Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Abstracts: 25

CIRES Science Policy Center Staff

The recent decade has seen growing interest among scientists in investigating research problems that require the input of more than just a single traditional discipline. At the same time, decision makers in both public and private settings have asked the science and technology communities to provide knowledge that is more directly usable in their decision-making. Science and technology policy research provides a mechanism to reconcile these two closely related - but not identical - trends. By linking integrative science with the needs of decision makers, science and technology policy research can serve a valuable role in helping the research community better focus its efforts on issues of importance to society, and in helping decision makers to effectively incorporate scientific and technological advances into their decision processes. CIRES supports a unique set of efforts at the interface of science and decision making. These efforts focus on rigorous research on themes such as science in support of policy development, policy development in support of science, technology policy, and technology assessment. Science and technology policy research draws on a rich tapestry of expertise and collaboration - such as found in the physical, biological, earth, and social sciences, as well as law, journalism, health sciences and the humanities - to further integrate disciplinary and interdisciplinary research supported through CIRES research themes, scientific assessments, education, and outreach with growing demands for science and technology to better serve decision making needs in the public, private, and non-governmental sectors.