The following is an editorial originally published in the Charleston Gazette on Feb. 18, 2008.
LAST SUMMER, a bill passed by Congress declared that federally funded science research is crucial to maintaining America's economic competitiveness. President Bush proudly signed the bill into law.
The bill's message is true. America's prosperity, health and future potential all hinge greatly on science advances and improvements in technology. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said of such research: "Many of the really big changes that will transform our lives will come from unpredictable breakthroughs."
However - since the federal budget is drained by the needless Iraq war and huge tax giveaways to the affluent, along with built-in spending for Social Security and the like - Congress and the White House must squabble over remaining funds. In December, the president threatened to veto the budget unless it was shrunk to limits he set.
As a result, federal scientific research was slashed drastically, stunning several U.S. agencies. The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California was forced to lay off 120 workers, including physicists. Fermilab in Chicago is cutting 10 percent of its staff. Argonne National Laboratory, also in Illinois, shut down its Intense Pulsed Neutron Source and eyed other operations for closure.
In an editorial titled "Sacrificing science," the Chicago Tribune protested that this loss will hurt America through "corrosion of scientific research capability, which will weaken the innovative spirit upon which this country's post-World War II economic dominance has been built." The paper added:
"Research funding often gets short shrift because it can take years, even decades, for what can seem like esoteric physics and engineering projects to reach their practical applications. Visible light-emitting diodes, the building blocks of our newfangled LCD flat-screen TVs, were developed more than four decades ago. ... The technology used to build MRI machines started as a project at Fermilab.
"Basic scientific research - on radar, lasers, optics and nanotechnology - has contributed to the vital military superiority of the United States. Such innovation also gives this country an edge in manufacturing high-technology goods. And it can bring in a king's ransom in intellectual property fees."
Modern nations realize that scientific research and development are crucial to each country's economy. In the decade between 1995 and 2004, America boosted its research spending 43 percent, but the Tribune noted ominously: "In that time, China, Ireland, Israel, Singapore and South Korea collectively upped their R&D spending by 214 percent."
The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation recently reported that America's "share of the Department of Defense investment in science and technology has declined significantly, from 20 percent in 1980 to less than 12 percent in 2005.''
The National Science Board reported this month that 2006 marked the fifth straight year in which America suffered a deficit in the international trade of high-technology goods. The Tribune continued:
"U.S. students lag much of the world in math and science proficiency. We've maintained our edge in the sciences by importing top talent from abroad - luring people with our superior research facilities and funding. But graduate school applications from foreign students are down. ...
"In 1990, just 27 percent of science and engineering PhDs under age 45 were foreign born. By 2000, that had risen to 52 percent. But more of those foreign workers are returning home. The reverse brain drain cost the United States 1,000 workers a day in 2005."
Asia, especially, is boosting scientific research, and many international corporations are opening R&D operations in China and India. Corporations feel no patriotism, and go wherever bigger profits seem likely.
Sacrificing science research funding is shortsighted and unintelligent - a sure way to damage America's future. President Bush's proposed 2009 budget would restore the lost science money. It will be a shame if squabbling over U.S. priorities causes it to be cut again.
We hope that West Virginia's members of Congress do their utmost to assure that America spends less on unnecessary wars and giveaways to the rich, and more to vital research.
Showing posts with label America COMPETES Act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label America COMPETES Act. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, October 8, 2007
Sputnik: It’s Time for Another Science Education Drive in the United States
This op ed commentary appeared in the October 7, 2007, edition of the Sunday Gazette-Mail (Charleston).
Paul L. Hill and Jay Cole
Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the Soviet launch of Sputnik I — the world’s first artificial satellite. A watershed event, it caught the U.S. public off-guard and marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-Soviet space race.
Sputnik captured the world’s attention, both as a singular technical achievement and as a symbol of overall Soviet superiority in scientific and technical fields. The Soviets had defeated the Americans in the first leg of the space race, so the launch created a real sense of urgency about improving math and science education in this country.
As a result of public and political outcry, the U.S. Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act in 1958. One of the primary purposes was to produce more and better math and science students — the next generation of scientists and engineers who would ensure America was able to compete with the Soviet Union.
