Ruminating Out Loud

It is incredibly refreshing to hear a leader clearly articulate the importance in dedication to and advancement of science and technology is in either good times or bad. President Obama, ever since his inauguration speech where he famously declared his intent to bring science to its rightful place, has been making a clear and convincing argument for why it is important to separate ideology from scientific explorations, how we should invest in exploratory research that may pave the way to solving some of the major issues facing the nations, and how we should redouble our efforts in broadening scientific education to prepare a competent work force that will fuel the growth and prosperity of the future. In a speech at the National Academy of Sciences, President Obama announced today his commitment to allocating > 3% of GDP to the funding of scientific research and education. In so doing this, he has shown the strong dedication towards using scientific advancements as catalysts to the transformation of the economic landscape of the nation.

It is a true mark of leadership not to seek to appease the few and be bogged down by the short-term thinking for political positioning, and chart a course and provide the vision forward for growth and advancement in the long run. President Obama has repeatedly shown this.He has been forceful and unapologetic commitment to making the necessary investments to building a strong foundation for future growth and prosperity for the nation. For this, he has truly been a God-send to help galvanize the efforts of the federal government in these challenging times.

The speech was as strong as any. Frequent visitors know that I am particularly fond of the president’s ability to synthesize and deliver thoughts in a symphony of words. Truly a pleasure and a privilege to be inspired by such a gifted leader. Below are excerpts from the speech, which I would like to highlight.

“…The very founding of this institution stands as a testament to the restless curiosity, the boundless hope so essential not just to the scientific enterprise, but to this experiment we call America.

A few months after a devastating defeat at Fredericksburg, before Gettysburg would be won, before Richmond would fall, before the fate of the Union would be at all certain, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act creating the National Academy of Sciences — in the midst of civil war.

Lincoln refused to accept that our nation’s sole purpose was mere survival.  He created this academy, founded the land grant colleges, and began the work of the transcontinental railroad, believing that we must add — and I quote — “the fuel of interest to the fire of genius in the discovery… of new and useful things.”

This is America’s story.  Even in the hardest times, against the toughest odds, we’ve never given in to pessimism; we’ve never surrendered our fates to chance; we have endured; we have worked hard; we sought out new frontiers.

Today, of course, we face more complex challenges than we have ever faced before:  a medical system that holds the promise of unlocking new cures and treatments — attached to a health care system that holds the potential for bankruptcy to families and businesses; a system of energy that powers our economy, but simultaneously endangers our planet; threats to our security that seek to exploit the very interconnectedness and openness so essential to our prosperity; and challenges in a global marketplace which links the derivative trader on Wall Street to the homeowner on Main Street, the office worker in America to the factory worker in China — a marketplace in which we all share in opportunity, but also in crisis.

At such a difficult moment, there are those who say we cannot afford to invest in science, that support for research is somehow a luxury at moments defined by necessities.  I fundamentally disagree.  Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been before.

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Federal funding in the physical sciences as a portion of our gross domestic product has fallen by nearly half over the past quarter century.  Time and again we’ve allowed the research and experimentation tax credit, which helps businesses grow and innovate, to lapse.

Our schools continue to trail other developed countries and, in some cases, developing countries.  Our students are outperformed in math and science by their peers in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Korea, among others.  Another assessment shows American 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world.  And we have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas.

We know that our country is better than this.  A half century ago, this nation made a commitment to lead the world in scientific and technological innovation; to invest in education, in research, in engineering; to set a goal of reaching space and engaging every citizen in that historic mission.  That was the high water mark of America’s investment in research and development.  And since then our investments have steadily declined as a share of our national income.  As a result, other countries are now beginning to pull ahead in the pursuit of this generation’s great discoveries.

I believe it is not in our character, the American character, to follow.  It’s our character to lead.  And it is time for us to lead once again.  So I’m here today to set this goal:  We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and development.  We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science.

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The pursuit of discovery half a century ago fueled our prosperity and our success as a nation in the half century that followed.  The commitment I am making today will fuel our success for another 50 years.  That’s how we will ensure that our children and their children will look back on this generation’s work as that which defined the progress and delivered the prosperity of the 21st century.

This work begins with a historic commitment to basic science and applied research, from the labs of renowned universities to the proving grounds of innovative companies.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and with the support of Congress, my administration is already providing the largest single boost to investment in basic research in American history.  That’s already happened.

This is important right now, as public and private colleges and universities across the country reckon with shrinking endowments and tightening budgets.  But this is also incredibly important for our future.  As Vannevar Bush, who served as scientific advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, famously said:  “Basic scientific research is scientific capital.”

The fact is an investigation into a particular physical, chemical, or biological process might not pay off for a year, or a decade, or at all.  And when it does, the rewards are often broadly shared, enjoyed by those who bore its costs but also by those who did not.

And that’s why the private sector generally under-invests in basic science, and why the public sector must invest in this kind of research — because while the risks may be large, so are the rewards for our economy and our society.

No one can predict what new applications will be born of basic research:  new treatments in our hospitals, or new sources of efficient energy; new building materials; new kinds of crops more resistant to heat and to drought.

It was basic research in the photoelectric field — in the photoelectric effect that would one day lead to solar panels.  It was basic research in physics that would eventually produce the CAT scan.  The calculations of today’s GPS satellites are based on the equations that Einstein put to paper more than a century ago.

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In addition to the investments in the Recovery Act, the budget I’ve proposed — and versions have now passed both the House and the Senate — builds on the historic investments in research contained in the recovery plan.

So we double the budget of key agencies, including the National Science Foundation, a primary source of funding for academic research; and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which supports a wide range of pursuits from improving health information technology to measuring carbon pollution, from — from testing “smart grid” designs to developing advanced manufacturing processes.

And my budget doubles funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which builds and operates accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, high-energy light sources, and facilities for making nano-materials — because we know that a nation’s potential for scientific discovery is defined by the tools that it makes available to its researchers.

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And today, I’m also announcing that for the first time, we are funding an initiative — recommended by this organization — called the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, or ARPA-E.  (Applause.)

This is based, not surprisingly, on DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which was created during the Eisenhower administration in response to Sputnik.  It has been charged throughout its history with conducting high-risk, high-reward research.  And the precursor to the Internet, known as ARPANET, stealth technology, the Global Positioning System all owe a debt to the work of DARPA…”