<Thanks to Amy for linking this article on the Intel thread>
China will graduate five times as many science and engineering students as the United States this year, said John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Lawmakers, businesses call for more R&D funding
Wed Feb 16, 2005 06:00 PM ET
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. government needs to boost spending on scientific research to avoid falling behind India, China and other countries that are rapidly gaining ground, business and education leaders said on Wednesday.
The Bush administration's slight increase in research and development funding is not enough to stop an erosion of the United States' technological lead, they said.
"It's a creeping crisis, and it's not something the American psyche responds to well. It's not a Sputnik shot, it's not a tsunami," Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) CEO Craig Barrett said.
At separate events on Capitol Hill, lawmakers also called for more research dollars.
At a hearing on research spending, the head of the House of Representatives Science Committee, New York Republican Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, described the budget as inadequate.
Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd said at a media conference he would seek to boost research on educational technology to help the country get more bang for the buck in the classroom.
Research funds are usually disbursed to scientists and other researchers through a wide array of government agencies, from the Pentagon to the National Science Foundation.
The Bush administration has proposed a $132.3 billion budget for research and development for the coming fiscal year, an increase of 1 percent while many other government programs face sharp cutbacks.
But most of that money is planned for specific military projects that will bear fruit relatively soon, rather than basic scientific research that has a longer-term payoff, members of the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation said.
At a media conference, Barrett and other business and educational leaders repeated concerns they had raised at a similar event nearly a year ago. This time, they unveiled a sheaf of statistics to illustrate that the United States' long-term dominance in science and technology is slipping.
European scientists now publish more papers than their counterparts in the United States, while U.S. college students are less likely to major in science and engineering than foreign students, they said.
China will graduate five times as many science and engineering students as the United States this year, said John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Foreign students outnumber U.S. students in U.S. graduate science and engineering programs, but fewer of those foreign students are opting to study here as visa requirements tighten and foreign universities beef up their own research programs, they said.
Without adequate funding, U.S. universities will have a harder time attracting foreign students and encouraging Americans to pursue careers in science and engineering, they said.
"We're not putting the budget together, but when it comes to priorities this absolutely has to be on the list," Engler said. |
