Back to AAAS
 
 
 
  Advanced search  
   
 
Science and Technology in the 2008 Presidential Election

Events

Post-Election

  • January 9, 2009 - Climate Change: Intersections of Science and Policy sponsored by AAAS, the Ecological Society of America, the Geological Society of America, the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. See event website for details.
  • December 17 - The Brookings Institution - The Next Government of the United States: Why Our Institutions Fail and How to Fix Them. Click here for information.
  • November 18 - Public Advocacy Forum: "The Elections: And the Winner is...Science?" hosted by the Society for Neuroscience as part of Neuroscience 2008, the society's annual meeting. See event flyer for details on panelists.
  • November 17 - The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted a discussion on "Energy Priorities for the Next Congress" with a keynote speech from Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). Archived video of the event and transcripts are availabe at the event's website.
  • November 13 - Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) co-hosted a panel discussion of "A Presidential Action Plan: Options for the Next Administration and Congress," which included PCAP's Advisory Committee Chairman Ray Anderson, former Senator Gary Hart, and others. An archived video is available on the event's website.
  • November 13 - Woodrow Wilson Center - Panel Discussion: "Election 2008: What Happens Next" See event website for more details and a video of the event.
  • November 11 - Reseach!America - Your Candidates-Your Health Post-Election Meeting: See the event website for details.
  • November 11 - The Brookings Institution hosted a panel discussion entitled "Build a Secure Energy Future," the second of 12 events in its program studying the presidential transition. See the event website for more details, archived video, and a pdf file of the transcript.
  • November 4 - General Election Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President. The transition team was announced soon after, with information posted on its official website.

Prior to the Election

  • October 21 - Stanford University hosted a debate between the energy advisers to presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. The 90-minute debate, which was organized by Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) and co-sponsored by AAAS, placed a prominent focus on energy security and energy independence, although the debaters differed on how best to achieve those ends and over what their candidate would do in his first 100 days in office. For more details on the energy debate, see the full story from AAAS or visit the SEA website for an archived webcast of the debate.
  • October 21 - Columbia University hosted the education advisors to Barack Obama and John McCain for a discussion about the education policies of their respective campaigns. The debate, which was moderated by the President of the Teachers College, Susan Fuhrman, focused on a variety of issues related to education policy, although matters specifically related to science, techology, engineering, and math (STEM) did receive attention. Visit the Education Week website For and archived webcast and complete transcript of the event.
  • October 20-21 - The Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota hosted the Innovation 2008 Conference, a gathering of educators, scientists, policy makers, and many others that evaluated a broad spectrum of issues in science and technology policy, particularly with respect to the challenges facing the United States in the near future. Information and archived video is available on the conference website and at the website of the Humphrey Institute's Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy.
  • October 15 - American University hosted an event, entitled "Presidential Transitions: From Campaigning to Governing" consisting of a series of panel discussions on issues related to the transition to a new presidential administration. Guests at the event included directors of the White House Transition Project, Clay Johnson III, current Deputy Director for Management at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and former Executive Director of the George W. Bush transition team, and other experts on transition issues. The panels covered a variety of subjects from staffing priorities during the first 100 days to issues associated with relations between the White House and a divided Congress. A video of the event is available at the C-SPAN website.
  • 2008 Presidential and Vice-Presidential Debates - Transcripts and other materials are available at the website of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
    • October 15
      Third Presidential Debate - Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
      Domestic Policy Focus
    • October 7
      Second Presidential Debate - Belmont University, Nashville, TN
      Town Hall Format
    • October 2
      Vice-Presidential Debate - Washington University, St. Louis, MO
    • September 26
      First Presidential Debate - University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
      Foreign Policy Focus
  • September 19 - The Kauffman Foundation, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship and innovation in private business, held a debate on the presidential candidates' plans for the entrepreneurial economy at the Inc. 500/5000 Conference in Washington, DC. The debate, which was moderated by the Kauffman Foundation's CEO, Carl Schramm, was attended by Obama's economic adviser Jason Furman and McCain's economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. The panelists discussed several issues related to American competitiveness including tax policy, innovation, and education. An archived webcast is available at the foundation's website.
  • September 18 - SEA Health Policy Forum at GWU: Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) held a forum at George Washington University, cosponsored by AAAS, that explored the future of health policy in the next presidential administration. For more details on the content of the debate and what the advisers had to say, read the full AAAS coverage, or see the archived webcast of the event on SEA's website.
  • September 16 - President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) - The meeting included discussion of and presentations on STEM education, science policy and innovation, energy imperatives, and other topics. The full meeting agenda is available on the PCAST website, as are the agendas from all past meetings.
  • February 16 - Campaign Advisers Face S&T Questions: Advisers to the U.S. presidential campaigns of Clinton and Obama outlined their candidates' S&T plans and took questions from a full audience at the 2008 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston. Audio and related materials are available.
  • S&T Election Forum Question-and-Answer: Read questions that were submitted in writing by members of the audience at the AAAS Annual Meeting's presidential campaign forum.

Back to Top