ACCREDITATION: AAN-AN ACCREDITOR FOR TECHNICAL EVIDENCE-BASE
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION ETHICS PROGRAMS

January 27, 2018 [email communication]

AAN Staff Members,

Dr. Warren St. James, Dr. Frederick Nwosu, and I individually spoke yesterday about establishing an accreditation platform through the Alumni Association Network (AAN). I would like your opinion on AAN implementing a component that grants accreditation for academic science communication programs rather than for academic institutions. There are many accreditors for institutions as well as for specific disciplines. Thus, I would propose a platform for emerging disciplines.

Here, this email and replies address: Technical Evidence-Based Science Communication Ethics Programs.

"ALEC’s model Common Sense Scientific and Technical Evidence Act is designed to ensure that state courts follow the same guidelines in admitting expert opinions about scientific and technical matters as judges in the federal courts. These guidelines help assure that the evidence admitted is reliable and trustworthy." https://www.alec.org/model-policy/the-common-sense-scientific-and-technical-evidence-act-2/

"Steven Eaton, a scientist working for Aptuit, a US pharmaceutical company, has been jailed three months for falsifying preclinical safety data on experimental anticancer drugs due for clinical evaluation" http://www.pharmtech.com/scientist-jailed-falsifying-research-data

"A former Massachusetts crime lab chemist accused of mishandling evidence affecting hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of criminal cases" http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/22/justice/massachusetts-chemist-plea/index.html 

"You have people making these decisions with no forensic training or awareness [and] in some cases the wrong test is being asked for. There isn't an awareness of what is the best test to apply in any one circumstance" http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-19412819

"Scientific Findings Often Fail To Be Replicated, Researchers Say": https://www.npr.org/2015/08/28/435416046/research-results-often-fail-to-be-replicated-researchers-say 

"We need more than knowledge, though; we need institutional embeddedness. Scientists have to understand the science of science communication." https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/qa-what-are-the-challenges-facing-science-communication/

"About one in four U.S. workers (26%) say it is at least somewhat likely that their job will be eliminated by new technology, automation, artificial intelligence or robots within the next 20 years." http://news.gallup.com/poll/210728/one-four-workers-say-technology-eliminate-job.aspx

Thus, there is also a technical component of science communication that exists and has been somewhat explored in many universities. However, what comes to my mind the lack of ethics programs. Preliminary findings fail to measure what was intended to be measured and reporting technologies fail to detect inconsistencies in science prior to endpoints. Technologies that track deviations should report and communicate erroneous preliminary findings across a broader spectrum without compromising medical, science, and research ethics. Here, instead of critical thinking, "critical attentiveness and awareness" will become the central focus in such academic programs. Please share your perspectives and how AAN may move forward with this idea expanding on criteria that high education departments would need to meet to obtain an accreditation for a Technical Evidence-Based Science Communication Ethics program. Thank you,

Dr. Brenda Nelson-Porter, Founder and CEO Alumni Association Network
The Reviewers: http://www.alumniassociationnetwork.org/Accreditation.htm