Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 2 | 2010 | Number 2
Science Board Update
By Timothy Hackenberg
The Science Board was constituted in May 2008 to promote behavior science. The specific goals of the Science Board are organized into three broad categories: research support, scientific education, and research dissemination. I will discuss the Science Board activities in relation to these three goals.
Research Support
One of the primary goals falling under research support is to work with other organizations to promote research funding of behavior science. To this end, we continue our affiliation with the Federation of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS), a coalition of behavior science societies that works closely with federal funding agencies and with elected representatives to increase the visibility of and funding for behavior science. Tom Critchfield represented ABAI and the Science Board at the annual FABBS meeting in December of 2009, which focused on discussions of research priorities at federal funding agencies. The Science Board is actively discussing ways to improve the likelihood of research funding for ABAI members and for outreach to other like-minded organizations, including workshops and mentoring programs for students and new Ph.Ds.
Scientific Education
The Science Board also recently became involved in National Lab Day (NLD), a grassroots program aimed at scientific education for K–12 students. The program is designed to foster interest in science and technology by providing hands-on learning experiences for the next generation of scientists. The first annual National Lab Day was May 12, 2010, although the hope is that activities of this day will carry over into productive collaborations between scientists, students, and teachers throughout the year. To date, the program focuses almost entirely on traditional "hard" sciences, with little if any representation from the behavioral sciences. Joining together with other behavioral science organizations, such as FABBS, we are hoping with our involvement in this program to bring visibility to our field while, at the same time, teaching kids about science. We set up an ABAI link off the main NLD web page, and the response was very positive. I received dozens of e-mails from ABAI members who signed up to offer their time and expertise to science education. We are in the process of compiling responses from participants and hope to include that in a future newsletter.
The Science Board, in conjunction with the ABAI Student Committee and the Society for Quantitative Analyses of Behavior, also organized a practicum on quantitative methods for the ABAI Annual Convention. Co-led by Jesse Dallery and Paul Soto, the purpose of the session was to provide hands-on instruction in exploratory data analysis and curve fitting. The session was a tremendous success, with over 30 attendees and an enthusiastic response.
Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge
The Science Board has been working to improve the quality of science programming at the Annual Convention. Beginning with the 2001 Convention, the Science Board will sponsor a special program track, consisting of an interrelated group of sessions on a common theme. The goal is to highlight the tremendous and cutting-edge scientific work being done in behavior science. Please let us know if you have ideas for speakers and themes.
The Science Board, in conjunction with the ABAI Student Committee and the Society for Quantitative Analyses of Behavior, also organized a practicum on quantitative methods for the ABAI Annual Convention. Co-led by Jesse Dallery and Paul Soto, the purpose of the session was to provide hands-on instruction in exploratory data analysis and curve fitting. The session, held during the second evening of the convention, received a good turnout.
The Science Board has also spent a good deal of time this year planning the upcoming conference on Behavioral Research and Translation, scheduled for March, 2011 in Chicago. The theme of this inaugural Science Board meeting is behavioral economics; the conference has dual objectives of building on our own strengths in this domain and facilitating productive interdisciplinary dialogue. We are excited to announce that our lineup of speakers includes Warren Bickel, Leonard Epstein, Leonard Green, Stephen Higgins, Steven Hursh, James MacKillop, Samuel McClure, Michael Platt, and Howard Rachlin. The talks will be scheduled in a single-track format over two days, organized into thematic clusters, each cluster followed by a moderator-led discussion. The conference will also include a tutorial on behavioral economics by Greg Madden (prior to the invited talks) and a poster session. Please consider joining us for this stimulating event.