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OCR for page 8
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Mary L. Good, Chairman
Alliance for Science and Technology Research
in America (ASTRA)
INTRODUCTION
ASTRA is a newly established policy research collaboration compris-
ing 48 of America's leading science and technology companies, associa-
tions, professional societies, universities, and research institutions.
ASTRA's underlying companies and institutions in turn represent
hundreds of thousands of science and technology professionals across
dozens of scientific disciplines through their workplaces, professional or-
ganizations, and academic institutions. ASTRA's mission is quite simple:
we strive to increase public funding for basic research in the physical,
mathematical, and engineering sciences based upon overwhelming evi-
dence that underfunding and imbalance in the current federal research
portfolio has reached crisis proportions.
Finding 1: Federalfunding of basic research in the physical, mathematical,
and engineering sciences is in long-term decline and needs to be significantly
increased over time.
This decline is long term and began in the late 1980s. By any mea-
surement, it is part of a persistent and long-standing pattern. For ex-
ample, the share of federal R&D as a percentage of gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP) has now reached an all-time low (see Figure 1~. The decline in
federal R&D as a percentage of GDP is a good index to cite because it
reflects long-term swings in public and political support for science
funding and demonstrates that these swings are not attributable to par-
02_R0116--Astra 8 11/7/03, 12:26 PM
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2.50% - .
2.00% ~
1.50% -
1.00% -
0.50% -
0.00% - ~
1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 197.7 1981
1985 1989 1993 1997
Year
FIGURE l Federal R&D as percentage of GDP 1953-2000. Source: National Sci-
ence Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2000.
tisan differences, but rather competing policy priorities between 1953
and the present.
ASTRA believes the recent decline is due to several factors, including:
the Cold War "build down," which left a gap in defense science budgets,
the overall need to redress chronic budget deficits by a succession of ad-
ministrations and Congresses, and a strongly supported policy decision
to increase research funding for the life sciences in the mid-199Os.
Underfunding creates imbalance in the scientific research portfolio,
disrupts academic recruiting and grant making, stymies faculty develop-
ment, and thwarts infrastructure investment. This in turn hampers the
traditional educational "pipeline," which is tasked with creating new sci-
ence and engineering (SHE) workers for industry, academe, and other re-
search institutions.
The consequences of such underfunding have been the subject of many
public and private studies, perhaps the most compelling of which was the
prescient February 2001 Report of the U.S. Commission on National Security
(Hart-Rudman Commission), whose assessment has been borne out by
painful loss. The commission called for a doubling of federal science and
technology (S&T) funding across the board over the next decade.
The Hart-Rudman report details the need for "recapitalizing"
America's science and technology educational structure, and it suggests
many excellent steps for averting future crises in the areas of U.S. indus-
trial competitiveness, national security, and technological leadership.
Similarly, the fuly 2001 Report of the Committee on Trends in Federal
Spending on Scientific and Engineering Research of the Board on Science, Tech-
nology, and Economic Policy (STEP) of the National Research Council de-
02_R0116--Astra 9 11/7/03, 12:26 PM
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PA ~ '0~1~:~3~AL ~ tIM:~T
tailed alarming erosion of federal funding in specific disciplines and made
very worthwhile recommendations on improvements.
While it may be difficult to assess why individual students choose
their particular courses of study, there is a clear correlation between stu-
dent degree choice and federal research funding for the mathematical,
engineering, and physical sciences (MEPS). Moreover, the percentage of
students entering into the life sciences as opposed to other disciplines has
reached an extreme point, as demonstrated in Figure 2.
Finding 2: Dysfunction in the SHE educational "pipeline" is closely related
to lack of consistent federal support beginning in the late 1980s.
U.S. bachelor's degree production in non-life sciences and engineering
continues its long-term decline. The graduation rates for different disciplines
between 1975 and 1998 are shown in Figure 2. From these data, ASTRA has
calculated the peak year of undergraduate enrollment and the increase or
decrease since that time. Only the "life sciences" category has increased dur-
ing the period 1975-1998. This comes at a time when Asia and Europe are
increasing their number of overall science degrees significantly (see Figure 3~.