Fifty years later, the world is a very different place. The Soviet Union no longer exists. And, thanks to extraordinary achievements such as the space shuttles, the International Space Station and the Mars Rover missions, space exploration has come light years since Sputnik.
But the need to improve math and science education in America is more urgent than ever. Instead of Sputnik as a single, simple, galvanizing event, we now confront more numerous and complex forces — climate change, human genomics, terrorism, disease, energy dependence and technological revolutions. As great as the challenge of Sputnik was, these challenges are far greater and require a larger commitment and level of investment in order to produce the next generation of scientists and engineers who will ensure the continued progress of human civilization.
The U.S. Congress recently took decisive action to achieve this goal with the passage of the America COMPETES Act. It will be to the first half of the 21st century what the National Defense Education Act was to the second half of the 20th century —a landmark piece of legislation that will affect the lives of millions of students and thousands of teachers in every school district and on every college campus across the country.
The act authorizes doubling the budgets of the National Science Foundation, the foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. It will increase funding for young researchers and significantly expand the foundation’s funding for the Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and its Math and Science Partnerships. The bill also includes a number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education initiatives to ensure students are prepared for the needs of higher education and the workplace.
What a victory for science and for the entire United States! Even though the appropriations cycle is not yet complete and we do not know how much will be set aside for these initiatives, it is certain that the America COMPETES Act is a major step forward for our country and its future.
Here in West Virginia, academic leaders from kindergarten through college have already begun working together to ensure an overall state strategy that will allow us to gain the maximum benefits from the act. We must not miss out on the opportunities the act affords. The stakes are simply too high.
West Virginia’s own Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller were co-sponsors of the Senate version of the America COMPETES Act. We should be proud of their leadership on this vital issue.
Hill is the vice chancellor for science and research at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the executive director of West Virginia EPSCoR. Cole is the education policy adviser to Gov. Joe Manchin III.
Paul L. Hill and Jay Cole
Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the Soviet launch of Sputnik I — the world’s first artificial satellite. A watershed event, it caught the U.S. public off-guard and marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-Soviet space race.
Sputnik captured the world’s attention, both as a singular technical achievement and as a symbol of overall Soviet superiority in scientific and technical fields. The Soviets had defeated the Americans in the first leg of the space race, so the launch created a real sense of urgency about improving math and science education in this country.
As a result of public and political outcry, the U.S. Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act in 1958. One of the primary purposes was to produce more and better math and science students — the next generation of scientists and engineers who would ensure America was able to compete with the Soviet Union.
Fifty years later, the world is a very different place. The Soviet Union no longer exists. And, thanks to extraordinary achievements such as the space shuttles, the International Space Station and the Mars Rover missions, space exploration has come light years since Sputnik.
But the need to improve math and science education in America is more urgent than ever. Instead of Sputnik as a single, simple, galvanizing event, we now confront more numerous and complex forces — climate change, human genomics, terrorism, disease, energy dependence and technological revolutions. As great as the challenge of Sputnik was, these challenges are far greater and require a larger commitment and level of investment in order to produce the next generation of scientists and engineers who will ensure the continued progress of human civilization.
The U.S. Congress recently took decisive action to achieve this goal with the passage of the America COMPETES Act. It will be to the first half of the 21st century what the National Defense Education Act was to the second half of the 20th century —a landmark piece of legislation that will affect the lives of millions of students and thousands of teachers in every school district and on every college campus across the country.
The act authorizes doubling the budgets of the National Science Foundation, the foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. It will increase funding for young researchers and significantly expand the foundation’s funding for the Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and its Math and Science Partnerships. The bill also includes a number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education initiatives to ensure students are prepared for the needs of higher education and the workplace.
What a victory for science and for the entire United States! Even though the appropriations cycle is not yet complete and we do not know how much will be set aside for these initiatives, it is certain that the America COMPETES Act is a major step forward for our country and its future.
Here in West Virginia, academic leaders from kindergarten through college have already begun working together to ensure an overall state strategy that will allow us to gain the maximum benefits from the act. We must not miss out on the opportunities the act affords. The stakes are simply too high.
West Virginia’s own Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller were co-sponsors of the Senate version of the America COMPETES Act. We should be proud of their leadership on this vital issue.
