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Northeastern Voice: Fulbright panel discussion highlights importance of social scientists in global issues

By Jenny Eriksen

President Joseph Aoun seized the moment with the record attendance at last Friday's Fulbright Conference to underscore the importance of social science in solving global and societal needs.

"Some of the hardest problems are in the realm of social science," said Aoun, who took part in a panel discussion on Friday after delivering the greetings of the university.

"At Northeastern, we aim to bring social scientists and policy makers together to identify the issuesand collaborate on how to overcome them together," he said.

The Fulbright Conference, which ran from Feb. 14 to 17, was hosted by Northeastern's Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN). Three days of discussion and debate by mbmers of the Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology addressed energy and innovation issues on a global scale.

More than 150 registered attendees from 30 different countries took part in the conference, which was the largest event to date for the academy.

Ahmed Busnaina, William Lincoln Smith Chair and director of CHN, welcomed the attendees on Friday and presented an overview of Northeastern's many nanoscale science projects, including work with biosensors, memory devices and batteries.

"The CHN is one of 14 nanoscale facilities in the country," said Busnaina. "Our idea is to bring manufacturing to the nanoscale level and build from the bottom up, atom by atom."

Busnaina's remarks were followed by a panel discussion on linguistics and social sciences, and the role that math, economic and social sciences play in education and innovation, featuring Aoun. He was joined by David Lightfoot, head of the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Lim Chuan Poh, chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology & Research in Singapore.

Aoun lauded the role of the Fulbright Academy in creating global awareness.

Taking issue with the best-seller "The World Is Flat," which argued that world cultures are becoming homogenized, Aoun said, "The purpose of the Fulbright Academy is based on the premise that the world is not flat, and that there is a need for an increased sensitivity to the cultural differences among us."

Poh discussed the history and methodology behind math and science education in Singapore. When the country became independent in 1965 there was a large population of uneducated people, and implementing a first-class education system became a top priority. Today, Singapore's multiethnic population continues to perform above international averages in math and sciences assessments, he said.

Lightfoot discussed the inherent and learned aspects of linguistics and some of the programs that the NSF is focusing on to bring together learning and social sciences. Current NSF programs include Science Learning Centers, of which there are six across the country, looking at learning and cognitive theories. The NSF is also working on designing machine-based learning systems with the capabilities of biological learning.

"We are examining the complexity of interactions between simple systems, either learned or builtin," said Lightfoot.

One of the questions posed by Aoun was the role of social sciences and global innovation. "My concern is that intellectual profiling exists in some countries, and that the hierarchy of students puts scientists, doctors and business people above experts in social sciences," he said. "While this may be controversial, I want to acknowledge the consequences of such a theory."

Following the discussion on linguistics and social sciences was a panel led by Secretary of State's Condoleezza Rice's science and technology adviser, Nina Fedoroff, exploring ideas and issues related to renewable energy.

These panel sessions were preceded by a full day of events, including a lecture by a noted NASA scientist on deep space exploration and a workshop on science and technology exchanges between the U.S. and the Muslim world, with a particular focus on the effects of the bilateral Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement between the United States and Libya.

The four-day conference concluded with discussions on urban planning and sustainable cities, science policy implementation, women in science, and ocean videography.

Source: This article was originally published in the February 20, 2007 edition of the Northeastern Voice.