 Hello everyone. Welcome. My name is Katora Brown and I am a foreign service officer. I've been with the department for for over a decade, and I have the pleasure of being the moderator for today's session on data science and and foreign policy. Look, we are really excited that you are all here joining us. I hear that there's over 500 folks that are here for the panel, and we just want to take a moment on behalf of the department of Secretary Blinken and everyone to say that we are thrilled that you are joining us. We are also of course, I'm set that we couldn't do it in person, but that we are going to continue through this process and that we hope to have an interactive session today where we exchange ideas. And we can discuss and and and share questions and the best of our ability, we will answer them, but we will explore together what it means for data, data science in foreign policy and at work at the at the US Department of State. Welcome everybody. Let me just lay out quickly how we'd like to do the panel today. As I said, I'm the moderator and I'm going to few in a few moments I'll ask all of the moderate all of the panelists to briefly introduce themselves. Say a little bit about what they do a little bit about their background, how they came to the State Department. And also a little bit of detail about their jobs. And then I'm going to ask a few questions of our panelists, and I'll ask those questions to try and generate questions for you all. So that at the at the question and answer, we can have a good back and forth. I also want to just flag for people that if you have questions, please use the chat function, because we really want to leave time to address the questions that you have as best we can, and to have a conversation. And so please go ahead. When a question comes to you, you can put it in the chat. So, let me take a moment to introduce myself as I mentioned my name is Kachora Brown I was born Harlem New York and raised in the US Virgin Islands. I've been a foreign service officer for for 10 years and I've served on the Iraq desk I've served in Bamiqomali. I've also served in in Nairobi Kenya, and also in Washington DC. I came to the State Department through a fellowship called the wrangle fellowship, which takes about 20 folks per year. You have to apply to the fellowship and and get into the fellowship as well as get into graduate school, and after two years of graduate school. You are you join the Foreign Service so that was my path as you'll hear, there's many different paths into the Foreign Service. Quickly, what do I actually do now. My formal title is a conflict advisor with the CSO Bureau CSO stands for conflict and stabilization operations. So, I advise the US government, I advise our secretary our bureau and our post overseas about what activities and interventions that we can do in in conflict areas to mitigate and respond to conflict. So that's my, that's my role. Let me take a moment now to share with you a number of my colleagues that come from various backgrounds and I'm going to start with Jeffrey, over to you. Thank you. My name is Jeff Johnson. I'm the chief information officer for budget management and planning. And so I work for the Bureau of Information Resource Management and that bureau is is designated to empower the department to achieve its foreign policy mission by providing modern secure resilient information technology and services. We are focused on collaborative tools that enable mobility and simultaneously protect our information through cybersecurity and and protect our it assets against evolving cyber threats and vulnerabilities. My office in particular, I'm responsible for all the business management plans for the business side of the it investment. So that's about a $2.4 billion global it portfolio that is that annually is servicing across 85,000 people, the workforce of the department and operating in over 300 locations, domestically and overseas. And within that it's a responsibility of taking care of strategic planning, budget formulation, execution of the budget, reporting out to the public on the results of our of our it programs and and supporting the frontline business of diplomacy. And my so that that's a big job and my path to this job was not a I didn't come directly as a as an IT specialist. I started my work with the with the Department of Education working in in the office of Indian education work with Native American tribes on tribal programs and and with that is where I got the bug for data and data analytics. And what we were doing with those programs there was looking at cultural programs that were supporting the native language reclamation and and using using native tools to improve student math and reading achievement. And when I was there, we were having a real difficult time getting school districts to approve to them. And we were able to to create through using a national assessment, a survey that collected information that showed that cultural education does improve reading math scores for native students in fourth, eighth and 12th grade. And that it's in that feeling of empowerment that program empowerment really captured my my my passion for public service, but also captured that that government can do things that improve the lives of the local communities. And so that drove and assisted me with my career and I came over to the department, working for the Educational Cultural Affairs Bureau with their, with their exchange programs the pull by program and other sports related programs. And leading in those grant programs. And from there, I also worked for for the inspector general using technology again to inspect and ensure that we're all being good stewards of federal funds but also meeting the goals and objectives that have been established by legislation and by the executive branch. And that's, that's a little bit about me and I look forward to this discussion and I'll pass it over to aspect to Petra. Thank you, Jeffrey. Margaret, can you go ahead? Yep. Thanks so much, Katara. Good afternoon everybody really excited to be participating on this panel. I want to talk to you all today about data science at the State Department. So my name is Margaret Callahan, I