GOVERNMENT & POLICY ASSIGNMENT, WASHINGTON The Jefferson Science Fellows program at the Department of State was launched in 2003.
ing geopolitical issues. Indeed, the same 1999 National Research Council (NRC) report that launched Atkinson's position also pointed out that about two-thirds of the top 15 long-term diplomatic problems had significant science and technology components.
FROM SCIENCE TO STATECRAFT Bruce Averill considers a leap from tenured chemist to government policy adviser LOIS R. EMBER, C&EN WASHINGTON
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prominent Indian scientist was refused avisabecause alow-ranking U.S. consulate officer seemed to conflate his expertise in organic chemistry with chemical warfare. Serving in a consulate office is the entree to a foreign service career, so understandably, junior consulate officers are an extremely cautious lot, intent on doing nothing that will harm their careers. Most days, they spend their time interviewing hundreds of people seeking U.S. visas, and you can bet that they are wary about admitting the next terrorist. These prudent junior officers, like their more senior brethren, are likely to be more conversant in economics than in science because the Department of State has no ca-
reer track for scientists. To compensate for this recognized deficiency, the department, over the years, has hosted a fair number of short-term fellows with scientific expertise. These scientists have often been freshly minted Ph.D.s seeking alternative career experiences. They have tended to work hard on fairly narrow tasks and, as a consequence, have had relatively little influence on foreign policy. George H. Atkinson, a tenured chemistry professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the second science and technology adviser to the secretary of state, quickly recognized an unfilled need at State. Early on, he became increasingly convinced that senior academics with expertise in science and engineering could fill that void by helping to inform policies across a myriad of press-
TAKING HIS CUEfromthe NRC study, Atkinson created theJefferson Science Fellows program to bring greater scientific literacy to the State Department. As he conceived it, the program would enlist five tenured university professors each year to serve as policy advisers. These senior fellows, he believed, might have more impact in helping to formulate and implement policy than their more numerous counterparts, the junior fellows. TheJefferson program is named after the first secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, who had a fondness for agricultural science and paleontology. The only other secretary of state with a science background was Colin L. Powell, who holds a B.S. in geology. Atkinson served as Powell's science adviser and continues in that capacity for the current secretary, Condoleezza Rice. In welcoming the first group of fellows in May 2004, former secretary Powell said, "In the 21st century, American foreign policy must have a sound scientific foundation." A plethora ofproblems, including proliferation ofweapons of mass destruction, climate change, the spread of infectious diseases, and energy resource issues, call out for scientific understanding. "Now, more than ever,,, he said, "American science must enlighten American statecraft." Atkinson agrees that the department can artfully use the expertise and skill base that professors of science and engineering can offer. But, he insists, "it's not just being an awfully good scientist and engineer that's important." The Jefferson Science Fellow needs to be articulate, open-minded, and able to deal easily with complex scientific issues. But most of all, the fellow has to be a competent translator, able to clearly explain complex science-infused issues in a language that policymakers can understand.
"My geothermal proposals... could have an enormous impact on the lives of millions of people, and I can't see how I can do that academically in my own field/' 34
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Bruce Averill, 57, one of the first five senior academics chosen as Jefferson fellows and the onry chemist in the group, possesses all those traits. Averill is a bioinorganic chemist and a tenured professor at the University ofToledo, in Ohio. Previously, he was a professor ofbiochemistry at the University ofAmsterdam, in the Netherlands, for seven years, which gave him an understanding of cultural differences in science. Under an agreement with the State Department, his current university agreed to pay his salary and retain his tenured position during his yearlong fellowship from August 2004 to August 2005. Andrew W. Reynolds, deputy science and technology adviser to the secretary of state, describes Averill as "a gregarious person, certainly not a wallflower, and a risk-taker." He's "energetic, quick dunking on his feet, and brought a can-do attitude" to the job, assets, Reynolds adds, possessed by the four other fellows as well. "Averill," Reynolds says, "did a superb job of integrating himself in the experimental phase of the Jefferson program. Don't forget: He was in the first cohort of Jefferson fellows." JEFFERSON FELLOWS have to operate in what for them is an alien culture. Their clients, the policymakers, are consumers of the fruits of scientific and engineering research, not researchers, and the modes of communication they employ are vastly different from those used by researchers for journal articles or grant proposals. Averill quickly became deft at using the instruments of communication. "Within a couple of months, he was mastering statecraft very well," Reynolds says. Well enough, Reynolds adds, to operate "at a high level very quickly." Indeed, Averill rather early in the fellowship year had routine access to people up to and including an assistant secretary. Several weeks ago, Averill spent a few hours with C&EN discussing his experience at State. During that freewheeling conversation, Averill explained why he believes he had ready access to a high-ranking assistant secretary when most of the hierarchy at the State Department didn't—and still don't. "The foreign service is almost a military organization, very hierarchal, very rank driven, and I was basically a civilian contractor," he says. As such, "I could talk to the majors and the captains, and I could also talk to the generals." His crashing the glass ceiling was a fortuitous happenstance. Regional bureaus, where foreign service officers reside and policy is made, are sometimes described as feudal WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
MAKING A POINT Averill says his academic skills served him well and were transferable to the challenges at the State Department.
