Outreach & Initiatives > Science Policy

ASA Hires First Director of Science Policy

The director of science policy will execute strategic and short-range plans designed to increase the participation and visibility of the statistical profession and the ASA in science policy discussions at the national and international levels; promote the use and appreciation of sound statistical methods in the collection and analysis of the data on which decisions are based; work with decisionmakers to help the statistical sciences receive an appropriate share of public funds devoted to scientific research and education; work closely with ASA committees, sections, special interest groups, and chapters to foster and encourage their science policy activities; and provide timely information about science policy developments to members and staff.

ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein is pleased to announce that Stephen W. Pierson will join the ASA in March as the first director of science policy. Pierson will come to the ASA from the American Physical Society, where he has been the head of government relations for the past five years.
        
Among his many accomplishments at the American Physical Society, Pierson directed federal science research budget advocacy. He was deeply involved in convincing the Bush administration to create the 2006 American Competitiveness Initiative. He also was responsible for significantly increasing grassroots participation of society members and other scientists through networking and outreach. As a result, response rates to email alerts more than doubled and the number of members participating in congressional visits increased by a factor of two.

Pierson played a lead role in obtaining signatures of two-thirds of the Senate on an appropriations “Dear Colleague” letter in support of the Department of Energy Office of Science over last three years. He was responsible for researching and developing messages and materials, including the majority of material in the report of the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, “The Knowledge Economy: Is the United States Losing Its Competitive Edge?” Published in November of 2006 and available at www.futureofinnovation.org/2006report, it is the sequel to “Benchmarks of Our Innovation Future,” for which Pierson did the majority of the charts, some of which were used in the National Academies report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.”

Pierson has identified and recruited faculty members from key states/districts to come to Washington to visit their members of Congress. He also contributed to media strategy for budget lobbying, including ghost writing or cowriting numerous op-ed pieces and letters to the editor.

He earned his PhD in physics from the University of Minnesota and his BA in mathematics, physics, and Spanish from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory and a faculty member at Worcester Polytechnic Institute before becoming a senior science policy fellow and then head of government relations at the American Physical Society.
        
“Pierson’s references painted a consistent picture of an individual who knows his way around the federal government,” said Wasserstein. “They especially pointed out his analytical ability and great skill at explaining technical matters to nontechnical persons.”

All of Pierson’s references also indicated he used data effectively and convincingly. “He explains it,” one said. “He doesn’t spin it.”