am a conflict analyst in the Bureau of conflict and stabilization operations same as Katara CSO is a functional bureau within the State Department so it focuses on all regions of the world and has a particular its mandate being to anticipate prevent and respond to conflict so CSO implements its mission by deploying stabilization advisors around the world, implementing policy and programs on conflict prevention stabilization and harnessing data analytics and so I fall into that third bucket. So I'm part of the Office of Advanced Analytics and I am lead analyst for the Western Hemisphere but I also dabble in some other countries including Ethiopia and Sudan. A little about my background, I am an applied mathematician by training so I received my PhD and applied math in 2016 from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Before getting my PhD, I did a brief stint in academia before deciding it wasn't for me and looking for ways to apply my technical skills in mathematics and data analytics to affect real change in the world. And so I had a few intermediate career steps but that's how I ended up at the State Department. I came in a little over two years ago and I joined CSO as a AAAS fellow so that is American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science and Technology Policy Fellow it's a real mouthful. And I think we're going to talk a bit more about the that fellowship opportunity later but the goal of the fellowship in general is to place scientists, mathematicians and engineers throughout the federal government in order to bring a scientific and analytic perspective to policy making transition. So I recently just like a month ago transition to the to the civil service formally which is really exciting. But my role at CSO is still just in the vein of the AAAS fellowship which is that I use data analysis and quantitative tools to understand conflict dynamics worldwide. For me it's mostly the Western Hemisphere but that's a little bit about how how I came to state and I think is an example of how really there's something at the State Department for everybody no matter your background you don't see mathematicians aren't a dime a dozen at the State Department but we have a role and data analytics is a great is a great place for people with technical background to engage at State and inform policy making. So I think that is it for me back to you Katara. Thank you Margaret. Over to you Patty. Hi everybody good afternoon thanks so much for having me I'm really excited to be here. My name is Patty burner. I guess my path is a little bit different I am the program manager for the foreign affairs information technology fellowship. I'm going to that now I'll talk to you a little bit about it down the road. I work for the Bureau of Global Talent Management. Our focus is to recruit and to retain and to sustain a diverse and talented workforce. And what are the means to do that is the foreign affairs IT fellowship that I manage. The State Department was a little different I was living overseas as a foreign service spouse and I was work started by work with the department as a family member overseas. And when I came back to the states I transitioned into working with the civil service on the civil service side so I've worked with the family liaison office on advocating for family member employment and sharing resources and information. And then when I came across this position with the foreign affairs IT fellowship, it really caught my eye have a background in education. I'm passionate about creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce for the department so it really spoke to me and I've been now in this position for about a year and a half so I look forward to telling you a little bit more about the program in a few minutes so thanks Patara. Thanks Patty. And finally, over to Aubrey. Thank you Katara. Hi everyone, my name is Aubrey Paris and I am a science technology and innovation policy advisor in the office of the science and technology advisor to the Secretary of State, and that's a mouthful so we often call that the staff's office. More on that in just a minute. But how did I get here. Well I'm from New Jersey, and I have a very broad science background we can we can say that so as a scientist I double majored in chemistry and biology in a very interdisciplinary program at our sinus college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and immediately I started that up with my PhD in chemistry and material science at Princeton, also back in New Jersey. I clearly have a trend here. During my graduate studies and my undergraduate studies I also had a great passion for science communication, whether through writing video podcasting all different platforms, and this this passion for translating science and technology topics for non scientific audiences and seeing how science and technology topics could most effectively be appreciated and then applied in the real world. So science policy and the State Department seemed like a pretty exciting place to take that after my graduate studies. So I like Margaret joined the State Department thanks to a science and technology policy fellowships program. Mine was sponsored by I triple e USA, which is the Institute for electrical and electronics engineers. And this was for me a two year fellowship program in the State Department to focus on science technology and engineering diplomacy. So, in the office of the science and technology advisor to the secretary, my primary responsibilities I categorize in two different buckets. On the one hand, I am working on recommending courses of action and contributing to policy discussions related to various science technology and innovation topics ranging from biotechnology to areas such as data because data is not just something we we use to inform policy we actually make policies around it as well. Another bucket is really related to public diplomacy and innovation writ large and public diplomacy and outward engagement with various public especially international audiences is something that's also really informed by data. That is how I fit into my office my office as a whole has an even broader scope. So we work with and