|
This past week, I was glad to speak to students at Purdue University thinking about State Department careers in STEM. The U.S. must remain at the forefront of technological advances to maintain its competitive edge and to bolster our workforce. Purdue is an example of how academic institutions can play a leading role and invest in the next generation. Read my remarks below as I spoke with students who, whether in emerging technologies or diplomacy, will go on and do great things for America and the world.
On Tuesday, I had a chance to see firsthand what an extraordinary institution Purdue is. The thing that came most to mind to me was that Purdue University has got to be one of the leading, if not the leading, human fabs (fabrication lab) for the next generation of people who are going to lead this country, into the technological future, into the scientific future, and into the innovative future.
But there’s a particular reason that I wanted to come to speak at Purdue University: We want you. We want you, students of Purdue, to consider coming into government at some point in your careers, doing something in public service, and maybe even something at the State Department. And I want us to talk about that just a little bit because it may not seem like the most obvious connection in the world. Why is someone from the State Department, dealing with America’s foreign policy and our role in the world, coming to Purdue, looking to speak with incredible people that are focused on STEM?
I’ve been working in foreign affairs for nearly 30 years, and as I was moving along and working on all of these different foreign policy challenges, it became more and more apparent to me that so much of what we were working on, so many of the problems that we were trying to solve, actually had a profound connection to science, technology, and innovation. And often the answer, or at least part of the answer, had science and technology somewhere as part of it.
But here’s the problem. Many of us who are working in government on foreign policy don’t come up through this lens of science. We tend to be humanities majors. And it really got to the point where I said to myself that we need scientists and technologists around the table just to tell us whether we need scientists and technologists around the table, because we need people to help identify not just the problems but a different angle on the solutions that some of us were used to bringing to the table.
And so we started to do things – this is back during the Obama administration, when I last served – to try to do just that, to actually bring more people from STEM disciplines into government, through internships, through fellowships, through new programs. And now that I’m back doing this, we’re in – even more than we were just six or seven years ago – I think in an entirely different place in a few ways.
First, technology will continue to shape our lives, to shape the way we live, the way we work, the way we interact, and the way we compete – each and every one of those technologies, whether it is quantum, whether it’s AI, whether it’s biotech, whether it’s the chip itself, have a profound connection between what we do here at home and what we’re doing around the world. Here at home, we’re making the right investments, but around the world we have to find ways to bring others along, because the way this technology gets used – the rules, the norms, the standards that people agree on that govern their use – is going to have a profound impact in and of itself on the way that we live and the way that we work. And is it going to happen in a way that reflects, we hope, our basic values of openness and tolerance and respect for privacy, or is it going to happen in a different way? So we need to be at the table when all of these things are getting decided, and we need to have people at the table who actually know what they’re talking about.
So many of the problems we’re trying to solve, as I said, have clear technology, innovation, and science aspects to their solution. We’re trying to figure out how to do a better job overcoming profound crises in food security around the world. There’s going to be part of that where the answer is grounded in science, in technology, in agro science. If we’re trying to figure out how to prevent the next pandemic, we know there’s going to be an answer that’s grounded in science and technology as well as in the policies that we pursue to advance it.
We’re trying to think about how we protect our economy, particularly dealing with climate change, and how we make an energy transition that makes sense, that keeps faith with keeping people employed but also keeps faith with trying to protect the planet. That’s probably going to have an answer that’s also grounded in science and technology.
It’s a long way of saying so many of the things that we’re actually doing day in, day out at the State Department are all about many of the things that many of you are interested in, working on, and becoming expert in. And I’m here to tell you that the State Department is one place where you can actually pursue that passion, pursue that interest, and do it in a couple of novel and interesting ways.
One, doing it working for your country. That has its own value that’s hard to really quantify. And two, getting to do it around the world in really interesting ways and engaging with incredibly interesting people. I really hope this is something that some of you will at least consider as you’re thinking about where you want to go, where your careers will take you.
I’ve had the experience in working in government, working in the private sector, and working in different pursuits. And at least for me, there’s been something unique about getting to go to work every day and either literally or figuratively having a flag behind your back. There’s something particularly special about that, hard to quantify. I hope as you’re thinking about it, whether it’s now, in five years, 10 years, 20 years down the road, think about giving some time to public service.
I know there’s a lot of cynicism about working in government and sometimes for every understandable reasons, but I can tell you from my own experience that virtually all the people that I get to work with every day, whether it’s in the administration, whether it’s in Congress, Republicans, Democrats, or Independents – they’re all there because they’re trying to do what they think is the right thing to do to make the country just a little bit better, a little bit safer, a little bit healthier, a little bit wealthier, and create opportunities for people. We have disagreements about the best way to do that, and that’s fine. That’s exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. But most people are really motivated to try to do the right thing, and if you can find a group of likeminded people, you can actually get a few things done.
I appreciate those who have taken the time to write to me in the past several months. To share your thoughts – please write to me and my team at EmailTeam@State.gov.
Sincerely,
 Secretary Antony J. Blinken
Note to Readers
This new flagship email – “From the Secretary’s Desk” – features the Secretary’s remarks and speeches on important current events. Sign up to receive this email regularly
|
