Pentagon's New Goal: Put Science Into Scripts

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Claudio Gutierrez <claudio.gutierrez.m () gmail com>
Date: August 5, 2005 11:47:35 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Pentagon's New Goal: Put Science Into Scripts
Reply-To: Claudio Gutierrez <claudio.gutierrez.m () gmail com>


By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 3 - Tucked away in the Hollywood hills, an elite
group of scientists from across the country and from a grab bag of
disciplines - rocket science, nanotechnology, genetics, even
veterinary medicine - has gathered this week to plot a solution to
what officials call one of the nation's most vexing long-term national
security problems.

<snip>

Exactly how the national defense could be bolstered by setting a few
more people loose in Los Angeles with screenplays to peddle may be a
bit of a brainteaser. But officials at the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research spell out a straightforward syllogism:

Fewer and fewer students are pursuing science and engineering. While
immigrants are taking up the slack in many areas, defense laboratories
and industries generally require American citizenship or permanent
residency. So a crisis is looming, unless careers in science and
engineering suddenly become hugely popular, said Robert J. Barker, an
Air Force program manager who approved the grant. And what better way
to get a lot of young people interested in science than by producing
movies and television shows that depict scientists in flattering ways?

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/movies/04flyb.html?


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