Two New Science Outreach Platforms Announced

Department of State Announces Two New Science Outreach Platforms

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

July 26, 2012

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On July 25, Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns announced the creation of Networks of Diasporas in Engineering and Science, or NODES, at an event organized by the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (STAS). At the same event, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine launched the Science, Technology and Innovation Expert Partnership.

NODES is a joint effort among STAS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the National Academy of Sciences to convene diasporas with skills in science disciplines to build their capacity to develop and influence effective policies and connect their talents with needs in their countries of origin.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Expert Partnership will introduce U.S science and technology experts to foreign audiences through U.S Embassy supported public diplomacy programs. The Partnership advances the Department’s efforts to promote economic prosperity, democratic governance, social development, and global scientific knowledge and to share that information with foreign audiences.

Representatives from ten of the partnering professional science societies signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Under Secretary Sonenshine, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State Dr. E. William Colglazier, and Acting Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Daniel Clune. The ten partner organizations are: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Chemical Society, American Geosciences Institute, American Institute of Physics, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Microbiology, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Association of American Engineering Societies, National Academy of Sciences, and the Smithsonian Institution.

The announcements were made at a reception held as part of the Secretary’s second annual Global Diaspora Forum, organized by the Department of State’s Global Partnership Initiative (GPI) and held in Washington, D.C. on July 25 and 26. The reception was organized by the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (STAS), in partnership with the Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), the Global Partnership Initiative (GPI), and USAID’s Office of Innovation and Development Alliances (IDEA).

ENDS

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