Hill is the vice chancellor for science and research at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the executive director of West Virginia EPSCoR. Cole is the education policy adviser to Gov. Joe Manchin III.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
President Signs COMPETES Act
Equipping teachers, educating students, investing in research and stimulating America's economy are the goals of H.R. 2272, the America COMPETES Act, a bill signed into law this morning by President Bush at the White House.
"We have to recognize there are roughly seven billion people in the world, half of whom make less than $2 a day. We cannot and would not want to compete with that," said House Science & Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). "We have to compete at a higher level with a better equipped and skilled workforce than that of our global counterparts."
The bill, which will help secure the U.S.'s ability to compete in the global marketplace, was steered through Congress by Gordon and Congressional leaders based upon the recommendations of the National Academies' 2005 report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."
Chairman Gordon, former Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) requested that report, which found that the U.S. could stand to lose its competitive edge over other nations unless action was taken.
Among the report's findings were that 68 percent of eighth graders received math instruction from a teacher with no degree or certification in math; and 93 percent of children in grades five through nine received physical science instruction from a teacher with no degree or certification in the field. The report also found that less than a third of 4th and 8th grade students are proficient in math.
To address these problems, The COMPETES Act authorizes $33..6 billion over fiscal years 2008-2010 for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs across the federal government. The measure authorizes multiple grant programs to help educate current and future teachers in the areas of science and math education. The bill also invests in basic research and supports young researchers by expanding early career grant programs.
"This bill will not only give our teachers and students the support they need, but it also advances our efforts to become energy independent. This will create new jobs and new exports," Gordon said.
The bill establishes the Advanced Research Projects-Agency (ARPA-E) designed to engage in high-risk, high reward energy research under the Department of Energy (DOE) - the first major energy provision approved by Congress this session.
The bill further supports basic research by setting budgets at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation and the DOE Office of Science on a path to doubling within the near term.
"This is not just an idle thought for those of us who have kids and grandkids. I am very concerned that the next generation of Americans can be the first generation of Americans to inherit a national standard of living less than their parents if we don't do something," Gordon said. "This bill will help turn that corner."
For more information, contact Alisha Prather at alisha.prather@mail.house.gov.
"We have to recognize there are roughly seven billion people in the world, half of whom make less than $2 a day. We cannot and would not want to compete with that," said House Science & Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN). "We have to compete at a higher level with a better equipped and skilled workforce than that of our global counterparts."
The bill, which will help secure the U.S.'s ability to compete in the global marketplace, was steered through Congress by Gordon and Congressional leaders based upon the recommendations of the National Academies' 2005 report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."
Chairman Gordon, former Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) requested that report, which found that the U.S. could stand to lose its competitive edge over other nations unless action was taken.
Among the report's findings were that 68 percent of eighth graders received math instruction from a teacher with no degree or certification in math; and 93 percent of children in grades five through nine received physical science instruction from a teacher with no degree or certification in the field. The report also found that less than a third of 4th and 8th grade students are proficient in math.
To address these problems, The COMPETES Act authorizes $33..6 billion over fiscal years 2008-2010 for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs across the federal government. The measure authorizes multiple grant programs to help educate current and future teachers in the areas of science and math education. The bill also invests in basic research and supports young researchers by expanding early career grant programs.
"This bill will not only give our teachers and students the support they need, but it also advances our efforts to become energy independent. This will create new jobs and new exports," Gordon said.
The bill establishes the Advanced Research Projects-Agency (ARPA-E) designed to engage in high-risk, high reward energy research under the Department of Energy (DOE) - the first major energy provision approved by Congress this session.
The bill further supports basic research by setting budgets at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation and the DOE Office of Science on a path to doubling within the near term.
"This is not just an idle thought for those of us who have kids and grandkids. I am very concerned that the next generation of Americans can be the first generation of Americans to inherit a national standard of living less than their parents if we don't do something," Gordon said. "This bill will help turn that corner."
For more information, contact Alisha Prather at alisha.prather@mail.house.gov.
Congress Authorizes $43.3B in Science and Technology Spending
After months of negotiations, the House and Senate have approved the most significant bill in years to bolster U.S. research. The America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science (COMPETES) Act authorizes over $43 billion in new federal spending over the next three years, which will support U.S. math and science education and federal research agencies. In fact, the legislation would double the budget authorizations of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratory activities.
