Science and Public Policy in Current Events

Each meeting will be divided into approximate thirds.  The first third will be a current event.  For example, the first meeting will be hurricanes. We will discuss Hurricane Beryl and the 2024 hurricane season. The second third will be discussing what public officials have been saying about the topic. In our example this will be what public officials have said about hurricanes and/or Beryl specifically. And the final third will be the science of hurricanes. 

A short list of sources are listed in the "Sources" section. In general the sources for the class will be government documents such as congressional records, NOAA, NASA, and the like.  There are also some tightly linked secondary sources such as CSPAN, the Commission on Presidential Debates, or statements released by public officials on their official channels. The purpose here is not to advance a political position but merely to demonstrate what policies are being proposed.

Week 7/28: Hurricanes
     1.  Hurricane Beryl, how it began an ended, it's impact on the region, and responses to the hurricane.  2. What have people said about Hurricane Beryl specifically and hurricane's generally. 3. What are hurricanes and what does the science say about them.
Week 8/04: Nuclear Power
     1. What technologies are currently being developed for nuclear power. 2 Advance Act and other nuclear related policies, 3. The Science behind nuclear fission and fusion
Week 8/11:  Vaccines
      1. Developments in vaccine technology and implementation. 2. Public Comments about vaccines. 3. How vaccines work
Week 8/18: Fracking
     1. developments in fracking. 2. California and New Mexico regulation. 3. How fracking works, benefits and costs.


After week four we will decide in class which topic we’ll cover in subsequent weeks and will be driven, in part, by emergent issues in our national, state, and local communities. Students will research the underlying science of the issue, how policy makers are addressing the issue, and they can do to make a difference. At the end of each week students should have a working knowledge of the science underlying each topic and its impact on society.