Gazette editorial touts proposed research endowment

Charleston Gazette
2/7/08


Eureka
Intellectual capital

AMONG appeals for state money before the Legislature this year is a plan pitched by Gov. Joe Manchin to use $50 million to endow competitive research at West Virginia and Marshall universities. This plan has great potential.

Modeled after a program in Kentucky called "Bucks for Brains," Manchin's plan is named "Bucks for Jobs," but the goal is the same. The state would invest $50 million and divide the interest between WVU and Marshall. WVU would get 70 percent of the earnings and Marshall would get 30 percent, a ratio that reflects existing research at the schools. The schools would have to raise equal amounts in private donations to get the money.

While the principal remains invested to generate more money, the schools would use the earnings to hire research scientists and build and equip their labs. The researchers would then be in a better position to compete for federal and private research grants, drawing more money and staff into Morgantown and Huntington.

This plan is good for West Virginia in a number of ways. First, it will attract smart professionals and their families, who will buy houses, attend schools and pay taxes. Second, it will generate the kinds of jobs that state residents currently move away to find: high-tech careers, many in the knowledge economy. At the same time, research opportunities will further enliven campus life for graduate and undergraduate students. Because these are new positions dedicated to research with funding attached, it will not pull existing faculty from important teaching duties, as other efforts to bolster research have done.

The goal of this research investment is to generate patents and private spinoff companies to manufacture new products.

There's already biomedical research going on at WVU and Marshall. This effort would help it advance even further. Other fields include biotechnology, nanotechnology, biometrics, material science, engineering and environmental studies.

Paul Hill, vice chancellor for science and research at the state Higher Education Policy Commission, says the money would be spent in fields where the schools are already strong, and where there is potential for an economic payoff.

In a decade or two, this investment could add millions to West Virginia's economy. More of the state could enjoy the kind of boom that Morgantown has been seeing for years, largely driven by research efforts.

This could be the smartest $50 million the Legislature spends.