About FOSEP

Mission

FOSEP chapters are led by graduate/professional students and postdoctoral fellows in fields ranging from natural sciences and engineering to humanities, business and education.

The primary mission of chapters to promote civic dialogue about issues at the intersection of science and society across our campus and community. We believe that a better understanding the ‘big picture’ of issues such as health care, energy policy, and climate change, and talking with people outside of our own disciplines and outside of academia will help us to better connect our scholarly work with solutions to real-world problems . We strive to provide a respectful forum for dialogue among people with diverse expertise and opinions in order to help all of us make more informed decisions about complex issues.

History

FOSEP has two chapters at the University of Washington and the University of Colorado Boulder. They have engaged hundreds of members from dozens of departments across natural and social sciences, engineering, the humanities, law, and business. They have organized numerous events to broaden civic dialogue about science and society on their campuses and in their communities. They have also graduated leaders who followed diverse career tracks, including biotechnology, science education, medicine, the professoriate, technology transfer, and science policy.

Timeline:

2004: FOSEP begins at the University of Washington Seattle. Melanie Roberts, a Ph.D. student in neurobiology, recruits a team of founding co-directors (Sarah Benki, Bree Mitchell, Jessica Chubak, and Thomas Robey). They develop the organizational structure, recruit a multidisciplinary membership base, and organize a variety of events to promote civic dialogue among scholars, policy makers.
2007: FOSEP-Seattle organizes its 100th event.
2009: Melanie Roberts and Ursula Rick, a postdoc in the Center for Science & Technology Policy Research, found a second chapter of FOSEP at the University of Colorado Boulder.
2010: FOSEP-Boulder partners with the CU Graduate School, and wins a competitive seed grant from the CU Institute for Civic and Ethical Engagement.
2010: FOSEP-Seattle identifies interest in expanding FOSEP during their AAAS annual meeting presentation, ‘Starting your own FOSEP chapter.’
2012: FOSEP graduates form a non-profit and partner with AAAS to launch the Emerging Leaders in Science & Society (ELISS) fellowship program. ELISS will offer FOSEP-like opportunities for graduate/professional students and postdocs across the country.

Non-Advocacy Statement

FOSEP is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, educational organization. FOSEP programs and policies advance its mission to prepare emerging leaders link science and technology with benefits for society.

FOSEP explores many issues at the intersection of science and society, including some controversial ones. In doing so, it always strives to integrate multidisciplinary information and diverse opinions, and will not endorse any particular course of action. Some FOSEP events will feature multiple viewpoints. Others will feature a particular viewpoint in order to understand complex arguments in more detail.

The opinions of FOSEP speakers and members do not represent the views of FOSEP or its sponsors.