Perhaps more disconcerting, participation by foreign students in U.S.
SHE doctoral degree production is now essential. Depending upon the
scientific discipline being measured, anywhere from about 35 percent of
doctoral degrees in the natural sciences to about 48 percent of doctorates
awarded in engineering are being awarded to non-U.S. citizens (see Fig-
90,000 - .
80,000 -
u,
$ 70,000-
60,000
o
~ 50,000
m 40,000
o
~, 30,000
Q
20,000
1 0,000
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ .
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Life Sciences
Increase of 21%
Peak Year = 1998
E. .
—a- nglneerlng
Decrease of 21%
Peak Year = 1985
Computer Sciences
Decrease of 30%
Peak Year = 1987
Physical and
Geosciences
Decrease of 19%
Peak Year = 1981
Mathematics
Decrease of 34%
Peak Year = 1975
FIGURE 2 U.S. bachelor's degrees in non-Life Sciences and Engineering continue
long-term decline 1975-1998. Source: National Science Foundation, Science and En-
gineering Indicators 2002 and ASTRA.
02_R0116--Astra 10 11/7/03, 12:26 PM
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au 20~o
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"'-'''--'' -------------------------- ~'-----------.-.-.- --.--- -.-
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19-7's 1978 1981 1984 1.~7 '19-~O 19~ 1996 1999
FIGURE 3 U.S. Natural Science and Engineering doctoral degrees 1975-2000 com-
pared with global competitors. Degree totals for U.S. include foreign nationals
enrolled in U.S. academic institutions. Source: National Science Foundation, Sci-
ence and Engineering Indicators 2002.
ure 4~. The significant immigration of foreign-born S&E workers over the
past two generations has allowed the U.S. to sustain its long dominance of
most scientific and technological fields.
Reliance upon foreign student matriculation has profound implications
for the federal S&E workforce in particular. It is estimated that more than 50
percent of federal S&E workers will elect to retire from the workforce over
the next 10 years. Because restrictions on non-U.S. citizen employment
within the federal S&E workforce apply to many sensitive areas of federal
research, and science degree conferral upon U.S. residents continues to
drop, no solution is in sight if demand continues at past levels.
Failure of U.S. students to undertake science training and possible
reasons for this state of affairs have been analyzed by others. Many fac-
tors are at play, and they may include cultural, gender-based, economic,
and educational disincentives for science education and the relative at-
tractiveness (money, prestige, ease of learning) of other professions to our
brightest students. The teaching of mathematics the language of sci-
ence also presents special problems throughout the educational con-
tinuum.
Finding 3: Serious imbalance in thefederal R&D portfolio threatens the avail-
ability, quality, and preparedness of the U.S. scientific and technology workforce.
Finding 4: Student choice of science discipline correlates strongly with the
availability offederalfundingfor science research.
Viewed in light of Figure 5, Figure 6 demonstrates, through cross
analysis of different data sets, an incontrovertible relationship between
02_R01 1 6--Astra 1 1 1 1/7/03, 12:26 PM
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FIGURE 4 Foreign students now constitute nearly a majority of graduates in key
scientific disciplines. Source: National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering
Indicators 2002.
federal science funding and student degree choice for MEPS. This pattern
is particularly pronounced at the B.S. level, where initial career decisions
tend to be made by individuals.
Analysis of these data also seems to demonstrate that individual
choice of science discipline is affected less by actual labor market demand
and more by the availability of grants and stipends for particular scien-
tific disciplines, such as in the life sciences.
Finding 5: "Basic" research funding is a government responsibility, and the
federal science research budget needs to be morefocused on basic scientific research.
