March 2021, ScientificAmerican.com 11FORUM
COMMENTARY ON SCIENCE IN
THE NEWS FROM THE EXPERTSNick Pyenson
is a research geologist
and curator of fossil
marine mammals at the
Smithsonian Institution.Alex Dehgan
is co-founder and
CEO of Conserva-
tion X Labs.Illustration by Dawn Yang
Benjamin Franklin might have been on the short list for a Nobel
Prize if there had been such a thing during his lifetime. The
amazing breadth of his contributions stands out even today: he
worked in areas ranging from the science of electricity to the
wave theory of light to demography, meteorology, physical ocean-
ography and even behavioral science. Franklin was also the first
U.S. ambassador to France. His reputation as a scientist galva-
nized his popularity in Europe and helped him secure France’s
support for the fledgling nation.
Franklin’s example is a reminder that we need scientists for
today’s challenges in diplomacy and development and not just
because of their expertise—we need them because their skills,
networks and ways of thinking about problems represent the
best of what America can offer the world.
Over the past 75 years our academic institutions, the major-
ity of our most innovative companies and the public at large
have benefited from sustained and directed investment in
research by the federal government. The vision of what the gov-
ernment could undertake when the risks were too great for any
other entity was informed by a post–World War II mindset about
the role of science in American life. Since the 1940s taxpayer dol-
lars have supported a broad portfolio of basic research that has
undergirded long-term American prosperity and security,
including faster and more efficient airplanes, the Internet,
genomics, weather satellites, vaccines, and so much more.
As a result, the U.S. has an untapped reservoir of talent to
bring to its international relations. America’s scientists have
high-level technical expertise and creative problem- solving abil-
ities. The best of them have a facility for communicating com-
plex ideas and social networks that are important for public
diplomacy, and the U.S. will need diplomats with an abundance
of these assets. Moreover, the credibility of the upcoming
generation of American scientists will be invaluable on the
world stage: even though international opinion of the country
has reached record lows, U.S. science and ingenuity are still
deeply respected.
Even with a richness of talent, we still need more opportu-
nities to integrate scientists into the front lines of U.S. embas-
sies and missions abroad. Programs such as the fellowships
offered by the American Association for the Advancement of
Science can place postdoctoral scientists throughout the State
Department and the U.S. Agency for International Develop-
ment (usaid) to address pressing problems in diplomacy and
development. Scaling up this type of program would have a sig-
nificant impact in these areas. At usaid, the Partnerships for
Enhanced Engagement in Research have built hundreds of col-
laborative programs to date, in conjunction with American sci-
entific agencies, aimed at building long-term engagements and
connections across the wider scientific community.
Science-focused diplomacy works because science is a dis-
tributed, global enterprise with products that can be replicated
and verified and that can inspire. It can create the scaffolding
that allows our official relationships to thrive by providing trust,
transparency and engagement that would otherwise be hard
to achieve. Many foreign scientists trained in the U.S. climb to
leadership roles in their home countries. Engaging through sci-
ence can form bridges over divisions in geography, religion, cul-
ture and language, and it can help other countries meet real
needs—especially when emerging threats fail to respect politi-
cal boundaries. Finally, as global connections make national
economies increasingly intertwined, science diplomacy can cre-
ate avenues that sustain competitiveness and promote econom-
ic growth in the U.S.
Given the protracted challenges on the horizon for U.S. for-
eign policy, science provides a path through the planetwide cri-
ses we are facing, and it also gives our country a way to put its
best foot forward. After all, many of the values that scientists
share are also historic American values.The U.S. Needs
Scientists in the
Diplomatic Corps
They have expertise, problem-solving
skills and international credibility
By Nick Pyenson and Alex Dehgan
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE
Visit Scientific American on Facebook and Twitter
or send a letter to the editor: [email protected]