Data Collection and Integration to Enhance Public Health: Making Sense of a Patchwork of Data

As policymakers and community leaders have worked to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that statistics and data science can play a critical role in protecting public health and determining the best path forward.  Moving from theory to practice presents challenges for working with a patchwork of data from many different sources across public and private sectors.  

Join the National Academies for a symposium on June 10, 2021 from 1:00-5:30pm ET to explore the latest statistics and data science methods and how they can be applied to real-world situations.  Speakers will discuss how their work in modeling, inference, predictive analysis, and machine learning has been applied to track the spread of COVID-19, drug use, air pollution, and human trafficking.  Panelists will explore the strengths and weaknesses of available surveillance data and how to integrate and draw insight from multiple imperfect data sources.

#DataOnPublicHealth

Empowering the Defense Acquisition Workforce to Improve Mission Outcomes Using Data Science

Using data science to support decision making is not new to the defense acquisition community; its use by the acquisition workforce has enabled acquisition and thus defense successes for decades. Still, more consistent and expanded application of data science will continue improving acquisition outcomes, and doing so requires coordinated efforts across the defense acquisition system and its related communities and stakeholders. 

Empowering the Defense Acquisition Workforce to Improve Mission Outcomes Using Data Science assesses how data science can improve acquisition processes and develops a framework for training and educating the defense acquisition workforce to better exploit the application of data science. This report identifies opportunities where data science can improve acquisition processes, the relevant data science skills and capabilities necessary for the acquisition workforce, and relevant models of data science training and education.

COMMITTEE MEETING ON MAY 27
Risk Analysis Methods for Nuclear War and Nuclear Terrorism

The next open session of the National Academies' Committee on Risk Analysis Methods for Nuclear War and Nuclear Terrorism will be held May 27 from 1-5pm ET via webinar.  During the meeting, invited speakers will discuss contemporary risk analysis methods related to homeland security and nuclear terrorism.

Learn more about the study on our website. 

Standing Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities and National Security Needs

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are convening a standing committee to identify advanced and emerging biotechnologies that show promise in meeting national security needs.  This committee will facilitate active engagement between the U.S. national security community and a broad and diverse group of biotechnology stakeholders from a variety of organizational sectors. 
 
You are invited to nominate experts, including yourself, to serve on this committee. Learn more and submit a nomination here.  Please submit all nominations by 11:59p.m. PT on June 3.  If you have any questions, please contact Jessica DeMouy at jdemouy@nas.edu.

Assessing Causality from a Multidisciplinary Evidence Base for National Ambient Air Quality Standards

A new National Academies' committee will consider frameworks to assess causality of health and welfare effects of air pollutants in EPA's Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) conducted as part of EPA reviews of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Advances for integrating scientific evidence will be assessed, and issues concerning confounders, the most useful types of evidence for causal determinations, and whether a single framework for assessing causality is applicable to both health and welfare effects will be considered. 

Join us for a committee open session on Friday, May 21, from 3:30-6pm ET.  Learn more about the project on the study website.

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