collaborate with offices all around the State Department as well as our many missions overseas to anticipate trends in emerging science and technology and think about ways in which they're going to affect foreign policy down the road so that we can be proactive and and create the necessary policies regarding those topics. We also work to build the capacity of the State Department to deal with and work on science and technology topics through, for example the fellowship programs and others that Margaret and I have already mentioned. Finally, we engage on science and technology topics through public diplomacy through conferences like this and through multilateral and international organization settings. So, I think, I think that'll do it for me in my summary so back to you Katara. And so, to everyone who's joined us on the zoom call, what I hope you've heard from us is that we come from all different backgrounds. There's not one path to the State Department, and that data informs the wide range of all the activities that we do here at here at the State Department. So, one question that I have for the panelists and I would like Jeff to start on this one. When, when we say data science or data analytics, what are we really talking about when we use that term for data, data science in the form Okay, great. That's a that's a good question. And when you're on the outside of the Department or outside the federal government. Sometimes it's hard to, it's we're influenced by by entertainment and by social media and and and think that there's a lot of things that are in our hands and available for us to to have these cool tools that we're carrying around all the time. The reality is that the federal government as well as the Department of State is still still working on how to how to how to grasp and how to take care of a large segment of data that we have across various functions and how do we use that and how do we use that in a predictive model. Can we utilize data that's collected to be able to predict whether there be turmoil or or a an insurrection in a country and be able to determine any sort of supply chain challenges so that there's there's a lot of we still need to do it in order to get there, but we're beginning to build those building blocks. And we have the Center for analytics that was put into place recently within the department that drives our dashboards and executive dashboards and and working level dashboards that are helping us understand a lot of areas where we're working towards utilizing more mobile technology laptops iPhones iPads and being able to issues to employees and allow them for greater flexibility and mobility to meet various work requirements. The use of AI or a data lake is really important. And just give you an example. I talked a little bit about my meandering river of a career where I've been to various agencies. Before I came back to state I was at Health and Human Services and I was in charge of the grants programs for HHS grants are the largest funder across the federal government they include overseas as well as domestic grantees and there's 26 other federal agencies that use grants. One of the areas that we're just getting a handle on is using common definitions of terminology. When you look across those federal agencies. Nobody even had the common definition of what a date of award was everyone had a different idea of what that meant, and that makes it very difficult to do any analytics once you don't have a common set of definitions so that is one of the areas we struggle with internally just to get those common definitions. But now that we have those common definitions all of a sudden grant making agencies across the federal government can start looking at larger issues and being able to connect Department of Justice data with HHS data with HUD data with education data and provide better programs to local communities. And that is where I think we want to be is our mistake also is to create these data lakes where we are able to utilize that information grab a hold of that information and be able to drive good policy making decisions. But that takes a lot of a lot of work and a lot of opportunity for growth there. One of the areas that I think is students you can look to and your universities are eligible for this is there's two programs. And we're patty's going to talk a little bit about other programs, but I just want to plug one one program that I'm in charge of. It's the virtual student. The BSFS program. This program is your any any undergraduate is allowed to apply through a PhD and it's specific programs across the federal government where you can actually go in get an idea of what we're looking for across the federal government to to resolve a problem. And you apply for that. And once you apply and you're selected you'll be working with the federal agency for a 12 week sprint or three month sprint to resolve or to find some solutions. So that's a fascinating program BSFS dot state dot gov. It's the largest longest running program that covers over 60 federal agencies with that program. And then there's one other program that you could look at it as an undergraduate is the opportunity project out of the Census Bureau where agencies put up a an idea of problem statement and then universities and colleges can take that. Create a team and come to the federal agency from the data sets that we've been given the public data sets and say this is how you resolve the issue. And that's happened recently with with environmental controls. So groups looked at plastic usage and how to track plastic that are in oceans and they're hurting our food supplies through the fisheries. So there's a lot of real opportunity out there to use data and unique and different ways. And the one way that you can think about as you're thinking about your career is using these project based opportunities to begin exploring which federal agency want to work to. We would love to have you here at the Department of State. There's a lot of agencies that are also doing international work across across the government. Thank you Jeffrey. Margaret I'd like to to ask you the same question there about when we talk about data science what do we really