Science and Leadership: President Jackson Delivers the Prestigious William D. Carey Lecture in Washington

Mark McCarty

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson addressed the 28th Annual Colloquium for Science and Technology Policy in Washington, D.C. on April 10. Jackson presented the 2003 William D. Carey Lecture at the colloquium, which is sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The title of her speech was “Standing on the Knife Edge: The Leadership Imperative.”

Jackson, who is president-elect of AAAS, was selected to deliver the prestigious lecture earlier this year. In Washington last week, she addressed the critical importance for science and technological leaders to actively participate in policy making, in public outreach, and in educating the next generation of leaders.

“As the events of the past century have made painfully clear, there is a ‘knife-edge’ to the advancement of science,” said Jackson. “The misuse of science could take us to the brink. Yet, science also can lead us toward salvation.

“As the events of the past century have made painfully clear, there is a ‘knife-edge’ to the advancement of science. The misuse of science could take us to the brink. Yet, science also can lead us toward salvation." —President Shirley Ann Jackson—

“Taken on its own, science is, essentially, a neutral commodity — choosing no sides, offering no judgments, rendering no opinions — except with respect to the science itself,” she continued. “Scientific research, at its most basic, consists of poking about the universe, manipulating variables, asking questions, recording observations, attempting to draw logical conclusions about what has been observed, and making predictions, adding to the compendium of knowledge — about living things, about the physical world, about computation. But, science is no stranger to controversy, because there are always debates about scientific results and discoveries themselves — their veracity, their repeatability.”

How can science answer the big questions we face today? What is the role of the scientist in forming public policy? More importantly, what are the best ways to educate the public about scientific and technological development, and encourage the next generation of scientists? Science provokes questions, said Jackson. Science also demands strong leadership.