Previous Fora / 2011
TUREKIAN, Vaughan
Chief International Officer, AAAS
Vaughan Turekian is the Chief International Officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In this role, he leads, develops and coordinates the broad range of AAAS’s international activities. He is also the Director of AAAS’s Center for Science Diplomacy, which aims to bring together stakeholders from the scientific and foreign policy communities to identify ways to better apply science cooperation to building relationships between and among nations.
Dr. Turekian served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, where he was a lead advisor on international science, technology, environment and health issues, including, clean energy, sustainable development, climate change, scientific outreach and avian influenza. He is the two-time recipient of the Department’s Superior Honor Award for his work on climate change and avian influenza.
Prior to his time at the State Department, Dr. Turekian worked at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In 2001, he was the Study Director for the White House-requested NAS report on climate change science. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Nonresident Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution and has published a numerous articles on the linkages between science and international policy. Dr. Turekian received his master’s and doctorate in atmospheric geochemistry from the University of Virginia. He is a graduate of Yale University with degrees in geology and geophysics and international studies.
ABSTRACT
11:00-13:00 18 NOVEMBER
THEMATIC SESSION II. AAAS: “Developing a coherent and compatible science enterprise”
Science and technology (S&T) is now a component of every major challenge facing modern society-providing clean and sustainable energy, protecting the environment, accessing clean water and fertile land, preventing the spread of infectious diseases, and sustaining economic development and growth. Although every challenge has unique local characteristics, there are sufficient implications across a region, or even globally, that they can only be successfully addressed by regionally coordinated efforts. Given the increasing investments in science and institutional development, and the ultimate role of these activities to addressing shared regional and global challenges, it is ever more important to ensure a coherent science system. In developing coherence, there are three broad areas - Education, talent development and mobility; funding and priority-setting ; Conduct, ethics and norms - which seem ripe for action. Efforts in this building coherence and compatibility can draw from prior experiences - including those at a continental size (e.g. Europe) for identifying barriers and opportunities as well as mechanisms and institutions that might better facilitate this.