mean and can you share some tangible examples of the things that you've been working on and how you have incorporated data. Over to you Margaret. Sure. Thank you. I'll mention just what how I use data at CSO which of course is very different than how data is incorporated elsewhere in the State Department but I think we use it really interestingly so of course CSO Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. Our goal is to anticipate prevent and respond to global conflict. So for me in my job that means typically using a wide variety of data sources and methods to understand conflict dynamics and also mitigate current conflict and prevent future conflict. So part of the reason we need to do this is because conflict looks different in different parts of the world. So I think a lot about the Western Hemisphere. In my role as lead analyst for Western Hemisphere and in Latin America and in Central America for instance, conflict is often social conflict. So when I say conflict, we usually mean like conflict and protest events so any political events. And I'll talk a little bit more about that but send in Latin and Central America conflict is often like protests or riots and can involve gangs or other arms, non state armed groups as perpetrators of violence against against unarmed civilians whereas in places like Ethiopia and other countries that I work on regularly conflict is often driven by ethnic grievances. So we use data to help us understand what is driving conflict like the drivers and factors of conflict. And one of the data sources we use is called Aklid. So it's the armed conflict location and event data set data project and that it's open source. It's available online if you can Google it and check out their dashboard. And I believe to download data you need a license key but but you can kind of poke around and see what what they track so it's an events based data set that tracks conflict and protests globally. And it is a data set that we use pretty often it's very rich it includes information on where conflict and protest events take place who is involved specifically what occurred. And that is the data source that we employ very often and we use certain data visualization tools to just understand how conflict is trending in in certain countries or regions. In addition to Aklid we use other other data sources that give us a sense for the factors and drivers of conflict. We use economic data we use data on countries levels of democracy levels of political terror. And we do all of this to understand the trends in conflict in certain parts of the world and anticipate where new conflicts may emerge. And all of this helps helps the department prioritize, particularly where programming should be implemented where funding should be invested. It helps drive the both CSO and the and the State Department as a whole's priorities on mitigating conflict and you know increasing stability worldwide. So that's, that's a general overview back to you Katara. Thank you market and Aubrey. What are your thoughts on this topic. Thanks. Thanks for the question. If it wasn't clear already I think what my answer to this question will really indicate or underscore or drive home the point that data is used in so many different ways around the department which I hope is really exciting actually to our our listeners here today, hopefully gives them lots of fun ideas about how they could engage with data if they were to join the State Department. So I think from the perspective of the staff's office on the side of using data to make policy and programs. I can give some some examples of where this pops up in our day to day work. For instance, over the past year, my colleagues in my office have worked collaboratively with other functional and regional bureaus across the department as well as many of our missions to create AI related or artificial intelligence related strategies for our missions in different countries. And I think one thing that most people recognize about artificial intelligence or AI is the vast amount of data that it requires to to implement effectively. And there are a lot of implications of where those data streams are coming from and how we are using that data in terms of how effective that eventual AI will actually be. So that's one one example. Another in in my own work. I work with many folks across the department on biotechnology policy. And so you can think about biotechnology from a lot of different perspectives but just one example here with much relevance to is genetic information, whether for, you know, people or other living things. And what that means for things like data privacy, or who owns genetic data and how should it be shared, or maybe it shouldn't be shared in different, you know, circumstances. Bioethics is another place where all of this comes full circle because what are the ethical and moral questions associated then with how data is collected, how it is then shared and then eventually how it is used. On the programmatic side right I talked about public diplomacy I think it's also important to recognize that we use various sources of data to inform the public diplomacy programs that we put into place. And then once they're complete we use metrics and data, a ton to assess how effective they were at accomplishing our goals and then how can we learn from that data that we've now created based on our past programs to influence our future to make them even better and more effective at accomplishing their goals. So that's really using data to make policy and programs but again I really do want to underscore that we're also at the State Department making policies and programs about data. So talking about these questions about data ownership data data sharing data implications, you know how should data be protected. And this really does require a deep understanding of what data are how they're collected and how they they can be protected or not and what that means so there's a huge role for data scientists or really scientists of any type that are familiar with working with data to be able to answer some of those big questions and have a really important say as those as those policies and programs about data take shape