Using science to ease tension and build international bridges

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Scientists and technology experts are the latest U.S. diplomatic weapon.

At the National Science Foundation, for instance, science-related partnerships with foreign nations have yielded significant benefits, said Larry Weber, director of the Office of International Science and Engineering.

Weber said that collaborating countries benefit from an increased presence of technical experts in varying disciplines and greater access to open data. In 2003 as the avian flu hit Asia, cybernetworking of information between the United States and Asian countries made real-time data and statistics quickly and readily available.

"We have to look beyond the borders of the United States," Weber said. "There needs to be a pooling of databases, by being able to tap into different perspectives for the same set of questions. All of those are reasons for collaborating internationally in research and education."

At the October meeting of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, members discussed the nation's changing relationship with other countries through the use of science as a means to promote international dialogues.

"In these strategic dialogues, what we are seeing is that science is really everywhere," said Kerri Ann-Jones, assistant secretary of state for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs-designate. "It is coming up in energy, it is coming up in the agriculture issues; it is coming up in all of the topics that are central to the relationship. It is very much an element of these large strategic dialogues."

Jones said the best way to successfully use science as a solution to problems is to focus on building relationships with other nations and combining efforts among scientific thinkers and researchers.

"The international component is critical to enable U.S. researchers to remain at the frontier," said Anne Emig, program manager at the National Science Foundation's office of International Science and Engineering. "The world and workforce is smaller and more global. It is important for workforce development and for students."

U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration have issued strong statements in support of scientific research and exploration to foster creativity in the nation.

"We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP (gross domestic product) to research and development," Obama said in an April speech to the National Academy of Sciences. "We will not just meet but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine and improve education in math and science."