Past issues of the SSTI Weekly Digest have covered the progress of the COMPETES Act (see the April 23, 2007 and June 20, 2007 issues). Earlier this year, both houses of Congress passed legislation that incorporated many of the recommendations provided by the influential National Academies report Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The current, reconciled bill, passed by the House and Senate last Thursday, contains many provisions that directly result from the report. These include a requirement that all research agencies contribute funds to multidisciplinary research and that DOE create a program to support researchers early in their careers.
The COMPETES Act provides a major increase in funding authorizations for federal research agencies; however, the amounts included in the final bill more closely resemble the authorizations in the more frugal House bill rather than the more generous Senate legislation. Agency and program authorizations affected by the bill include:
NSF - $22.1B authorized over three years
NSF EPSCoR - $401M authorized over three years
NIST - $2.65B authorized over three years
NIST MEP - $363.8M authorized over three years
NIST TIP - $372M authorized over three years
The legislation establishes several new federal programs to encourage innovation and commercialization. The new NIST Technology Innovation Program will replace the existing Advanced Technology Program by providing competitive grants to small- and medium-sized businesses commercializing a critical new technology. Single companies may receive up to $3 million over three years, while joint ventures may be eligible for $9 million over five years. The bill also creates a new ARPA-like program within DOE to develop technologies that help overcome the country's long-term energy challenges.
President Bush is expected to sign the COMPETES Act, despite the Administration's strong reservation about some aspects of the legislation, including ARPA-E. In a statement following the initial passage of the Senate bill, the president argued that the ARPA-E program would redirect resources from basic research priorities at DOE. The current bill omits several of the measures that had originally drawn the ire of the Administration, including a requirement that all federal science agencies set aside 8 percent of their R&D budget for novel, pan-disciplinary research.
The American Institute of Physics plans to run a series of articles in its FYI science policy news bulletin examining the details of the new legislation and its likely implications for U.S. scientific research. The latest issue of FYI is available at http://www.aip.org/fyi/.
Credit: SSTI Weekly Digest
Past issues of the SSTI Weekly Digest have covered the progress of the COMPETES Act (see the April 23, 2007 and June 20, 2007 issues). Earlier this year, both houses of Congress passed legislation that incorporated many of the recommendations provided by the influential National Academies report Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The current, reconciled bill, passed by the House and Senate last Thursday, contains many provisions that directly result from the report. These include a requirement that all research agencies contribute funds to multidisciplinary research and that DOE create a program to support researchers early in their careers.
The COMPETES Act provides a major increase in funding authorizations for federal research agencies; however, the amounts included in the final bill more closely resemble the authorizations in the more frugal House bill rather than the more generous Senate legislation. Agency and program authorizations affected by the bill include:
NSF - $22.1B authorized over three years
NSF EPSCoR - $401M authorized over three years
NIST - $2.65B authorized over three years
NIST MEP - $363.8M authorized over three years
NIST TIP - $372M authorized over three years
The legislation establishes several new federal programs to encourage innovation and commercialization. The new NIST Technology Innovation Program will replace the existing Advanced Technology Program by providing competitive grants to small- and medium-sized businesses commercializing a critical new technology. Single companies may receive up to $3 million over three years, while joint ventures may be eligible for $9 million over five years. The bill also creates a new ARPA-like program within DOE to develop technologies that help overcome the country's long-term energy challenges.
President Bush is expected to sign the COMPETES Act, despite the Administration's strong reservation about some aspects of the legislation, including ARPA-E. In a statement following the initial passage of the Senate bill, the president argued that the ARPA-E program would redirect resources from basic research priorities at DOE. The current bill omits several of the measures that had originally drawn the ire of the Administration, including a requirement that all federal science agencies set aside 8 percent of their R&D budget for novel, pan-disciplinary research.
The American Institute of Physics plans to run a series of articles in its FYI science policy news bulletin examining the details of the new legislation and its likely implications for U.S. scientific research. The latest issue of FYI is available at http://www.aip.org/fyi/.
Credit: SSTI Weekly Digest
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Senate Passes Competitiveness Act, 88-8
With the title America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act, it isn’t surprising that S.761 had 69 cosponsors in the U.S. Senate. The bill’s passage April 25, 2007, by an 88-8 vote by the full chamber sends an even stronger signal that the vast majority of the Senate has heard the message regarding the need for the federal government to be more aggressive in its support for science and technology.
