Neureiter Brings Science and Fellowships to State Department

When Norman Neureiter was appointed as the first science and technology adviser to the Secretary of State in the waning days of the Clinton administration, his first priorities were to make State Department employees aware of the value of science in international relations and to convince scientists that they could contribute to the work of diplomats. Nearly 16 months later, Neureiter has two veteran scientists working on year-long fellowships in the department, a separate program that sends scientists on brief stints to embassies around the globe, and foreign service officers in 40 embassies saying they would like scientific help.

“I think one always wishes we could do more,” said the low-key Neureiter, a chemist who retired as a vice president of Texas Instruments Japan several years before he received the State Department call. The key to his success thus far, he said, has been to effectively integrate people with science and technology backgrounds into the department, and that has been done in part because of the new American Institute of Physics (AIP) State Department science fellowship.

The first fellow selected for the program is George Atkinson, who took a leave of absence from his position as a professor of chemistry and optical sciences at the University of Arizona to come to the State Department. Atkinson works in the department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, providing background research and advice on topics as diverse as stem cell research, biotechnology, climate change, molecular medicine, and counterterrorism.

Atkinson recently completed a tour of US embassies throughout Europe for the State Department, familiarizing himself with issues and meeting foreign service personnel. “I’ve been a scientist for 30 years and I’ve been a professor,” Atkinson said. “People of my ilk can provide answers to immediate questions involving science.” When scientific issues are being discussed, he said, politicians sometimes “bring in three scientists who say ‘yes’ and three who say ‘no,’ and the result is the science is marginalized.”

Beyond explaining the details of a particular science debate, Atkinson said that it is important when talking to nonscientists to be able to explain the uncertainty of science—the “error bar.” This approach is essential when dealing with science at the forefront, which is common in international negotiations of issues involving such things as biotechnology, he said.

Neureiter said he was so impressed with Atkinson and another applicant for the AIP fellowship, former Americal Physical Society associate executive officer Barrett Ripin, that he wanted both in the State Department. AIP could only fund one position, Neureiter said, so he found internal State Department funding to create a second one-year fellowship for Ripin.

“I’ve been here for a week and I’m a month behind,” Ripin said in early December. He is working in the department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. While that bureau has traditionally been the home for science within the State Department, cutbacks throughout the 1990s significantly reduced the number of staff with science training. “Most of the people working in these offices don’t come from a scientific background,” Ripin said.

One of the areas Ripin is focusing on is sustainable development. “It’s not physics per se, but there is a lot of science. There are issues of deforestation, environmental versus energy issues, methods of water treatment, a host of things. The question is how science and technology fit into a society’s developmental goals.”