Archive | Social Sciences | Armed with Science

Time For An HIV Vaccine

Filed under Life Sciences, Social Sciences, STEM by jtozer on May 23, 2012 at 7:39 am {one comment}

Deployed U.S. forces have historically been exposed to diseases that are not prevalent in the U.S. such as malaria, leishmaniasis and dengue.

To combat these disease threats, the U.S. military has excelled at infectious disease research and spurred some of medicine’s greatest advances in disease prevention, diagnostics, and treatment.

When the HIV epidemic first emerged in the 1980s, the U.S. government immediately recognized the threat the disease could pose to service members.

In response, Congress established the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. In this age of global deployments, HIV not only continues to pose a threat to service members, but it can also compromise the stability of a nation where the disease is prevalent and endanger worldwide security.

Early in the epidemic, the U.S. military emerged as a leader when MHRP developed the first HIV disease staging system, which was adopted by the Army in 1986.

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Administration to Announce “Big Data” R&D Initiative

Filed under Energy, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Technology by glenn.selby on March 29, 2012 at 12:15 pm {no comments}

Today, at 2:00 p.m. EST, the American Association for the Advancement of Science will host researchers from a number of fields. These researchers are generating extremely large and complicated data sets, commonly referred to as “big data.” A wealth of information may be found within these sets, with enormous potential to shed light on some of the toughest and most pressing challenges facing the Nation.

To maximize this historic opportunity—and in support of recommendations from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology—the Obama Administration is launching a Big Data Research and Development Initiative, coordinated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and supported by several Federal departments and agencies.

Please click here to watch the event.

SPEAKERS:

John Holdren, Assistant to the President and Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Subra Suresh, Director, National Science Foundation

Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health

Marcia McNutt, Director, United States Geological Survey

Zach Lemnios, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering

Kaigham “Ken” Gabriel, Deputy Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

William Brinkman, Director, Office of Science, Department of Energy

Treebeard was Right: Travelers are Less Rational than they’d like to Believe

Filed under Life Sciences, Social Sciences by Carla Voorhees on October 24, 2011 at 10:48 am {3 comments}

Dr. Tad Brunyé is a cognitive scientist at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) in Natick, Massachusetts. He is the recipient of the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for his research examining the information Soldiers and civilians use when planning routes and navigating through environments.

Dr. Tad Brunyé, recipient of the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. (Photo by Mr. David Kamm, NSRDEC)

Most people assume that if they look at a map they are able to make an easy and deliberate decision regarding which routes to take. Most husbands (including myself) spend a decent amount of their lives attempting to convince their wives of exactly that.

“Trust me, I know the way.”

“Trust me, this is the best way to get there.”

These types of statements are pretty well-founded. People are generally very confident in their route plans (even while shopping), and usually they have selected the route for pretty good reasons. Maybe it looked like the shortest route, most direct route, fastest route, or the route with the fewest number of turns. Or perhaps it looked like the route with the most right-turns, the one avoiding back-roads, or the one likely to have the least amount of traffic. These are all very rational factors to consider. They are based on quantifiable measures such as route length, traffic density and patterns, and number and direction of turns. There is nothing wrong with this strategy.

But what is actually happening under the hood, so to speak? Do these factors alone account for all route plans? What factors might people consider without their knowledge?

In the Lord of the Rings, Twin Towers, the bombastic Treebeard states “I always like going south. Somehow it feels like going downhill.”

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Tech Community and Government Come Together for RELIEF

Filed under Social Sciences, STEM by Carla Voorhees on July 13, 2011 at 9:40 am {no comments}

Mary Topic is a research intern at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at the National Defense University. She works primarily on the Tranformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support (TIDES) project. Currently, she is studying at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

An evacuation drill being executed at Camp Roberts (Photo by Sam Bendett)

Situated near Paso Robles in central California, Camp Roberts fits the description of a desert to a tee. The climate that is hot and dry, and the land is mostly devoid of anything but scrub vegetation. It’s also isolated, with the nearest town being a half hour’s drive away. Even network communication can be difficult due to intermittent internet connectivity. Its desolate appearance, however, belies its utility. The setting is precisely the right environment for testing emergency relief and development technologies.

Because of its similarity to many austere environments, Camp Roberts is well suited for hosting a project called Research & Experimentation for Local & International Emergency & First-Responders (RELIEF). RELIEF had its beginning as experiments involving technologies such as portable water purification units that were carried out by the Naval Postgraduate School. Early in 2009 the Tranformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support (TIDES) and members of the geospatial community joined to conduct these quarterly experiments. Currently, one of the main functions of RELIEF is bringing together people within the “tech” community, such as software developers and engineers, and government agencies. RELIEF now exists as a partnership between the Naval Postgraduate School and the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at the National Defense University (more…)

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