{"id":4329,"date":"2020-05-19T16:59:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T16:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/?p=4329"},"modified":"2020-05-19T17:01:39","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T17:01:39","slug":"victory-is-won-through-many-advisers-rad-byerly-and-the-radford-byerly-jr-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2020\/05\/19\/victory-is-won-through-many-advisers-rad-byerly-and-the-radford-byerly-jr-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Victory is Won Through Many Advisers: Rad Byerly and the Radford Byerly, Jr. Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Alison Gilchrist, CSTPR Science Writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I interviewed Carol Byerly on the fourth anniversary of the death of Rad Byerly, her late husband, and the mood was solemn. But as we were sitting down to talk about Rad\u2019s contribution to science policy, and his legacy both for the Center of Science and Technology Policy (CSTPR) as well as the nation, there was an equal sense of celebration and honor. A candle was burning behind the table to commemorate Rad, and for an hour Carol and I talked quietly about his life, writing, and values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing a PhD and holding a postdoctoral position in physics, Rad Byerly had a long career in politics guided by a simple idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cRad believed that science should serve society,\u201d said Carol Byerly. \u201cAnd scientists have an obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This conviction that scientists should have a commitment to the serving of society first, before the serving of personal or professional interests, gave Rad a purpose and drive that guaranteed his legacy as a tough, scrupulous, and principled advisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRad was a philosopher king, and a great critic,\u201d said Daniel Sarewitz<\/a>, a professor of science and society at Arizona State University, who worked with Rad in the US House of Representatives. Sarewitz went on to tell the story of writing a speech for Science Committee Chairman George Brown Jr. The initial feedback he received from another committee member was that the speech was \u201ctoo negative\u201d. Rad, on the other hand, said it \u201cwasn\u2019t challenging enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRad believed that the scientific community needed to be knocked around the head a bit,\u201d laughed Sarewitz. \u201cHe thought it needed to be woken up and held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rad believed that often, money was being thrown at scientists without clear guidelines about reporting and accountability to the public good. He thought that at the intersection of science and politics lay the truly interesting work of guidance: a two-way street between scientists and politicians that would ultimately improve the work of both. At the beginning of one of his books on science policy is a quote from the Bible: \u201cFor lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers (Proverbs 11:14).\u201d At the beginning of another, a similar quote: \u201cWhere there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he (Proverbs 29:18).\u201d Together, these profoundly illustrate Rad\u2019s ideals: that science for the public good is best conducted with a guiding hand from government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, in recognition of Rad\u2019s contributions to and impact on the CSTPR community, CSTPR established the Radford Byerly, Jr. Award in Science and Technology Policy<\/a>. Each year, a CU Boulder graduate student who has proposed a significant contribution to science and technology policy through his or her work is given this award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 recipient of the Byerly award was Diana Dorman<\/a>, a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dorman studies issues of energy access in the developing world, specifically how energy is supplied reliably and affordably and how those systems are affected by climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I asked how she was feeling about diving into the policy issues of her dissertation work, Diana Dorman said \u201cI\u2019m comfortable with it\u2014I\u2019ve had quite a bit of policy experience in my career so far. This is just at an international level instead of state level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked if writing the proposal or winning the award had changed anything about her research approach, but Diana said that policy was always an important component of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be acknowledged or recognized for the work you\u2019re doing,\u201d said Diana. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say anything about how I think about my work has changed, but it\u2019s more validation that that connection is valued by others and that it has real world application.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a recipient of the award, Diana Dorman was asked to present her thesis work at a lunchtime seminar. Normally it would have been in person, but under these extraordinary circumstances she instead presented over a Zoom call<\/a>. Despite this setback, attendance was impressive with approximately 50 people in the audience. Diana expressed disappointment that she was not able to meet Carol Byerly in person, but said that it was still an honor to present her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rad Byerly would have appreciated scientists like Diana Dorman, who sit at the intersection of science and policy. Byerly\u2019s commitment to science as a service to society is partly responsible for the legacy of CSTPR, and is embodied by the Byerly Award. As Sarewitz said about the award, \u201cIt\u2019s helping keep Rad\u2019s memory alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is Alison Gilchrist’s final Prometheus blog post due to the closure of CSTPR<\/a> on May 31, 2020. Alison has been an intern and writing wonderful commentaries for our Center since 2016. We at CSTPR would like to give Alison our heartfelt thanks for her dedication and thoughtful work she has provided for the Center. Alison’s commentaries for CSTPR are available to read through here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alison Gilchrist, CSTPR Science Writer I interviewed Carol Byerly on the fourth anniversary of the death of Rad Byerly, her late husband, and the mood was solemn. But as we were sitting down to talk about Rad\u2019s contribution to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentaries","category-science-writer-alison-gilchrist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-02 11:03:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4329"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4352,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4329\/revisions\/4352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}