New National Academies Resources Available Online

Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research

The Human Genome Project, considered by life scientists to be their first foray into "big science," has paved the way for future large-scale projects that promise to lead to faster improvements in human health. But no guidelines on how to organize and fund such initiatives in the biomedical sciences have been available — until now.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies fills this gap by describing how the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies should select, fund, launch and evaluate large collaborative biomedical projects, and how their scientific staff should be trained and retained.

"A large-scale approach is relatively new in the life sciences, so there are very few precedents to follow or learn from when planning and launching a new project of this magnitude," said Bruce Stillman, vice chair of the committee that wrote the report and director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. "With the recent completion of the Human Genome Project, it is now time to reflect and determine the best and most efficient ways to perform such endeavors."

More information on Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research can be found at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10718.html

Effectiveness of Air Force and Technology Program Changes

NRC was mandated through the FY 2002 National Defense Authorization Act to perform a study on the effectiveness of Air Force science and technology (S&T) program changes. With a goal of assuring that the availability of technology necessary for continued U.S. military superiority is present, the research focused on the actions taken by the Air Force to improve organization of its S&T agenda and whether changes introduced by the Air Force since 1999 are sufficient to reach these goals.

Some findings of the report include:

• Funding stability is fundamental to the success of the S&T program.
• The quality of the military and civilian workforce is as important for an effective program as the level of funding. And,
• The quality of the Air Force S&T Program is as dependent on the planning process as it is on the program’s execution.

Effectiveness of Air Force Science and Technology Program Changes can be found at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10720.html