now and in the future. That's really interesting thanks Aubrey. What I'm hearing is that there's a, there, there are broad sources and methods to the to the collection, but also to the use of data across the department that that that data helps to inform policymakers to make decisions, but then, on the other hand, as policymakers we are actually making decisions about data and how we use it. And, and, and how we share it. So, if I wasn't already in the foreign service and working for the State Department, or in the civil service, or had a fellowship, I would think to myself, these sound really interesting. So what are some actual tangible examples of fellowships or opportunities that our students on the call can pursue I know that we've talked about some but I just like to spend some time right now, going over a few a few tangible examples so that you guys that are here with us can walk away with at least a couple of examples of how you can get involved with with the State Department as a student as a graduate students, or even as a recent graduate. And for this I'm going to ask Patty to give us some more details over to you Patty. Yeah, I mean you're just been hearing about all the wonderful and amazing things going on in the in the State Department. Your best resource is to go to careers.state.gov. Because you can find lists and information about all of these some of the fellowships that Aubrey and Margaret mentioned. And I'm going to talk about one in particular because it's related to information technology, but there are intern programs there are, you know, paid internship programs there's fellowships. There is coming into the State Department in the Foreign Service and I'm going to talk about the one program to one of the programs that that puts you in that direction. There's also a myriad of civil service jobs. I think most of us here are with the civil service so there are many, many opportunities so I just highly recommend go to the careers.state.gov website. At the beginning, Katara had mentioned that she was a wrangle fellow and the program that I managed the foreign affairs it fellowship was modeled after the wrangle and the pickering fellowships. I'm going to highlight it and talk to you a little bit more about it, because it is a fellowship that is specifically geared toward students who are in an IT related major, and I'll talk about that in a minute too because that's a that's a broad umbrella. This is for undergraduate and graduate students so I want to talk a little bit more about that and highlight it's a growing program. There's a lot of focus on in the department so I just I'm going to share a few slides, just because I think that will make it a little easier for us to just see it I'm just going to take a few minutes here. It's okay I'm going to share my screen. Okay, just to double check and everybody see that okay. Okay, perfect. Okay, so I'm just going to give you a quick overview this is a few of our fellows here in the corner. So the, the foreign affairs it fellowship program was developed to attract and prepare outstanding information technology students for a career as a foreign service information management specialist so that's the key of this program is this will lead you to the career this is one of those paths that we talked about our different paths in, but based on the fundamental principle that diversity is a strength in our diplomatic efforts, the program similar to the Pickering and Rango fellowships value varied backgrounds including ethnic racial gender and geographic diversity. So minority groups which are historically underrepresented in the Department of State women and those with financial need are encouraged to apply for this program. I'm just going to talk a little bit about the specifics just so you have an understanding. Some of the benefits of the program. There's academic funding up to $37,500 annually for tuition books fees living expenses, you know funds to cover, you know, transportation to and from school. So it's a two year program so it really adds up on there are two internships as part of the fellowship. One is domestically here in the Bureau of Information Resource Management that Jeffrey spoke on a little bit at the beginning, and also the opportunity for overseas internship at a US Embassy or a consulate. There's mentoring and professional development opportunities throughout the two year program, and the best to top it all off is at the end, you have employment in the Department of States Foreign Service. There's a five year service obligation and in a minute I'll just touch on, you know what what the position is. One of the biggest benefits is it gives you that foot in the door it gives you that start of a career information management specialists, they serve their country by maintaining secure reliable information technology tools and resources. And that ensures that the State Department and other federal agencies and Americans overseas, you know can effectively communicate and they can protect us interests abroad. I like to say that you know the information management specialists are sort of like the backbone of the of the department overseas, making everything work and making communication and technology possible. So for those of you who are interested, which I'm sure there's many I'm just going to talk a little bit about how to be eligible for the program. The next cohort won't be selected until 2022. However, the application will open probably around September of this year. You must be US citizen to apply. We have two fellowships we have one for undergraduate students. So those students would be entering their junior year in 2022 in fall of 2022. This is a cohort model so you sort of have to follow along with the time scale. It could be possible that maybe you're a community college, and you're going to be transferring to a university or college junior senior year. So as long as you're going in as a junior in 2022 you'd be eligible. The graduate program would be that you're entering the it related master's degree program in fall of 2022. You don't need to have completed in it undergraduate degree. This could be your first experience with information technology related degree. So