The project's aim was to "see what the baronies where assistant secretaries are gods, and few people talk to the gods. Aver- U.S. could do to enhance the utilization of ill, however, selected a project, energy, that geothermal energy in Central America and was a special interest of Roger Noriega, then in the Andean nations of South America, assistant secretary of the Bureau ofWestern Hemisphere Affairs (WHA), the regional CAREER MOVES bureau Averill selected to work in. Noriega was particularly interested in stimulating sustainable economic development among U.S. neighbors and, Averill says, Noriega realized that policies favoring job creation and alleviating poverty would B.S., 1965, Michigan State University have to depend on the spin-offs of science Ph.D., 1973, Massachusetts Institute of and technology. Averill, in turn, was able Technology to identify problems that were of immediate importance to Noriega's bureau and to which he could make a contribution. "That ; Assistant and associate professor of chemin a nutshell was responsible for whatever istry, 1976-82, Michigan State University success or access I had," Averill says. | Associate and full professor of chemistry, 1982-94, University of Virginia How a chemist chose to work on energy problems deserves some explanation. Before Professor of biochemistry, 1994-2001, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands thefivefellows came to State, Atkinson had Distinguished University Professor of asked the various bureaus to put together Chemistry, 2001-present, University of short descriptions of projects they would Toledo, Ohio like the fellows to work on. About 25 bureaus, including some functional or advisory NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, 1973-74, Brandeis bureaus, complied with what Averill calls University "needs and wants" summaries. NIH and NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, 1974-76, None of the summarized projects called University of Wisconsin for a fellow with chemical expertise, none "was at all close to anything I'd ever worked NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute, 1976 on academically," Averill says. But, he "noNSF Energy-Related Postdoctoral Fellowticed that about six or seven had the word ship, 1976 energy in the title." One project on geothermal energy from the W H A Bureau | Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 1981-85 intrigued Averill. The fact that it was in a NSF Special Creativity Extension, 1992-94 regional, as opposed to functional, bureau Jefferson Science Fellow, 2004-05, State Department also satisfied Atkinson and Reynolds, who thought it was important to get senior sci- j William C. Foster Fellowship, 2006-07, State Department entists into regional bureaus.
Chemist Averill's Professional Stats
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GOVERNMENT & POLICY where it is highly abundant and, if developed, could be cost-effective as well as environmentally sound," explains Averill. Although the geothermal resources of these volcanic countries are substantial, they remain relatively untapped. Averill thought the geothermal project "interesting, a no-brainer. It's so obviously important and should be done, but in terms of a scientific or technical challenge, it didn't seem to me that it would necessarily be a full-time project," he says.