One unfortunate consequence of mergers, consolidations and the slow
recovery in the high-technology sector is that Wall Street and the invest-
02_R0116--Astra 12 11/7/03, 12:26 PM
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IAN CE ~ OR ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~~ CH\T0t ~ ~ ~
FIGURE 5 Percentage change in federal research funding by discipline 1993-1999.
Source: National Research Council, Trends in Federal Support of Research and Gradu-
ate Education, 2001.
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FIGURE 6 Student choice of scientific discipline (U.S. degrees) follows federal
R&D funding patterns 1950-2000. Source: Mayo, Bruggeman, and Sargent, 2002
(unpublished).
02_R011 6--Astra 13
1 1/7/03, 12:26 PM
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PA~ '0~1~AL StIMMIT
ment community generally disfavor companies that cannot show near-
term and consistent profitability. ASTRA's industry members tell us that
the accelerating shift by industry away from pure research makes the fed-
eral government's role in basic scientific research all the more important.
Only the federal government can afford some of the massive invest-
ment in infrastructure and equipment needed to keep U.S. science com-
petitive. And this is all the more necessary when viewed in context with
an increasingly sophisticated global research community. Unfortunately,
government's role in basic research is lagging other types of research. Ba-
sic research now constitutes 41 percent of nondefense R&D and only 3
percent of defense R&D (see Figure 7~.
Finding 6: Of all citations in U.S. industry patents, 73 percent originate
from research conducted through publicly supported institutions (universities,
colleges, certain nonprofit research institutions)- aboutfive citations per patent.
Paradoxically, U.S. industry performs less "directed basic research" now than in
the past, due in part to market demands for immediate profitability.
Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11, prepared by Dr. Gregory Tassey, senior
economist at the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)
analyze current industry trends in basic research investment and risk
reduction over the technology life cycle and suggest possible policy op-
tions available:
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FIGURE 7 Projected federal obligations for R&D and R&D plant, by agency and
character of work: FY 2001. Source: National Science Foundation, Science and Engi-
neering Indicators 2002.
02_R01 1 6--Astra 14 1 1/7/03, 12:26 PM
OCR for page 15
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FIGURE 8 Industrial Research Institute (IRI) member firms' annual planned in-
vestments in directed basic research. Source: IRI as reported by Gregory Tassey,
National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST).
rib - :.
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FIGURE 9 Risk reduction over a technology life cycle. Source: Gregory Tassey,
National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST).
02_R0116--Astra 15 11/7/03, 12:26 PM
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PA~ '0~1~AL StIMMIT
:: :
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~ I- Feder~ ~~overmlle~:speM~ as ~~ ~~ ~L: ~~s of-
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;~:~om dined as flit :` oc~s At on~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ re~h ~ ~~s
_ r ~L) Aft; gOf Wait ~t -~In~:;as~e :~ Rams:. Her ~ ~~ Ad:
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FIGURE 10 Various scenarios for setting the level of federally funded R&D.
Source: Gregory Tassey, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST).
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FIGURE 11 Relative expenditures by phase of R&D over technology life cycle.
Source: Gregory Tassey, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST).
02_R0116--Astra 16 11/7/03, 12:26 PM
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IAN CE ~ OR ~ c~ ~ ~~ ~~ CH\T0t ~ ~ ~
RECOMMENDATION
A sustained, multiyear increase in science research budgets must be
undertaken immediately. ASTRA advocates a doubling of all budgets in
the physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics as a first step toward
addressing past neglect and to stanch the flow of talent out of core scien-
tific disciplines.
CONCLUSIONS
ASTRA appreciates the opportunity to review SHE funding in light of
the prolonged decline in federal investment in the physical sciences, math-
ematics, and engineering.
We firmly believe that the most critical step at this point in time is to
change the trend, fund all science agencies adequately, and develop a
long-range vision of the outcomes we as a nation need from our strong
commitment to public science. The imperative to renew this commitment
is urgent.
02_R0116--Astra 17 11/7/03, 12:26 PM
Representative terms from entire chapter:
gregory tassey
