Conclusion
During past eras of challenge and change, our national leaders have acted decisively to create innovative partnerships that enabled our universities to enhance American security and prosperity.
While engaged in the Civil War, Congress passed the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 to forge a partnership between the federal government, the states, higher education, and industry aimed at creating universities capable of providing practical education and conducting the applied research needed to make America a world leader in agriculture and industry. Among the results were the green revolution in agriculture that fed the world, an American manufacturing industry that became the economic engine of the 20th century and the arsenal of democracy during two world wars, and an educated middle class that would transform the United States into the strongest nation on Earth.
Emerging from the Great Depression and World War II, Congress acted once again to strengthen this partnership by investing heavily in basic research and graduate education to build the world’s finest research universities, capable of providing a steady stream of well-educated graduates and scientific and technological innovations. This expanded research partnership enabled the United States to win the Cold War and put an astronaut on the moon. It also developed new technologies such as computers, the Internet, global positioning systems, and new medical procedures and pharmaceuticals that contribute immensely to national prosperity, security, and public health.
Today our nation faces new challenges and a time of rapid economic, social, and political transformation driven by an exponential growth in knowledge and innovation. A decade into the 21st century, a resurgent America must stimulate its economy, address new threats, and position itself in a competitive world transformed by technology, global competitiveness, and geopolitical change. In this environment, educated people, the knowledge they produce, and the innovation and entrepreneurial skills they possess, particularly in the fields of science and engineering, are keys to our nation’s future.
It is essential that we reaffirm and revitalize the unique partnership that has long existed among the nation’s research universities, federal government, states, philanthropy, and business. The actions recommended here will require significant policy changes, productivity enhancement, and investments on the part of each member of the research partnership. Yet they also comprise a fair and balanced program that will generate significant returns for a stronger America.
COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES
Chad Holliday, Chair, Chairman of the Board, Bank of America, and Chairman and CEO, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) (retired) [NAE]
Peter Agre, University Professor and Director, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University [NAS/IOM]
Enriqueta Bond, President, Burroughs Wellcome Fund (retired) [IOM]
C. W. Paul Chu, T. L. L. Temple Chair of Science and Professor of Physics, University of Houston, and Former President, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology [NAS]
Francisco Cigarroa, Chancellor, The University of Texas System [IOM]
James Duderstadt, President Emeritus and University Professor of Science and Engineering, University of Michigan [NAE]
Ronald Ehrenberg, Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics, and Director, Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, Cornell University
William Frist, Distinguished University Professor, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, and U.S. Senator (retired)
William Green, Chairman and CEO, Accenture
John Hennessy, President and Bing Presidential Professor, Stanford University [NAS/NAE]
Walter Massey, President, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and President Emeritus, Morehouse College
Burton McMurtry, Former Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist and Former Chair, Stanford University Board of Trustees
Ernest Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Director of the Energy Initiative, and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at the MIT Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal (President) and Vice Chancellor, and Professor, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University
Cherry Murray, Dean, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Professor of Physics, Harvard University [NAS/NAE]
Hunter Rawlings, President Emeritus and Professor of Classical History, Cornell University*
John Reed, Chairman of the MIT Corporation and Chairman and CEO, Citigroup (retired)
Teresa Sullivan, President, University of Virginia
Sidney Taurel, Chairman and CEO, Eli Lilly & Company (retired)
Lee T. Todd, Jr., President, University of Kentucky
Laura D’Andrea Tyson, S. K. and Angela Chan Chair in Global Management, Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley
Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology Officer, Cisco Systems
*Hunter Rawlings resigned in May 2011 upon his appointment as President, Association of American Universities.
More information about this report can be found at http://national-academies.org/researchuniversities.
Photo and Figure Credits
Page 6: Source: Peter M. McPherson, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, presentation to report committee, November 2010; 8 (left): image courtesy of NASA; 8 (right): photo by Peter Rejcek, National Science Foundation; 10 (left): Jim Varney/Science Photo Library; 10 (right): photo courtesy of Janet Chapple; 11: Source: Sally Rockey, National Institutes of Health, presentation to report committee, November 2010; 12-13: Eileen Barroso/Columbia University; 14 (left): iStockphoto; 14 (right): image courtesy NCSA; 15: Source: Council of Graduate Schools, Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Program Data from the Ph.D. Completion Project (2008); 16 (top 3 images): U.S. Census Bureau/Public Information Office; 16 (bottom right): Photodisc; 17: Source: University of California Los Angeles, Higher Education Research Institute, Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors (2010); 18 (left): photo by Minden/Visual V Photos; 18 (right): iStockphoto; 19: Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities (2009); 20: jupiterimages
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.