S.761, a 210-page bill, compiles the recommendations of the National Academies of Science’s report Rising Above the Gathering Storm, the President’s America Competes Initiative and a few additional initiatives. The House of Representatives, by contrast, is considering several separate bills.
A quick scan of the bill by SSTI yields the following examples or highlights:
*Establishes the Innovation Acceleration Research Program – 8 percent of every federal research agency’s R&D budget would be set aside to provide grants to support “research projects that can yield results with far- or wide-ranging implications but are considered too novel or span too diverse a range of disciplines to fare well in the traditional peer review process.” Grants would be for research period of up to three years and renewed for another three-year period. Each federal research agency would be given 90 days after the Act becomes law to develop an implementation plan for meeting the program’s research and funding goals. Existing programs and initiatives could be incorporated into the implementation plans. That could mean an agency’s mandatory expenditures for programs like SBIR or STTR may count toward the 8 percent innovation goal.
*Creates a NASA Aeronautics Institute for Research. NASA would be required to move up to $160 million in unobligated fiscal year 2008 balances to supplement its spending on basic science and research, including the Explorer Program.
*Increases authorization levels for the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) by 33 percent over FY 2008-2011. The authorization level for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership would increase by $5 million per year – from $115 million in FY08 to $130 million in FY11. Language also is included defining a process for NIST to remove underperforming MEP centers from the program.
*Re-establishes the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT) within NIST. The revived program, to be developed in cooperation with state and local TBED organizations, would provide matching grants to support TBED initiatives in states which historically have received less federal R&D funding than a majority of the states have received.
*Creates an Office of Science Math and Engineering Education Programs within the Department of Energy to oversee several initiatives and funding programs including grants to states to support specialty schools and summer institutes for science and math education.
*Increases authorization levels for the National Science Foundation (NSF) from $6.808 billion in FY08 to $11.2 billion in FY11. The bill requires a standard proportional share of NSF’s funding go to the Education and Human Resources directorate and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Authorizations levels for several programs also are increased or established.
S.761 is available at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN00761:
Credit: State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) - www.ssti.org
S.761, a 210-page bill, compiles the recommendations of the National Academies of Science’s report Rising Above the Gathering Storm, the President’s America Competes Initiative and a few additional initiatives. The House of Representatives, by contrast, is considering several separate bills.
A quick scan of the bill by SSTI yields the following examples or highlights:
*Establishes the Innovation Acceleration Research Program – 8 percent of every federal research agency’s R&D budget would be set aside to provide grants to support “research projects that can yield results with far- or wide-ranging implications but are considered too novel or span too diverse a range of disciplines to fare well in the traditional peer review process.” Grants would be for research period of up to three years and renewed for another three-year period. Each federal research agency would be given 90 days after the Act becomes law to develop an implementation plan for meeting the program’s research and funding goals. Existing programs and initiatives could be incorporated into the implementation plans. That could mean an agency’s mandatory expenditures for programs like SBIR or STTR may count toward the 8 percent innovation goal.
*Creates a NASA Aeronautics Institute for Research. NASA would be required to move up to $160 million in unobligated fiscal year 2008 balances to supplement its spending on basic science and research, including the Explorer Program.
*Increases authorization levels for the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) by 33 percent over FY 2008-2011. The authorization level for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership would increase by $5 million per year – from $115 million in FY08 to $130 million in FY11. Language also is included defining a process for NIST to remove underperforming MEP centers from the program.
*Re-establishes the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology (EPSCoT) within NIST. The revived program, to be developed in cooperation with state and local TBED organizations, would provide matching grants to support TBED initiatives in states which historically have received less federal R&D funding than a majority of the states have received.
*Creates an Office of Science Math and Engineering Education Programs within the Department of Energy to oversee several initiatives and funding programs including grants to states to support specialty schools and summer institutes for science and math education.
*Increases authorization levels for the National Science Foundation (NSF) from $6.808 billion in FY08 to $11.2 billion in FY11. The bill requires a standard proportional share of NSF’s funding go to the Education and Human Resources directorate and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Authorizations levels for several programs also are increased or established.
S.761 is available at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN00761:
Credit: State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) - www.ssti.org
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