It only took 53 years, but they finally got a woman to the podium to give MIT’s Compton Lecture, an annual event named for former long-time university chief Karl Taylor Compton.

And, she isn’t even a scientist. But, she needs a few. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano spoke on Monday about the intersection of science, security and public service. She called on the scientists-in-training at MIT to consider working for the government. And, she promised that the Obama administration is taking steps to make scientific careers in the public sector more appealing.

In her introduction, MIT President Susan Hockfield called homeland security “an emerging field of technological R& D.”

Napolitano agreed. The US faces questions about security that scientists can help answer, she said. How to protect the borders while allowing the free flow of people and goods. How to protect infrastructure. How to respond to attacks while protecting civil liberties.

“How to address the risk of potential catastrophic events – a major earthquake, a major attack — when we don’t know where or when it will happen or what it will look like.” She said. “The answers to many of these problems involve harnessing science and technology to better meet our homeland security needs.”

In the past, academic scientists have collaborated with the military, she said, citing the Manhattan Project that, with the help of MIT, produced the first atomic bomb. The challenges today are different.

“The reality of national security today is that small groups of people can use ordinary technology to injure or kill,” she said. And, they can use more advanced technology to create biological and chemical weapons.

The US has to use its expertise to keep ahead of adversaries, she said. For example, the Department of Homeland is in the process of recruiting computer scientists to better address cyber-threats.

“Perhaps you have never considered the ideas of government public service,” she said, admitting that the careers there may not look as appealing as jobs in academia or industry. The feds are working to change that, she said. But, change also has to come from the broader scientific community. Taking time off to work on a government project should not be seen as a distraction, she said.

“We need to work with academia and the private sector to help ensure that a stint like this is seen as a period of valuable services, not as a gap in a resume.”