with assistant secretary Noriega himself. His duties transcended technical issues to include political and economic factors. So how could someone educated as a chemist address political and economic issues? "I'm a quick learner" and a fast reader, Averill responds. As an academic, he sat on many review HE SWIFTLY mastered the communication tools employed at State: one-page informa- panels for which he had to read 50 to 100 tion memos, briefing memos, and action proposals and/or manuscripts. "You learn memos. He documented any relevant in- to read fast, and you learn to be able to disformation he picked up in signed one-para- till out what is important. Clearly, those are skills useful not only in academics," Averill notes. At one point, Averill used those skills to quickly pull together a summary of the investment climate for the energy sector in all petroleum-producing countries in Latin America. That summary impressed his office director and "established the fact that I could do somethinguseful, and even though I was a chemist, I had some skills that were transferable to their problems," he says. Having useful skills is fine, but, Averill graph summaries that found their way into the assistant secretary's daily activity report says, being "sociologically sensitive to one's (ASDAR). Each day, these paragraphs were environment" is equally important. Becomcompiled into a single report that circulated ing one of the tribe, becoming assimilated through the bureau and eventually landed into the culture of State without losing identity, meant dressing like a diplomat on the assistant secretary's desk. "I was putting out three or four of these and ditching the professional title. Gone little ASDAR paragraphs weekly, and soon was campus fashion—khaki slacks and capeople began to realize that there is this guy sual shirts—to be replaced with pin-striped Averill who was telling them something that suits and proper ties. Averill is convinced they thought was interesting and maybe that had he not dressed the part, "none of even important," Averill says. He was soon the people at the higher levels would have being asked to sit in on meetings with the taken me seriously." Apart from dress, Averill believes that bureau's deputy assistant secretaries and
for energy issues," Averill says. He also became the face of his bureau at energy-related meetings held throughout Central and South America, where he made many important contacts and picked up valuable information.
A plethora of problems, including proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, climate change, the spread of infectious diseases, and energy resource issues, call out for scientific understanding. Once Averill began working in the WHA Bureau's Office ofEconomic Policy & Summit Coordination, he learned that Noriega had been thinking about a broad, strategic energy policy for the Western Hemisphere. Although he was still tracking geothermal energy issues, Averill's portfolio rapidly expanded to include other energy issues. Soon, he became involved in the policy coordinating committee of the National Security Council and the State Department that dealt with developing a strategic energy policy, and "pretty quickly I was one of the major contact points with the NSC JEFFERSON
FELLOWS
Tenured Professors Advise State Department Officials
I
n 2003, the State Department launched the Jefferson Science Fellows program, named after the first secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson. The program aims to bring in senior professors of science and engineering to increase the understanding among department officials of the science underpinning current and emerging policy issues. The department has no dedicated career path for scientists and engineers, so drawing on outside expertise is deemed important for the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy. The Jefferson program was the brainchild of George H. Atkinson, the second science and technology adviser to the secretary of state. He conceived the program as forging a more permanent link between the tenured U.S. academic community and
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the State Department. And he crafted the program to allow scientists to contribute to policymaking without having to give up their academic careers. To achieve this end, senior professors come to the State Department as policy advisers for one year. Their salaries and benefits, however, are paid by their academic institutions, which also agree to maintain their tenure. The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Carnegie Corp. provide additional stipends to the fellows to help offset the cost of temporary living arrangements in the expensive Washington, D.C., area. After their one-year assignments, fellows return to their academic institutions but remain available to the department as experienced consultants for up to five years.
The first group of five fellows was chosen in early 2004 by panels of the National Academies, which administers the program. After security checks for secret clearance and an orientation period, the fellows began serving in August 2004. Among the five fellows were one engineer, the only woman in the group, and one chemist. A second group of five fellows began serving in the summer of 2005. There is a chemist but no woman among them. A third group has been selected, but the names of the six fellows, including a woman biochemist, have not yet been made public. The Jefferson program was conceived as a three-year pilot project, but efforts are underway to institutionalize it.