when I talk about it related degrees I just want to stop here there's, there's a huge umbrella of this. Many of our fellows are computer science majors. We have some who are majoring in data science, cybersecurity information management. You're free to contact us if you're not sure if your major would fit into the eligibility requirements and we're happy to talk to you more about your programs. You do have to have a minimum 3.2 GPA on a four point of scale. And so, you know, you do have to obtain a maintain medical and security clearances and suitability requirements you know as part of the Foreign Service requirements. So just to give you something to look forward to in the future. This is the timeline for the next cohort in 2022 we will be selecting 15 fellows, some undergraduate some graduate, but keep your eye out the application will open in September. This actually goes until the following February will announce it on the website, which you'll see at the bottom of the slide there is fate fellowship.org. And also on all of our social media sites so please have a search and you can find us on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. And then you'll see sort of the end of the timeline is then fellows are appointed into the Foreign Service as an information management specialist and following the timeline it should be in fall of about 2024. So it's a two year program. So I encourage any of you who are eligible to certainly find out more on our website there's a ton of information there. There's loads of information about what it's like to be an information management specialist overseas. And so I encourage you to apply and you know start an exciting career as an information management specialist. So thank you for letting me share, and I will send it back to you. Thanks very much Patty. So just to recap for folks. There's the fate fellowship. There's also the Pickering fellowship. There's the wrangle fellowship. There are a number of other fellowships and opportunities that we would love all of you to at least take a look at. And so you'll see in the chat that was posted. So the best place to go and to look to follow up after our conversation is careers.state.gov that lays out all of the opportunities at all the levels so so so we really encourage you to please look there. And so, and also, we're cognizant of time. And one of the things that we don't want to do is just talk, we want this to be an interactive experience. What I'd like to do is hold on other questions for the panelists and then just see if there's actually any questions from from from those who who've joined us questions about something that one of the panelists may said may have said questions about even more how data is used about how the State Department works. We'll be able to to make sure that we have a good amount of time at least 20 minutes to respond to your question so if we can answer them, we absolutely will. But I want to, I want to encourage people to start looking, or to start asking questions. We already have two, we already have two and please keep them coming. And so the first question is, how is data acquired by the Department of State, and what are its sources, how is data acquired by the Department of State, and what are its sources. So, we already enter that to a certain extent in terms of depending on your job responsibility as a conflict analyst, or as an IT person protecting the data infrastructure behind the State Department, our sources of that data is going to be quite different. And also, the State Department, we say to to acquire that data. There is public publicly available information, like Margaret mentioned, through ACLIN, and many types of other sources that are public. You also know that there's some data, geospatial data or other types of intelligence data, that is collected via classified ways, right, so we have unclassified ways, and then there's classified ways. And so, again, depending on your job, depending on your job responsibility, there's different sources and methods, and of that data. There was a second follow up question that we have here. And I'm going to ask Aubrey to respond to this one that this question Aubrey is, how have the growing fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence within data science impacted the projects and activities at the Department of State. Let me say that again. How have the growing fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence within data science impacted projects and activities at the Department of State. Aubrey, can you take that? Sure. The short answer is quite a bit. The longer answer is, and I should caveat this by saying I have many colleagues in my office who work on this very closely, but what my understanding is, is that much like with any type of emerging technology, those that involve data included. We at the Department of State try to be as proactive as possible when it comes to determining the implications of technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in creating the policies, creating and implementing the policies necessary to see those technologies have their fullest, most beneficial impact in society. So over the past several years, artificial intelligence and machine learning has been a huge priority at the Department that has been collaborated on by many, many, many offices across the building in secure the areas of security of economics of science of bilateral and cooperation, etc. Because these are all places where AI and ML artificial intelligence and machine learning are popping up. And so our department has worked on determining its own strategy for for working with an acting on and making decisions based on these technologies and is now as I mentioned in the process of helping all of our US missions decide how they should be interacting with and acting on these technologies. And it's really important I think something that Margaret said that's true here, just as as conflict has different forms, or implications in different parts of the world, different technologies, AI ML very much included, have different applications and implications in all different parts of the world, depending on what those with different regions