STEP at Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech Policy Destination Area www.step.vt.edu

STEP FORWARD

The Coronavirus pandemic is shining a bright light on the critical importance of science-policy interactions. We depend upon the models and advice of medical and other experts and put significant hope in researchers finding a cure. Yet, decision-making around matters ranging from when stores and schools can reopen to where to allocate medical and other assets are necessarily also informed by social, economic, and other factors. It is clear that scientists, engineers, and other technical experts have central roles to play in public policy. The STEP Program offers STEM-H students the approaches and skills to work with other sectors of society to achieve fair, efficient, stable, and wise solutions. Challenges and opportunities at the science-policy interface are not unique to the Coronavirus. Virtually all of today’s social, environmental, and economic challenges demand solutions that draw on expertise from multiple disciplines and take the interests and knowledge of affected stakeholders into account.

In the spirit of Ut Prosim, Virginia Tech students, faculty and staff are leaders in using their technical knowledge to tackle complex problems. The Science, Technology and Engineering in Policy (STEP) program builds on that excellence and commitment to service. The STEP program enhances the capacities of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and health care (STEM-H) graduate students to be effective participants and collaborators in policy processes. The program develops participants’ abilities to engage with complex public problems, recognizing that they are social and technical in nature. Program goal: Develop and enhance STEM-H students’ understanding of policy processes and capacity to integrate scientific and engineering knowledge with public policy reasoning.

Target audience: Graduate students from non-policy (primarily STEM-H) disciplines.

THE STEP PROGRAM CONSIDERS SCIENCE IN CONTEXT

“Science, by itself, provides no panacea for individual, social, and economic ills. It can be effective in the national welfare only as a member of a team, whether the conditions be peace or war.”

Science is as important as ever to solving grand global challenges. Scientific insights help us to better understand the problems we face and unlock new information on how we can address them. Whether basic or applied, many scientists endeavor to find new ways to make their findings relevant to decision-making and contribute to improving our world.

Vannevar Bush Pioneering engineer and science administrator (1945)

THE STEP PROGRAM EXPLORES THE IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY

“Science and policy are becoming more intertwined every day and there is growing interest among STEM-H students to take part in advising the decisions that will shape the future. To effectively influence the process, students need training and an understanding of how policymaking works.”

From state-of-the-art medical scanners to solar panels, technology has made innumerable contributions to improving our lives . However, many technologies have also come with negative, often unintended, consequences, including increased environmental pollution and social tensions. Engineers, scientists, and other technical experts have a responsibility to take the various potential impacts of their interventions into account, and society needs to have a say in how we use technologies.

Kathryn G. Lopez VT Environmental Engineering Ph.D. Student

THE STEP PROGRAM ENCOURAGES HOLISTIC THINK

“Going into the future, we as a society face numerous urgent environmental and public health grand challenges. Advances in science and technology are only part of the solution; policy is the capstone that brings people together to put solutions into practice in a mutually-agreeable way.”

Amy Pruden W. Thomas Rice Professor VT Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

KING

Engineers and scientists play critical roles in addressing global challenges. From agricultural innovations to zoonotic diseases, VT students, faculty, and staff are leading the way in using engineering tools and thinking to better understand problems and devise solutions. The STEP program trains students how to systematically consider societal concerns and implications from the initial design process through to implementation.

“In my time as a graduate student studying the ecology of invasive plants, I’ve had several great opportunities to glimpse the world of policy. One experience was a field course in Washington D.C. that featured discussions with federal agency administrators, conservation NGOs, industry advocates, and legislative staff—all of whom shed light on the tremendous complexity of their professional responsibilities. This direct contact allowed my classmates and I to appreciate the range of political forces that act on the findings provided by invasion science in the process of crafting policy. Considering invasion biology from the perspective of policy has allowed me to reflect on the frameworks that motivate my basic research. It would be great for all students to have these opportunities, regardless of their intended professional trajectory. Understanding science as an endeavor integrated in human systems has been an invaluable part of my student experience at Virginia Tech.” Vasiliy Lakoba PhD Candidate in the VT School of Plant and Environmental Sciences and Global Change Fellow

STEP FOCUS: HOW POLICY IS MADE

In order to be effective participants in policy processes, science, technology, engineering, mathematics and healthcare (STEM-H) experts need to have an understanding of how policy is made, implemented, and evaluated. The STEP program introduces participants to fundamental principles of policy in practice, in all of their complexity, including tools for understanding policy processes.

The STEP program explores how policy is made through case-based examples relevant to STEM-H students.

STEP learning objective: Analyze how policy processes unfold using concepts and constructs that explicitly consider governance institutions and decision dynamics. STEP learning objective: Apply a suite of quantitative and qualitative tools to identify and address the multiple dimensions of complex policy development and implementation challenges.

STEP FOCUS: VALUES, ETHICS, & INTERESTS IN POLICY MAKING

Policy decisions reflect values, ethics, and interests, which stakeholders may not share and often contest. Examining the values and ethics of stakeholders, STEM-H experts, and decision-makers is key to crafting policies that are more equitable and that account for different needs and interests. The STEP program analyzes how different values and ethics enter and are considered in policy processes and can be accounted for. Immersive exercises and self-reflection play important roles in bringing this analysis to life. STEP learning objective: Analyze governance practices taking public values, ethical considerations, and the heterogeneous perspectives and needs of different stakeholders into account.

