and Public Policy Committee on Science, Engineering - Böcker

The military, political, and economic preeminence of the United States during the post-World War II era is based to a substantial degree on its superior rate of achievement in science and technology, as well as on its capacity to translate these achievements into products and processes that contribute to economic prosperity and the national defense. The success of the U.S. scientific enterprise has been facilitated by many factors, important among them the opportunity for American scientists and engineers to pursue their research-and to communicate with each other-in a free and open environment. During the last two administrations, however, concern has arisen that the characteristically open U.S. scientific community has served as one of the channels through which critical information and know-how are flowing to the Soviet Union and to other potential adversary countries; openness in science is thus perceived to present short-term national security risks in addition to its longer-term national security benefits in improved U.S. military technology.The Panel on Scientific Communication and National Security was asked to examine the various aspects of the application of controls to scientific communication and to suggest how to balance competing national objectives so as to best serve the general welfare. The Panel held three two-day meetings in Washington at which it was briefed by representatives of the departments of Defense, State, and Commerce, and by representatives of the intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. The Panel also heard presentations by members of the research community and by university representatives. In addition to these briefings, the Rand Corporation prepared an independent analysis of the transfer of sensitive technology from the United States to the Soviet Union. To determine the views of scientists and administrators at major research universities, the Panel asked a group of faculty members and administrative officials at Cornell University to prepare a paper incorporating their own views and those of counterparts at other universities.The main thrust of the Panel's findings is completely reflected in this document. However, the Panel has also produced a classified version of the subpanel report based on the secret intelligence information it was given; this statement is available at the Academy to those with the appropriate security clearance.

Prepared for the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation, these briefings examine areas important to the progress of U.S. science and technology: the science of interfaces and thin films, decision making and problem solving, protein structure and biological function, and the prevention and treatment of viral diseases.

The U.S. national security export controls system--which was instituted to impede Soviet acquisition of high technology from the West--is both necessary and appropriate. Balancing the National Interest provides a thorough analysis of this controls system, examining the current system of laws, regulations, international agreements, and organizations that control the international transfer of technology through industrial channels. Foreign Affairs calls it "the best on the subject to have been published in the 40 years that the United States has exercised controls on exports that might add to Soviet power."

Will the adoption of new technologies by U.S. industry lead to widespread unemployment? Or will the resulting use of new processes and techniques, as well as the introduction of new products, open new opportunities for American workers? This volume studies the relationship of technology to employment and the effects of technological change on the workplace. The authors discuss the role of new technologies in strengthening U.S. international competitiveness, recommend initiatives for assisting displaced workers, and make recommendations to aid industry in developing and adopting the new technology it needs to compete successfully in the world economy.

Computers and telecommunications have revolutionized the processes of scientific research. How is this information technology being applied and what difficulties do scientists face in using information technology? How can these difficulties be overcome? Information Technology and the Conduct of Research answers these questions and presents a variety of helpful examples. The recommendations address the problems scientists experience in trying to gain the most benefit from information technology in scientific, engineering, and clinical research.

Global warming continues to gain importance on the international agenda and calls for action are heightening. Yet, there is still controversy over what must be done and what is needed to proceed. Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming describes the information necessary to make decisions about global warming resulting from atmospheric releases of radiatively active trace gases. The conclusions and recommendations include some unexpected results. The distinguished authoring committee provides specific advice for U.S. policy and addresses the need for an international response to potential greenhouse warming. It offers a realistic view of gaps in the scientific understanding of greenhouse warming and how much effort and expense might be required to produce definitive answers. The book presents methods for assessing options to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, offset emissions, and assist humans and unmanaged systems of plants and animals to adjust to the consequences of global warming.

Protecting U.S. security by controlling technology export has long been a major issue. But the threat of the Soviet sphere is rapidly being superseded by state-sponsored terrorism; nuclear, chemical, biological, and missile proliferation; and other critical security factors. This volume provides a policy outline and specific steps for an urgently needed revamping of U.S. and multilateral export controls. It presents the latest information on these and many other pressing issues: * The successes and failures of U.S. export controls, including a look at U.S. laws, regulations, and export licensing; U.S. participation in international agencies; and the role of industry. * The effects of export controls on industry. * The growing threat of "proliferation" technologies. World events make this volume indispensable to policymakers, government security agencies, technology exporters, and faculty and students of international affairs.