priorities are, or, you know, how much they are really able to focus on science and technology as opposed to other other issues such as conflict or conflict. So it's it's very, it's a very important consideration for our current policy activities. And I think that it will continue to be so as we continuously understand from our colleagues out in the field around the world, how these technologies are being implemented in various countries, because that will really dictate and guide our decisions on how to engage with those technologies ourselves or engage with other communities or other governments on those technologies. So it's it's so, I love it as an example of really case by case basis, you know, what our diplomacy means in different parts of the world so it's a it's a broad answer because it's hard to be specific unless you're talking about very specific parts of the world so I hope that helps. Thank you for that. Maybe Margaret, you can take this question. Is data the same thing as intelligence. And if it if it's not sort of, what's the difference how do we explain data versus intelligence over. Yeah, that's a great question and actually, I'm going to combine an answer to that question with the previous question which was about the State Department's data sources so as you mentioned Katara. There's a lot of public data sources and we try to use those sources as much as we can because open source data is unclassified and so it's easier for us to share with our partners across the federal government. And also with the countries that we work with closely so we and when we don't have a particular source of data that we need we are often able to design and fund data collection program so that could be for instance, if we're interested in providing public perspectives and opinions on, you know, it may be a transitional government, we are able to fund programs that go into the field and collect data for us so that's another way that the State Department can share data. I don't have a lot of experience in the intelligence realm, but I think I, I, I, as a data analyst that doesn't deal in intelligence can say that the two things are different, I think intelligence can often come in the form of and is often, I think, classified and so I can't really speak to what that data would entail but I think a lot of the data that we use in our work is generally open source and tells us, you know, about what I spoke about earlier conflict events or other aspects of the kind of big questions that we are interested in perhaps infrastructure worldwide, data on climate, which impacts conflict so these are some other examples of data sources. And if I don't know if anyone can speak any more about intelligence specifically but I would say that intelligence falls under the banner of data but data captures more than just intelligence, if that's helpful. That is, thank you. And I'm going to open up this one to to to both Margaret and Aubrey. Are you aware of any new technologies that or or new new technologies and new data sources to address climate change Margaret you just mentioned that one of the key concerns that CSO is looking at is the impact of climate on conflict in particular. So can you just talk a little bit about maybe what some of those data sources are that you use or if we're aware of new technologies to help us address the issues of climate change over. Well, I knew I shouldn't have mentioned climate change because I don't I don't have too much just add to this I think Aubrey will probably have some things to say but I will say that CSO right now is in the process of looking into what data sources we have available to better understand the relationship between climate and conflict and you know I think we know that climate change impacts availability of resources food and water so that is a you know a kind of a direct line between climate change and conflict and so understanding what parts of the world are experiencing drought or are experiencing floods other things that damage crops and access to clean water. You know we'll be looking for data sources like that that kind of information. And this is just a space that CSO is beginning to really engage in and so it's an exciting time and we'll be looking for new data sources that will also probably include imagery satellite imagery, which is something that we have been using as well for other types of projects so it's an exciting space, obviously a very important question, and I'll I'll see if Aubrey has anything to add. Yeah, thanks Margaret. Well, I think on the technology side of that question. It's really important for us. In my office as well as others in the department to be keeping an eye on different technologies coming down the pipeline and what they could mean for big picture questions like climate change. And then think about what those implications could mean for our diplomacy and security and all that all that fun stuff. So I will put my scientist hat back on for just a second and give one example of a technology that sort of maybe coming down the pipeline that that could be related to climate mitigation. And that is carbon dioxide utilization technologies. So this is exploring ways to take carbon dioxide that is released at point sources or diffusely floating around the atmosphere and and be able to turn that carbon dioxide into something that's actually useful. So whether that be actual materials or chemical feedstocks or even fuels. These are all from the chemistry and material science perspective, real possibilities of things that are being done in laboratories right now. And so this is, I guess, I think it's a personal favorite example, I guess I should say of the type of technology that's really worth watching because it can have both, you know, climate change mitigation applications while simultaneously having economic applications as well you know if you can turn CO2 into something that you can sell and reuse. So it's one of what's the phrase two birds with one stone, maybe. So, so that's one example. That's quite interesting. And I'm quite helpful. So, thank you on that. So, we're at the time where we're going to wrap up and we're going to try to wrap up a few minutes early, but