The Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences
The Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences (BBCSS) was established in 1997 with five principal goals: 1. to engage academic and other research scientists working in the behavioral, cognitive, and sensory sciences in the consideration of major national policy issues; 2. to promote and advance cross-disciplinary inquiry into complex scientific and policy questions; 3. to provide a forum for objective, independent, and rigorous deliberation among researchers, the public, the media, Congress, professional associations, the NSF, and other federal agencies; 4. to draw attention to the significance of the behavioral, cognitive, and sensory sciences to national policy; 5. to link these sciences to the wider range of scientific and technological questions addressed by the National Academies. Since its founding the Board has developed and managed more than a dozen major panel studies, involving hundreds of volunteers drawn from the top echelons of science; conducted workshops and expert meetings on a wide range of emerging policy issues; created a sustainable infrastructure for ongoing review of basic and applied research; informed policy on a range of national priority issues; and facilitated interactions among scholars and policy makers working on myriad policy questions.