April 17, 2012

When science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors at MU talk about their plans for the future, they rarely discuss involvement in the creation of public policy.

Most I have spoken with would rather ply their trade as practicing scientists, mathematicians and engineers, and why wouldn’t they?

But the involvement of experts from the STEM fields is vital for the creation of good governmental policy. STEM experts are trained to think critically about science and their insights enrich governmental committees and agencies because they thoroughly understand the material. Professionals from these fields don’t focus on public opinion to shape their findings or positions in the way elected officials often do.

This commitment to the validity of their findings in the face of public opposition, however, sometimes makes scientists very unpopular politically. [Steven Chu](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/21/MNL81NNHQF.DTL&type=politics) is a high-ranking public policy maker from STEM who has been subject to public furor over his views. Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and current secretary of energy for the Obama administration, has come under attack from both the left and right for his outspoken views that the U.S. needs to move away from the use of fossil fuels and embrace nuclear energy as a viable energy alternative. His unwillingness to abandon his positions on scientific issues because they are politically unpopular has enraged his political opponents.

Many people who oppose the involvement of scientists in the political process feel that these experts are attempting to control their lives. But we rarely think about the fact that regulation based on scientific understanding has been beneficial. We really don’t have to worry that our food is poisonous and our medicine ineffective, for the most part, and that our rivers will catch fire because they’re clogged with oil. That’s in large part because of the efforts of the scientific community to convince the government that the protection of our environment and food are worthwhile endeavors.

Scientists often don’t take a larger role in the creation of political policy because they are, by their very nature, skeptical. This sometimes makes them hesitant to embrace political activism than the sort of “true believers,” those who believe that their biases are completely infallible, who typically dominate policy debates. It is much easier in the current political climate to stir people on irrational fear and anger than it is to try and convince them with reason.

It is vital, however, that experts from science, technology and engineering express their opinions and speak up in politics, because they possess a better understanding of their fields than others. The mechanisms and processes behind scientific phenomena are complex and usually involve many variables. Most non-experts try to understand a summarized version of the topic and don’t understand the different factors that contribute. Regular politicians without scientific backgrounds can’t always be trusted not to misinterpret data or inject their own bias into their interpretation of its findings.

At the same time, scientists often aren’t experts in things that are unrelated to their subject, so there needs to be some sort of middle ground. Just as politics benefits from the addition of a scientific perspective, science benefits from the contributions of other backgrounds. Because most researchers who have graduate degrees don’t have backgrounds in other subjects like business or public policy, someone who does but also has general scientific knowledge would help.

Non-STEM majors with a STEM minor could contribute to the field in ways that the average scientific specialist couldn’t, because they have skills that most scientists don’t have. It’s about different perspectives and strengths adding to the wealth of information in order to make it better. No matter what your major is, focusing on strengthening your scientific background, through getting a minor, club-involvement or internship in a STEM field, could definitely make you well-rounded and open possibilities in your future.

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