Social and Behavioral Sciences in Action -- Sept. 24 Symposium

Social and Behavioral Sciences in Action is a new National Research Council initiative to raise awareness of the vitality, validity, and value of the social and behavioral sciences to the scientific enterprise, public policy, and the nation’s well-being.  The program will highlight ways these sciences can help identify solutions to some of America's most pressing challenges to research policy and practice. 

The inaugural symposium will feature perspectives on the social and behavioral sciences' contributions to national security, medicine, and engineering, with commentary from Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences and chair of the National Research Council; Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine; and Charles M. Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering. 

Other speakers include:

- Rita R. Colwell, president and chair, CosmosID Inc.; Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University; and Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland, College Park

- Mary L. (Missy) Cummings, director, Humans and Automation Lab, department of aeronautics and astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

- Robert A. Fein, officer, The Metis Group Inc., and clinical instructor, department of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

- Lucian L. Leape, adjunct professor, department of health policy and management, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University

- John D. Lee, professor, department of industrial and systems engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison

- Kenneth Prewitt, professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

DETAILS:

The event will be held from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Room 100 of the National Academies' Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W, Washington, D.C.  Registration is required; reporters wishing to attend should contact the Office of News and Public Information; tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu.  Those who cannot attend may watch via webcast at http://www.nationalacademies.org.  More information and a full agenda can be found at http://www.sbs-in-action.org.