Alternative Models for the Federal Funding of Science
Science and technology are vital components of American
economic prosperity in the future. Yet, the United States’ preeminence in
science, engineering and technology is being challenged as never before in the
new global economy. As a result, investment in science and technology is
critical to American competitiveness.
The American Academy assembled a committee to study how
well existing mechanisms of federal funding of research are positioned to meet
current and future needs. The committee analyzed data provided by the National
Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of
Science at the Department of Energy; heard testimony from early-career
scientists; and spoke with leaders of both nonprofit and federal research
funding agencies. The committee identified and examined two issues critical to
protecting the future of America’s science, engineering and technology
enterprise: 1) support for early-career scientists; and 2) support for
high-risk, high-reward research that is potentially transformative research.
Nobel laureate and Howard Hughes Medical Institute
President Thomas R. Cech chaired this study, which brought together leading
experts from science, industry, and the public policy sector. The project
convened three committee meetings in 2007, and a final report issuing
recommendations for policy changes in science funding will be released in June
2008.
In addition to Cech, the committee included : David
Baltimore (California Institute of Technology), Steven Chu (Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab), France Córdova (Purdue University), Thomas Everhart (California
Institute of Technology), Richard Freeman (Harvard University), Susan Graham
(University of California at Berkeley), David Goldston (Former Staff Director
of House Science Committee), Robert Horvitz (MIT), Linda Katehi (University of
Illinois-Urbana-Champaign), Peter Kim (Merck), Neal Lane (Rice University), C.
Dan Mote Jr. (University of Maryland), Daphne Preuss (University of Chicago),
David Sabatini (New York University), Randy Schekman (University of California
at Berkeley), Richard Scheller (Genentech), Albert Teich (American Association
for the Advancement of Science), Mark Wrighton (Washington University), Keith
Yamamoto (University of California at San Francisco), and Huda Zoghbi (Baylor
College of Medicine).
Funding for this project was provided by the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, the Merck Company Foundation, and the Richard
Lounsbery Foundation.
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