AAAS Panel to Consider the Election's Impact on Science and Technology

With the dust beginning to settle after the high-intensity 2004 campaign, the American Association for the Advancement of Science is convening a panel of top-tier experts on Wednesday, 1 December, to evaluate how the election results will affect science and technology in the years ahead.

The two-hour forum, a collaboration of AAAS, Research!America and the Washington Science Policy Alliance, will take place in the AAAS Auditorium, 1200 New York Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. (entrance at 12th & H Sts.), from 9 to 11 a.m. A continental breakfast will be available in the second floor lobby of the AAAS Building beginning at 8 a.m. The event will also be webcast live on AAAS.org/election and listeners can ask questions through an e-mail form.

Featured on the panel will be:

• former U.S. Rep. John Porter (R-Ill.), who for many years chaired the House Appropriations subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education which has responsibility for NIH's budget. Porter is a partner in the law firm of Hogan and Hartson and chair-elect of Research!America.
• Kathleen Frankovic, director of surveys at CBS News. Frankovic manages the CBS News Survey Unit, which designs and carries out all CBS News and CBS News/New York Times polls.
• Bob Palmer, staff director for the minority side on the House Committee on Science.

The panel will be moderated by Alan I. Leshner, the chief executive officer of AAAS and executive publisher of the journal Science.

There is no charge for the event, but an RSVP is required by 5 p.m. Monday 29 November.

The forum is the latest in a series of AAAS events and analyses related to the 2004 campaign and election. Earlier, AAAS and WSPA brought together representatives of the George W. Bush and John Kerry campaigns to discuss the candidates' views on science and technology. And a panel convened by AAAS in September assessed problems related to America's voting technology.

Research!America is a not-for-profit, membership-supported public education and advocacy alliance working to make medical and health research — including public health research — a much higher national priority.

— Edward W. Lempinen

24 November 2004