Funding Smithsonian Scientific Research (2003) / Chapter Skim
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3 Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations
3 Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 51-70
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From page 51... ...
The budget of each unit is also supplemented with trust funds, and the total budget for all six units from all sources amounts to just over $127 million (Table 1-2~. In the following discussions, the term research budget refers to the federally appropriated amounts shown on the top line of each table unless otherwise specified.
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From page 52... ...
A: The research performed by the National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoological Park, and the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education is inextricable from their missions and is appropriately characterized by the terms unique and special contributions. The terms of the creation of NMNH make it the nation's repository for extensive collections of gems, minerals, meteorites, plants, animals, fossils, and other natural history specimens.
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From page 53... ...
B: The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are world-class scientific institutions that combine facilities, personnel, and opportunities for specialized long-term research that is enabled by the stability of federal support. These units are engaged in research that supports the mission of the Smithsonian Institution as a whole increasing knowledge and providing supporting expertise for the activities of other SI units, including educational activities.
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From page 54... ...
STRI holds custodianship of Barro Colorado Island under a special agreement with the government of Panama and owns a complex of nine research stations throughout Panama. Those factors allow it to maintain the broadest research program of any US tropical research institution.
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From page 55... ...
And although SI can raise private-sector funds and has endowment resources, the degree to which these resources supplement research budgets is small. The majority of supplemental research funding for the SI science centers comes from competitively awarded grants and contracts.
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From page 56... ...
Numerous reviews of the nation's scientific enterprise have concluded that the diversity of sources of funding for science and the diversity of institutions that conduct science, including the federal government itself, are good for the overall health of the US scientific enterprise (e.g., National Research Council, 1994~. The federal government is the major supporter of basic research in the United States, and its role is crucial in many of the fields in which SI conducts research, such as astronomy, meteoritics, and ecology.
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From page 57... ...
The Committee believes that the Smithsonian science units exhibit "unique skills and facilities" and "a proven record of outstanding performance" and thus meet the criteria set forth in the FY 2004 budget guidance for use of a process other than peer review to allocate its research resources. Moreover, the Committee notes that a diversity of funding models and mechanisms can help to ensure that resources (such as properties belonging to or under the management of SERC and STRI or some of the instrumentation available at SAO)
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From page 58... ...
The use of national searches for recruiting new scientists and the solicitation of external peer evaluation for individual performance, promotions, and so forth on approximately the same time scale as is common in universities appear to conform with what is expected at research institutions in the United States. However, the Committee found that the institutional review processes in place were at times lacking in depth (especially at the larger research centers, where reviews of individual departments have not been held regularly and have not involved external input until recently)
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From page 59... ...
Consequences of Transferring Federally Appropriated Research Funds from the Smithsonian The remainder of the Committee's findings and conclusions focus on the results of its consideration of the consequences of transferring the federal research funds now appropriated to the Smithsonian to competitive peer-reviewed programs. OMB's original proposal for the FY 2003 budget was that this transfer be made to NSF.
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From page 60... ...
The fact that small investigator grants typically cover no more than 2 or 3 months of salary in many of the scientific fields covered by the six research centers could present a major difficulty even if NSF were to maintain the scientific programs transferred from SI and simply manage them as its own. [Some models among NSF's programs would allow for payment of full salaries.
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From page 61... ...
If the fund transfer were large and included salary support, the positions of critical museum and zoo personnel could be threatened. Loss of core funds could also lead to the closure of the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education.
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From page 62... ...
, the Committee believes that such a transfer would be inappropriate and that these centers should continue to be exempt from open competition for research funding. I: Transferring directly appropriated funds from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to a competitive mechanism while trying to maintain the centers in the
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From page 63... ...
Although the federal research appropriation makes up only a portion of the total research budgets for the three science centers, it provides a strong foundation for their ability to participate broadly in the research enterprise, with the majority of the appropriated funding going toward staff salaries (63% in SAO, 74% in STRI, and 82% in SERC; see Tables 2-2, 2-4, and 2-6, respectively)
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From page 64... ...
It might be possible for SERC to maintain its research continuity and productivity in the marine sciences community, but it is likely to be difficult. Unlike the situation in the marine sciences, few research institutions in terrestrial ecology and environmental science are supported solely through extramural funds.
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From page 65... ...
These are only some of the many issues that would need to be considered if the proposal to transfer the research funding of SAO, STRI, and SERC to NSF were pursued. l: The Committee could not identify any substantial advantages with respect to organization, management, or quality assurance that would accrue from changing the current system of federally appropriated research funding for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
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From page 66... ...
The Committee could see no management or organizational advantage, or any question as to the current quality of the science that these centers are producing, that would warrant changing the current system of federally appropriated research funding in support of SAO, SERC, and STRI through the Smithsonian. Rather, the Committee believes that the benefits of opening up their research programs to competition would be so marginal as to be outweighed by the costs in uncertainty and disruption.
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From page 67... ...
The disruption of scientists and their activities at the six research centers would cost the scientific community some progress and lead to some setback of their fields of research. For example, a substantial potential danger of switching SAO, SERC, and STRI into the soft money arena is the disruption or end of valuable long-term research that has been judged by external review to be excellent.
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From page 68... ...
The federal appropriations provide reliable, long-term support for core research staff, just as universities provide support to their tenured professors. If a transfer of sponsorship of the research centers could be carried out in an institutional framework that preserved tenure-like support for the
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From page 69... ...
3. The Committee believes that the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center should continue to receive federally appropriated research funding.
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From page 70... ...
5. The research programs at the Smithsonian Institution provide essential support to the museums and collections, make substantial contributions to the relevant scientific fields, and fulfill the broader Smithsonian mission to "increase and diffuse knowledge." The Committee urges a stronger sense of institutional stewardship for these research programs as integral components of the Smithsonian.
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