STEP FOCUS: COLLABORATIVE ENGAGEMENT IN POLICY MAKING

“Career success increasingly depends on more than technical expertise; it depends on the ability to tackle wicked problems, promote collaboration among diverse stakeholders, and strategically engage with policy and governance systems. STEP students get these critical skills and become more influential and successful in the science-policy interface.”

Given the different values, interests, and priorities among heterogeneous communities, good practices in stakeholder engagement and deliberation are necessary to arrive at outcomes that are widely accepted as fair, efficient, stable, and wise. The STEP program introduces best practices in collaborative engagement, including techniques such as joint fact-finding and collaborative adaptive management that aim to make the best use of scientific and technical information in decision-making processes. STEP learning objective: Collaboratively engage a broad range of professional and public stakeholders to improve policy decisions.

Bruce Hull Professor, VT Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

STEP FOCUS: COMMUNICATING

Scientific and technical information is much more likely to be used by decision-makers and other stakeholders when it is presented clearly with an emphasis on what is most important. The STEP program provides participants with various tools to effectively translate and communicate scientific and technical information to a variety of audiences. Effective communication includes but goes beyond great presentations and easy-to-understand writing and graphics. Truly effective communication is two-way in nature, and is emphasized in the program.

“No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story.” Daniel Kahneman Behavioral economist and Nobel Laureate (2016)

STEP learning objective: Effectively translate and communicate scientific and technical information to non-technical audiences.

STEP FOCUS: INTEGRATING SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL INFORMATION INTO POLICY

Scientific and technical information is most influential in policy processes when it is salient, credible and legitimate. In addition to techniques such as joint fact-finding, the STEP program develops skills in building models and providing data analysis that decision-makers and other stakeholders will use to arrive at better outcomes. The program provides participants with tools to understand how their data may be used in policy processes, and conduct research in ways that are likely to increase the saliency, credibility, and legitimacy of the results.

STEP learning objective: Map relationships between scientific and technical information and public policy.

STEP learning objective: Compare and contrast policy standards and norms with scientific and technical norms and practices.

“Gaining policy exposure during my graduate education has improved my ability to relate my research to society, conduct research that informs policy decisions, and understand the different roles scientists can play in the policy process.”

Nicole Ward PhD Candidate, VT Department of Biological Sciences

Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen

OUTLINE OF STEP CERTIFICATE

The STEP program offers a graduate certificate. For more information and to register please visit www.step.vt.edu. Registered students are expected to enroll in the following courses:

Policy Gateway: Policy and Decision Making in STEM-H Domains PSCI 5104 (SPIA 5104) (STS 5104)

Tools and Approaches for Policy-Making in STEM-H Domains STAT 5134 (SPIA 5134) (PSCI 5134) Techniques for translating theory-driven, qualitative concepts into quantitative data-focused modeling. Quantitative and computational tools including statistical inference and hypothesis testing, system dynamics, and economic analysis. Modern data analytic practices, including good collection, storage and visualization techniques. Understanding complexity. Critical examination of challenges and common Science, Technology, and Engineering in Policy Seminar STS 5154 (SPIA 5154) (PSCI 5154) Presentation of research on STEM-H, public policy, and ethics. Professional development. Research resources and tools. Project management and funding opportunities. Publishing standards and processes across disciplines. STEM-H and policy practitioner engagement. Multidisciplinary communication. May be repeated up to six times, as seminar and presentation topics will change each semester. Pass/Fail only. Pre: Graduate standing (1H, 1C) Optional but recommended: Communicating Science GRAD 5114 Practice-based pedagogy techniques for effective communication about scientific, technical, and health research. Application of communication techniques across public and professional audiences and a variety of oral and written communication contexts. Pre: Graduate standing (2H, 2C) pitfalls in quantitative modeling. Pre: Graduate standing (3H, 3C)

Key concepts in policy making, including policy analysis and decision making in complex social and technical settings. Policy process theories and evaluation tools. Concepts of governance including public values, ethics, and variable impacts across communities. Relationships among public policy decision processes and science, technology, and engineering, including disciplinary norms. Pre: Graduate standing (3H, 3C) Decision Making, Reflective Practice, and Engagement in STEM-H Domains SPIA 5124 (PSCI 5124) (STS 5124) In-depth, case-based exploration of roles of science, engineering and technology in policy-making. Application of theories, concepts and practices for policy decision-making, including stakeholder engagement, human behavior, and organizational development. Critical examination of ethics, and fostering of reflective practice. Implications of “big data”. Pre: Graduate standing (3H, 3C)

INTRODUCTION TO THE POLICY DESTINATION AREA

The Policy Destination Area (DA) is part of the Beyond Boundaries initiative at Virginia Tech. Destination Areas integrate natural strengths at the university with novel and innovative strategies to solve local, regional and global problems. The Policy DA serves as a dynamic space for faculty and students developing novel approaches to policy development, implementation, and analysis to address complex decisions across multiple settings. Working at the intersection of scientific evidence, governance, and analysis, Policy DA affiliates translate scholarship to practice and examine the interplay between the two. The research and scholarship, curriculum development, and community engagement efforts of the Policy DA are guided by a Stakeholder Committee and its working committees as well as collaborations with other DAs. The Institute for Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE) is the administrative home of the Policy DA.

www.step.vt.edu

For more information, contact: Todd Schenk, STEP Program Director tschenk@vt.edu • (540) 231-1803