As many of you will have picked up from recent blogs, I am moving on from my position as Chief Science Advisor to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.  From April 1, I will be taking up the post of Director of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center.  This is a tremendously exciting opportunity to lead a world-class group of researchers in supporting and enabling science-based decision-making.  It also couldn’t come at a more opportune time, as governments, businesses and citizens struggle to deal with risk and uncertainty in an increasingly complex world.

The University of Michigan Risk Science Center has been around for a while, but has been in a holding pattern for the past couple of years while a new director was recruited.  Supported by a very generous gift from Charles and Rita Gelman, the Center has already been placed on a very strong footing within the University of Michigan School of Public Health.  My aim over the next few years will be to build on this foundation – increasing the scope, activities and impact of the Center, and developing it as an international Center of Excellence.

Over the next year or so I will be developing the Center’s focus more specifically in four areas:

  • Research underpinning quantitative risk assessment;
  • Emergent risks – specifically the possibility of materials and products causing harm in ways that are not apparent, assessable or manageable based on the current state of knowledge;
  • Innovative new ways to handle risk (including assessing, managing and communicating risk); and
  • Equipping people with the tools they need to make informed decisions in the face of risk and uncertainty.

Looking back, the past five years with the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has been tremendously exciting.  Although I’m hardly unbiased, I do believe that as a team we made a difference in supporting the responsible development of nanotechnologies in the US and beyond, and kept discussions surrounding the technology grounded in science.  It will be sad to leave the team, Washington DC and national politics behind as I move across to Michigan.  But at least I’m assured that academic politics are every bit as entertaining as anything you can find on Capitol Hill 🙂

Over the next few months, updates to 2020 Science may be intermittent as I find my feet, and work out how best to integrate the blog with my new position – so please bear with me.  The intent though is to continue to reflect on science and technology in the 21st century – albeit perhaps with slightly more of a risk science bent!

In the meantime, don’t forget that you can follow the 2020 Science back-story on FaceBook and Twitter.

Oh, and before I go – someone mentioned something about football and Wolverines in relation to the University of Michigan.  No idea what that was about – guess I’ll find out soon enough though…