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Keynote Address: It's the World, Stupid!
Pages 1-6

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From page 1...
... Admittedly, we chemists had acid holes in our clothes, but we wore them as a badge of honor because we were doing "pure science" and were pursuing "fundamental knowledge." My change of heart began when I joined an oil company and found out that chemists were the outsiders whose ideas were usually dismissed by managers who had grown up in the oil patch. Engineers ran the place, turning sulfurous black crude into gasoline and petrochemical feedstocks that propelled the national economy.
From page 2...
... The problems we face climate change, disaster mitigation, the spread of infectious diseases, safe drinking water, food security, the dramatic loss of species, protection of critical infrastructure, terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction do not stop at anybody's border. When dioxin from an incinerator in the lower 48 finds its way through seal meat into the bodies of Inuit people in the Arctic, one sees how small this complex world really is.
From page 3...
... study on science and technology in the State Department. The study noted that of the 16 stated strategic goals of U.S.
From page 4...
... There is more to ensuring our nation' s security than the intelligence community and the military can provide. The front line of national security is still diplomacy, and our embassies and consulates abroad who are seeking solutions for political unrest, negotiating global treaties to protect or reclaim the environment, stimulating economic growth and development, helping ease the burdens of disease that can inhibit economic progress and lead to regional instability, and working in countless other ways to build and sustain peaceful, constructive relationships among nations.
From page 5...
... And, as the NRC report pointed out, the limited resources have constrained our ability to coordinate the international science and technology initiatives that are often a significant component of our diplomatic gestures toward other countries. Budgetary constraints have also limited the number of technically qualified people in the State Department who can be effective receivers of the advice and counsel of engineers in the policymaking process.


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