that's because we know that you all are in a full day of panels and we want to make sure that you all have time to transition to the next one. So, instead of doing sort of formal goodbyes, what I would like to ask our panelists is, what's the one thing that you want to say to the over 500 folks that are joining us today about about data and foreign policy, or about data and State Department. What's the one thing that that you'd like to, to leave us to leave with us. I'm going to ask Margaret to go first and I'll come to Patty. Margaret. Thanks so much, Katara. And I really appreciate everyone's time today. This has been a really interesting conversation. It's been very fun for me to hear from my fellow panelists on this. I would just say that don't let your purely academic background hold you back from pursuing, you know, employment at the State Department. We really come from everywhere, you know, all types of backgrounds. So I would just say, like, if this is of interest to you, if you're interested in foreign policy, if you're interested in doing data science at the State Department. There's tons of opportunities. There's it's very interesting work. It's really important and relevant. And I would just say, whatever you, you know, you can really do whatever you set your mind to you should not let your background think that it excludes you from, you know, working at the State Department. I personally had no foreign policy background whatsoever coming into this role. And have, I think, you know, thrived at State and loved it here. So just really want to encourage everybody to, to look into the various fellowship opportunities and other opportunities that we that were discussed on the panel and and yeah, good luck with your future endeavors. Thanks, Aubrey. Yeah, I guess I would close this out by saying, I'm not sure why each and every one of you chose to join this particular session today, we're certainly really happy that you did. I don't know whether you've chosen to join because you already have a passion for data science or you are pursuing a field in related to data science, or maybe you just recognize that data is part of your life. I mean, you probably use social media have a favorite streaming platform for your TV and movies or have your life on a laptop right. And so, I think that alone is real evidence that data in our lives is only becoming more prevalent. And that means there is a role for data, both acting on it and using it within government and here at the State Department. And so whether you are already studying data science, or it's a passion of yours, or if you have a scientific background of any type. I can't believe this by saying there's kind of to echo Margaret. Not only is there a place for you at the State Department. I think it's really beneficial to apply just this broad scientific way of thinking and specifically problem solving when it comes to our foreign affairs and our international diplomacy. So best of luck and I think we would all welcome you to reach out to us in the future if you have any questions. Patty. Yes, thank you all so much for joining us today and allowing us to speak with you I think by listening to the other panels you've heard about just the wide range of opportunities exist within the State Department and I don't think sometimes students are aware of everything that's that's going on I mean, you know, highly recommend, you know, spend some time, you know, check out the careers.state.gov website and the State Department website itself to see what is going on what are we doing these amazing initiatives that are going to bring us into the future. And, you know, reach out for us. There are the diplomat and residents that are listed and you can find their contact details. We have recruiters right here in DC who'd be more than happy to tell you about all the different opportunities that the State Department provides so good luck in your future endeavors and thank you for having us today. Thank you Patty. One of our other panelists Jeff has been having some technical difficulties. And we're sorry about that. But I know that if he could that he would want to want to probably, as Patty did encourage you to remember that any background, and there's just a number of opportunities that we have here. And when we talk about the impact of data, it's, it's, you know, it, it, it, it impacts all fields and all issues that we work on so it is pretty exciting. One of the, I think I'm just, I think we have to two minutes and I want to see that we had one other question about combating food, food security. And I think on this piece that I know about is that that State Department, often funds research, and the State Department also provides funding to organizations like the World Food Program, our sister agency, the US Agency for Development USAID provides a lot of funding to the World Food Program, for example, but USAID is also working with farmers from Kenya to, to, to, to places in, in Latin America to devise ways or to use technology to better inform crop development, or to understand or to have a better understanding of the weather and using technologies to understand the weather so that you can plan for flooding issues for example so that's just one very quick way that that technology is being used to combat food security or to address food security. So, folks, I want to say on behalf of the State Department, on behalf of this panel, and all of my colleagues, we want to thank you for joining me we want to thank you for considering the State Department whether or not it's for an internship or whether or not you think that dedicating your professional career to service is right for you I would say it's never a dull moment. And you can join as a Foreign Service Officer, as a civil service officer we welcome everyone and I would say be encouraged that data is interesting, and it is needed and so we need you. And so we hope that you take advantage of the opportunities. And we hope that you consider the Foreign Service and with that, good luck with the rest of the day, and of the Foreign Policy Conference, and hopefully we look forward to meeting some of you guys in person sometime soon. Thanks so much. Bye bye.