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what also helped him was not using his vinced that the degree of interest at State what he was currently doing was the best hard-earned title, doctor. He relishes tell- in any given topic is inversely proportional possible use of his talents, expertise, and ing this story: When he was introduced to to the academic interest in that topic." This experience. If it wasn't, Holm said, do somea person who covered geothermal energy is quite understandable given the disparate thing about it. issues for another bureau, AverilFs office goals of diplomacy and research. Averill has taken that advice to heart and colleague introduced him as Dr. Averill. "I On the basis of his year's experience is now reevaluating whether "academics at put my hand on his shoulder and said, 'Ed, I as a science policy adviser, Averill advised this point in my life is the best possible use hate to break this to you, but of my experience and talwhen I was born, my mother ents." His fellowship year—"a had to fill out a birth certifipotentially career-altering cate, and on the first line she experience"—made him put Bruce, not doctor.'" That, pause to reconsider "whethhe says, "set the tone." er I couldn't possibly get as much personal satisfaction by His instinct to not use working on a much broader his title was soon validated. range of issues that affect a A couple of weeks after the larger group of people." encounter, Averill attended a To help him decide whethfellows' orientation session at er his felicitous experience as which the instructor warned: a Jefferson fellow was not "Don't let them call you doca fluke, Averill was offered tor or professor. As soon as and, with his university's they do that, you are no lonapproval, has accepted a oneger one of them." Averill, of year William C. Foster Felcourse, did not put doctor on lowship. He began this new his business card, but through FRESHMAN CLASS Then Secretary of State, Powell welcomes fellowship in February in the meetings and memos, he be- the first group of Jefferson fellows, from left: Kalidas Shetty, David Bureau of Political-Military came known as the Ph.D. Eastmond, Melba Crawford, Powell, Averill, and Julian Adams. Affairs and is focusing on scientist who was working on energy issues for the W HA Bureau. the incoming second group of Jefferson critical infrastructure protection issues. This time around, the State Department, Even though he thought the geothermal fellows to identify needs and determine energy project that had initially caught his how their expertise could be used to make not the University ofToledo, is paying Averill's salary. And though he is remotefromthe eye would not present a full-time techni- valuable contributions. "If you want to do cal challenge, he did end up doing a fair something important, you have to find out Toledo campus, he maintains a laboratory amount ofwork on the issue. For example, where you can blend in, where you have there that supports the research of several with a counterpart at the Organization of skills that can be brought to bear on some- graduate students. Averill uses modern comAmerican States, Averill organized a work- thing" that advances the goals of the State munication techniques to keep abreast ofhis students' research, primarily on copper(I) shop in April 2005 in Santiago, Chile, that Department. helped identify the economic, regulatory, "To Atkinson's great credit, he has been compounds for olefin separation and their and structural barriers to developing geo- trying to raise the awareness ofwhat science dissertation efforts. thermal energy. The workshop also raised and technology can do within State," Averill If, in the next six months, Averill finds the level of understanding about the possi- says. And, he adds, having scientists in their that this fellowship experience is as enjoybilities ofgeothermal energy and facilitated midst constantly reinforces that awareness able as hisJefferson year, and if he is having better future communication among the among policymakers. the same kind of impact, then, he says, "I countries that attended. think there is a strong message to heed." "If I can make my geothermal propos- ONE BENEFITfromhis year at State, Averill Maybe, he continues, "I should seriously als work in Nicaragua and Guatemala, for says, is well-honed interpersonal skills. At be considering a substantial career change example, it could potentially turn those State, he says, "no one person is irreplace- for the last part of my career." Some might say Averill has contracted countries into net exporters of energy in the able, and no person alone can get anything form of electricity, in addition to bananas done. It's all teamwork. It's all interagency "Potomac fever." Maybe. But what is clear is that Averill is rapidly reaching a fork in the and coffee," Averill says. This could have "an operations." enormous impact on the lives of millions Then, with self-deprecating humor, Aver- road. He'll soon have to decide whether to of people, and I can't see how I can do that ill continues, "I don't think I could have return to academia or explore opportunities academically in my own particular field of been successful in the foreign service if I had in Washington, D.C. As he did during hisJefferson fellowship, metalloenzymes." gone in as a younger person because I was a "No one in the foreign service cares about typical arrogant, obnoxious academic. No Averill lives on a 40-foot boat docked in metalloenzymes," Averill comments. "I interpersonal skills." And, he notes, inter- Annapolis, Md. It takes him a little over didn't use my chemistry much at all beyond personal skills are transportable, as "crucial an hour to commutefromAnnapolis to his State Department office in the Foggy Botthe level of general chemistry." And so he to academics as anyplace else." cautions: Anyone who accepts a State DeAverill received his doctoratefromMas- tom area ofWashington, D.C. The distance partment fellowship "expecting academic sachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 of less than 40 miles is considerably shorter kinds of intellectual stimulation is going to under Richard Holm, who is now at Har- than the distance, metaphorically, Averill be disappointed." vard University. Averill says Holm advised may choose to travelfromtenured professor Indeed, Averill jokingly says, "I'm con- him to, every few years, reassess whether to a government policy adviser. • WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
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