An Agent, Not a Mole: Assessing the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Time: Thu, September 19, 12:15pm – 1:30pm
Location: 1203 Van Munching Hall

What criteria should be used to assess the performance of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)? Should one judge it based on its success in killing bad ideas? Should one evaluate how well it mobilizes expertise in support of crisis response? How about its ability to identify new issues and develop presidential policy initiatives? Or should the office's activities be judged based on whether it catalyzes and coordinates multi-agency science and technology activities, especially in response to Presidential goals. By determining the best criteria by which to evaluate the office, it is possible to spark the necessary debate and research to support planning by OSTP staff and their interlocutors inside and outside of government.

About the speaker
David Hart has made it his business to understand how public policy influences scientific knowledge and technological innovation. By setting developments in science and technology in their broader social, political, and economic context, he provides insights to practitioners, scholars, and students about how to manage change for the greater benefit of society.
Professor Hart taught for a decade at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University before taking up his present position as a tenured professor in George Mason University's School of Public Policy. He is an award-winning teacher, offering general courses on policy-making and political strategy as well as specialized courses dealing with technological innovation, governance, and the global knowledge economy. Hart's students have gone on to influential positions in government, academia, industry, and the non-profit sector.
Professor Hart's research focuses on how private and public actors craft policies together. He is currently working on major projects in the areas of high-skill migration, energy technology, and entrepreneurship.  His work reaches the policy community as well as scholars, appearing in such venues as Nature, Issues in Science and Technology, and the Congressional Quarterly Press. Hart's expertise is frequently drawn upon by journalists; he has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Science, National Journal, and The Boston Globe, among others. He has worked with an array of public and private organizations in the U.S. and abroad, including the U.S. National Research Council, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China, and the U.K. Treasury Department.
Professor Hart regularly organizes programs and panels, and has directed several major conferences. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Political Science Association, the Business History Conference, the Midwest Political Science Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Society for the History of Technology.