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In the April 4, 1997 Issue:

HOUSE PANEL CALLS FOR INCREASE IN R&D SPENDING


The House Committee on Science recently submitted its budget recom-endations to the House Budget Com-mittee. The recommendations call for a three percent total spending increase for federal research and development over FY 1997. The Administration's budget calls for a one percent increase for the civilian science and technology programs that are under the House Science Committee's jurisdiction. Those programs include NASA, FEMA, DOE, EPA, NOAA, NIST, and the Department of Commerce's Technology Administration.

The budget proposal, entitled "Views and Estimates of the Committee on Science for Fiscal Year 1998," was signed by a majority of Republicans and Democrats on the committee. "Views and Estimates" reports are required from each of the House Committees and are used by the House Budget Committee in formulating the Budget Resolution.

Precise dollar figures were not included in the report. However, in addition to the recommendation of a three percent increase, the committee presented a list of five criteria which it believes programs must meet or exceed to receive authorization for funding. These criteria include:

  1. Federal research and development should focus on essential programs that are long-term, high risk, non-commercial, cutting edge, well-managed and have great potential for scientific discovery;
  2. Federal R&D should be highly relevant to and tightly focused on agency missions with accountability and procedures for evaluating quality results;
  3. Beyond the demonstration of technical feasibility, activities associated with evolutionary advances or technical improvements to a product or process or the marketing or commercialization of a product or process should be left to the private sector;
  4. Where possible, international, industry and state science partnerships should be nurtured as a way to leverage taxpayer R&D investment;
  5. Infrastructure necessary for carrying out essential federal R&D programs needs to be prioritized consistent with program requirements.

PANEL TO EXAMINE FEDERAL ENERGY R&D PROGRAMS


A newly formed panel will work with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy to provide recommendations on how to ensure the U.S. energy R&D program addresses the economic, environmental and national security needs of the nation for the next century.

The panel will review current and projected U.S. energy R&D programs. The panel will also make recommendations on federal support for energy research and development, incentives for private sector investments in energy research and development, and U.S. commitments to international cooperation in energy research and development.

The panel was created under the auspices of the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). It is chaired by John Holdren, the Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The panel is expected to report its findings by October, 1997.


NASA Announces Life Sciences Research Grants


NASA has selected 52 proposals to receive one- to four-year grants for conducting ground-based or space-borne life sciences research. The awards total approximately $6.7 million. The purpose of these grants is to enhance scientific and research in space life sciences. According to NASA, Life Sciences grants provide investigators with the opportunity to study and characterize basic biological mechanisms in ways not possible on Earth.

The grants selected for funding were submitted to NASA in May 1996 in response to formal research announcements. The announcements requested proposals for research on Earth and during spaceflight to address fundamental questions of the ways in which gravity influences fundamental biological processes. NASA received 443 proposals.

The selected proposals represent the areas of advanced life support, behavior and performance, space physiology and countermeasures, space human factors engineering, space biology, advanced technology development, advanced environmental monitoring and control, and environmental health.

Awards went to institutions in the following states: Arizona, California (10), Colorado (3), Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois (2), Kentucky, Massachusetts (5), Missouri, New York (4), North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania (3), Tennessee, Texas (15), and Washington.

A list of the awards can be obtained by contacting SSTI at 614/421-SSTI (7784).


ECONOMISTS APPROVE OF MORE SPENDING ON EDUCATION, R&D


Increasing spending on education and research and development (R&D) was cited as the best means for the federal government to increase the long-term economic growth rate of the country, according to a recent Wall Street Journal survey of academic economists.

This option was selected by more economists, 43 percent, than any of the other nine offered. The next closest option, "reduce government spending as share of GDP" was selected by 10 percent.

The Journal surveyed 1,500 economists randomly chosen from faculties of "100 leading U.S. economics departments and 10 major business schools." In all, 320 responded. The results appeared in the March 6 edition of the Journal.

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