incorporation
- 1916	NRC established as wartime effort
- 1918	NRC perpetuated by Executive Order
- 1954	NAS President becomes Chair of NRC
- 1962	Formal designation of NAS President as		NRC Chair
-  1964	NAE established under NAS auspices
-  1970	IOM established under NAS auspices
-  1973	NRC reorganized
-  2001	Reorganization as recommended by the 			Task Force on NRC Goals and 				Operations

## Founding of the NRC

- In wartime (1916)
- 	to organize the scientific and technical resources of the country for the war effort
- In its perpetuation (1918)
- 	to promote scientific and engineering research, cooperation in research, survey the larger possibilities of science and engineering, and disseminate knowledge
- Established as the operating arm of the NAS, with 	expertise from professional societies, industry, and government agencies.

## NAS BUILDING: 1924 Dedication with President Coolidge

**NAS BUILDING: 1924 Dedication with President Coolidge**

## Purposes

- To advance science and technology
- To advise government
- on applications of science and engineering to policy
- on policy for science, engineering, and health care

## Special Features

- Stature of academies’ memberships
- Ability to get the very best to serve
- “*Pro Bono”* nature of committee service
- Special relationship to government
- Quality assurance and control procedures
- Reputation for independence and objectivity

## Dr. Harvey Fineberg

- President, IOM

- MR. RUSSERT:  Was there pressure?
- DR. FINEBERG:  Absolutely not, Tim.  In fact, the whole reason why the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council exists is to be **an independent voice outside of government to work on behalf of the needs of the American people**.  That's what we do.  Agencies do not always hear from us what they want to hear.  Sometimes the evidence does not point in a direction that is welcome.  Stem cell guidelines or information about climate change or, for example, the ways to fix the Hubble Telescope which came out of the National Academies--all of these are studies undertaken on behalf of the American public and the same was true for our assessment of vaccine safety.
- Excerpt from transcript between Tim Russert, NBC and Dr. Harvey Fineberg, IOM; Meet the Press; August 7, 2005

## Slide 11

## The National Academies

**The National Academies**

## Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE)

- Behavior and Development

- Governance

- Education

- Measurement

- Children &
- Families

- Cognitive &
- Sensory

- Human
- Factors

- Science

- Mathematics

- Testing &
- Assessment

- Teachers

- National
- Statistics

- Evidence for
- Use

- Key National
- Indicators

- Global
- Change

- Law &
- Justice

- Population

## DBASSE:Mission and Scope

- common versus state standards for education
- racial and ethnic differences in health
- psychology of learning
- prepare for an aging workforce
- trade-offs between security and individual privacy
- the nature of risk
- features of high quality child-care settings
- mitigation of unwanted climate change
- federal fiscal deficit
- economic productivity and innovation

- Advancing the frontiers of the behavioral, social, and
- education sciences and their application to public policy.

## DBASSE:Priority Areas

-   National Security *(DHS, ODNI)*
-   Learning and Brain Sciences *(NSF, NICHD, DoEd)*
-   Climate Change *(NSF, Hewlett Foundation, Venture Fund)*
-   Gaming and Education *(NSF, Hewlett Foundation)*
-   Competitiveness and Innovation *(Venture Fund)*
-   Human Capital
-   Adequacy of the Statistical Workforce for Federal Agency Needs *(NIH)*
*  *Future of Journalism and Communications

## Slide 17

## All Time Academies Best Sellers

- On Being a Scientist, 1st and 2nd eds.
**National Science Education Standards**
**Eager to Learn:  Summary *Special*  **
**Starting Out Right: Reading **
**Everybody Counts:  Helping Children Learn Math**
- Guide for Care & Use of Lab Animals
**How People Learn: Expanded Ed/Paperback **
- Info Wom Silicone Breast Imp: Bklt
**Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children **
- Recommended Dietary Allowances, 9th ed.
- Science, Medicine & Animals
- Nutrition During Pregnancy & Lactation: Impl Guide
**Guide Child Care Professionals/Engl  **
**Inquiry & the Natl Sci Educ Std**

- Recom Dietary Allowances – 10th ed.
**Introducing the NSES Booklet  **
- Science, Medicine and Animals, 2nd ed.
- Adviser Teacher Role Model Friend
- Biodiversity—paper ed.
- Vetiver: Thin Green Line Agnst Eros
- Nutrition During Preg – Summary
- Prud Prac Handling Chemicals Cloth
- Nutrition During Lactation Summary
- Nutrient Req Beef Cattle
- Nutrient Req Dairy Cattle 5th ed
**On the Shoulders of Giants**
**Teaching Evolution & the Nature of Science **
- The Hidden Epidemic: Summary
- Designing Foods-Paper

## Slide 19

## NSF supported studies [partial list]

**Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists: A Framework for **
**Program Assessment** *(2008)*

**Using the American Community Survey for NSFs Science and Engineering Workforce Statistics Program** *(2008)*

**Putting People on the Map: Protecting Confidentiality with Linked Social-Spatial Data** *(2007)*

**Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8** *(2007)*

**Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the US Economy*** (2004)*

## Current NSF-Funded Projects in DBASSE

- Support for CNSTAT, BBCSS
- Social Science Evidence for Use
- Enhancing Professional Development for Teachers
- Panel on Future Directions for the NSF Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development
- Confidentiality Criteria for Statistics from Survey of Earned Doctorates
- Learning Science in Informal Environments
- Learning Science in Informal Environments: Practitioner Volume
- Linking Evidence and Promising Practices in STEM Undergraduate Education

## DBASSE Volunteer Participation*

- NAS Members

- 30

- NAE Members

-  2

- IOM Members

- 13

- Total Academy

- 42

- Non Academy

- 129

- Total Board

- 174

- % Academy
- Members

- 24%

- *January 2008

## Slide 23

## Thank you

- _[mfeuer@nas.edu](mailto:mfeuer@nas.edu)_
- 202-334-2300