Computer Science Can Shape Policy, But There May Be Fewer Computer Scientists In the Pipeline

Some of the Science Progress staff had the opportunity to visit Microsoft TechFest this week. The yearly gathering brings hundreds of members of the software company’s massive research division to the home base in Redmond, Washington for an elite science fair of computer science research. Among the demonstrations were booths showcasing the latest in graphics technology, language translation, and privacy-protected searching. But several projects focused on utilizing the latest computational tools to enhance and enable biological and environmental science modeling. The results of these collaborations between computer scientists and geneticists, oceanographers, or ecologists produced new ways of doing science, and those new methods could lead to the research necessary to make informed policy decisions.

The basic problem in life science modeling runs like this: researchers working in the life sciences conduct their research with an exponentially increasing amount of data, to the point that biology and environmental science work can start to look like computer science.

For example, ecologists studying watersheds need to have data on water flow, temperature, and acidity; rainfall; the shape of streambeds; the levels of pollutants in the water—and they need to gather, store, and manipulate data gathered at different times over long periods at geographically dispersed points by different groups using potentially different equipment. It’s a tall order, but with an appropriate set of models, a scientist can predict the effect of various land and water management decisions, isolate the causes of species loss, and determine the source and levels of pollutants—all of which directly impacts major policy choices for regions across the country.

The solution to the problem? Collaborations between computer scientists and life science researchers. The specialists adept at manipulating databases, designing sensors, and translating information between formats can build the scientific workflows and modeling systems that allow the life scientists to comprehend the complex natural systems. Several such eco-modeling demonstration projects were on display at TechFest. The “E-Science: Science in the Cloud” booth demonstrated watershed monitoring projects. The “Trident” workbench provided a set of research tools for oceanography. And the “Science for the 21st Century” booth offered an array of resources that allow non-programmers to harness database technology for studying climate models, forest ecology, and genetic material.

These types of collaborations between information technology experts and biologists fueled the race to sequence the human genome and drive current work in DNA mapping, personal gene sequencing, and synthetic biology. But in order to continue advances in the field of bioinformatics and fuel more such collaborations in biological and environmental sciences, there have to be enough computer scientists to work on the collaborative research.

But new numbers indicate that enrollment in computer science programs in 2007 was half what is was in 2000. The numbers seem to be stabilizing, with an increase between 2006 and 2007, but the issue may be relevant when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testifies before the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation next Wednesday.

Tags: computer science

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