Sociology Is Well Represented Among NSF’s Human and Social Dynamics Grantees

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) innovative three-year-old interdisciplinary Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) initiative brought together a number of sociologists this fall at a twoday seminar of Principal Investigators (PI) in Washington, DC. The nearly 200 participants, including 25 sociologists, presented their findings, learned about other PIs’ findings, participated in discussion sessions, and asked questions at this NSF-sponsored event. The attendees also heard presentations by NSF staff and from John Marburger, III, the President’s Science Adviser and Director of the White House Office of Science, Technology, and Policy.

The American Sociological Association recently joined a group of social science professors, including me, in submitting an amicus curiae brief (Cook v. Rumsfeld) supporting former military personnel who have brought suit against the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security after having been discharged from military service because of their sexual orientation.

The escalating violence in Iraq gives a bleak impression of that country’s future. Sectarian conflict seems to increase daily with militias massacring hundreds of Sunnis and Shi’is solely on the basis of their religious identities. It would be a mistake to think that this bloodlust represents widespread sentiment among Iraqis as a whole.