From the Dean
Science Journal -- Spring 1996 -- Vol 13, No. 2
Dear Science Alumni,
Your help is needed in safeguarding our nation's great strength in science and technology. In the midst of its zeal to eliminate the federal budget deficit, our government is in danger of cutting its investment in science research and education--a move that arguably would be unwise and ultimately devastating for our nation's technological competitiveness and economic future. Because you are both citizens and scientists, you are among the best prepared to both understand and communicate to our legislators the importance of continuing our society's investment in science research and science education.
The budget-cutting schemes now being discussed in congress call for eliminating within six years typically one-third of federal nondefense research support and even more in support for higher education--as if support for science were not an investment but merely a wasteful expenditure. In effect, we as a nation are betting that we can sustain our position as a world leader in the next century by drastically cutting the very investment whose dividends we have depended on to support that position since the Second World War. Moreover, we are risking the very existence of our scientific enterprise, which depends on the unbroken communication of knowledge from one generation of scientists to the next.
To those of us who are privileged to have an advanced science education, it is alarmingly obvious that our nation is on the verge of making a devastating mistake that would be neither easy nor quick to repair. We know that science has proved to be a very good investment for our society--one that has produced rich returns in economic and technological competitiveness and national security. We now need to share that understanding with our government representatives and our neighbors.
You can help by effectively communicating to your legislators and to members of your community the importance of committing adequate, stable, and long-term support for university-based scientific research and for science education from kindergarten through the Ph.D. You possibly can be most effective by using examples?that your government representative can understand?to illustrate that university research has played a key role in numerous research breakthroughs that have spawned whole new industries in this country.
For example, decades of basic research in such diverse fields as superconductivity, biochemistry, molecular biology, and computer science eventually led to the development of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, which physicians and patients across the country now rely on as an important medical diagnostic tool.
Among the numerous examples here in your college are Professor of Biology Daniel Cosgrove's breakthrough discovery that revealed a biochemical mechanism necessary for the growth of plant cell walls. This discovery now is of interest for applications in the manufacturing and recycling of paper products. Similarly, the extensive polymer research program of Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry Harry Allcock has led to the development of polymers for controlled delivery of medical drugs and polymers with potential applications as flame-retardant materials for aircraft applications.
As a scientist/citizen, you undoubtedly can relate many examples of
the benefit of scientific research to our society. Now is the time to communicate
those examples to your government representatives and your fellow citizens
as clearly as you can. We, who are most aware of the importance of science
and technology to our society, must take a more active role while there
is still time to influence its future.