Readily accessible to any interested reader, this volume offers an analysis of the major issues surrounding greenhouse warming and presents the authoring panel's recommendations for U.S. policy. Recommendations address a wide range of issues, including energy policy; deforestation; human population growth; the appropriate role of the United States in an international strategy; and needed research on scientific, economic, and social questions. Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming analyzes scientific understanding of greenhouse gas accumulation and its effect on climate; prospects for human, animal, and plant adaptation to rising global temperatures; and options for mitigating the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.

As U.S. industry faces worldwide challenges, policymakers are asking questions about the role of the federal government--not only in promoting basic research but also in ushering new innovations to the marketplace. This book offers an expert consensus on how government and industry together can respond to the new realities of a global marketplace. The volume offers firm conclusions about policy and organizational changes with the greatest potential to improve our technological competitiveness--and presents three alternative approaches for a new federal role. The volume examines * How federal involvement in technology development affects the nation's economic well-being. * What we can learn from past federal efforts to stimulate civilian technology development--in the United States and among our major industrial competitors. * How trends in productivity, R&D, and other key areas have affected U.S. performance, and how we compare to the world's rising industrial economies. Offering guidance on one of the 1990s most important issues, this volume will be indispensible to federal policymakers, executives in industry and technology, and researchers.

The government of the United States today is deeply involved in activities that have significant scientific and technical (S & T) components that are vitally important for economic productivity and technological competitiveness, national security, an improved environment, better health, and many other purposes. Leadership of the government's role in S & T is exercised by fewer than 100 positions, most of them presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed. Yet there is considerable evidence of increasing difficulty in filling and keeping filled these seemingly prestigious positions. This book by a distinguished panel composed mostly of former presidential appointees delves into the reasons these federal S & T-related positions are vacant, identifies the serious consequences, and recommends a series of changes to reduce the hurdles and disincentives posed by the appointment and confirmation process and to make the positions more attractive to top candidates.

Responsible Science is a comprehensive review of factors that influence the integrity of the research process. Volume I examines reports on the incidence of misconduct in science and reviews institutional and governmental efforts to handle cases of misconduct. The result of a two-year study by a panel of experts convened by the National Academy of Sciences, this book critically analyzes the impact of today's research environment on the traditional checks and balances that foster integrity in science. Responsible Science is a provocative examination of the role of educational efforts; research guidelines; and the contributions of individual scientists, mentors, and institutional officials in encouraging responsible research practices.

Volume II of Responsible Science includes background papers and selected institutional reports, policies, and procedures that were used to develop Volume I. Topics discussed include traditions of mentorship in science; data handling practices in the biological sciences; academic policies and standards governing the conduct of research practices; congressional interest in issues of misconduct and integrity in science; the regulatory experience of human subjects research; and the roles of scientific and engineering societies in fostering research integrity. The panel also considers numerous institutional policy statements adopted by research universities and professional societies that address different aspects of misconduct or integrity in science. These statements have been selected to convey the diverse approaches for addressing such matters within research institutions.

As part of its mission to foster high-quality scientific and engineering research, the National Science Foundation (NSF) plans, grants, and administers major awards to universities and other research institutions for national research facilities, multidisciplinary research centers, and other large-scale research projects. Although few in number, less than 100, such projects account for about 30 percent of NSF's annual research budget. This book provides a useful overview of how such projects are planned, reviews proposals for merit, and evaluates ongoing projects for renewal awards. The panel makes a series of recommendations for strengthening major award decisionmaking.

Are we producing too many PhDs? Does the current graduate education system adequately prepare science and engineering students for today's marketplace? How do foreign students enter the picture? What should be the PhD of the future? These and other questions are addressed in this book by a blue-ribbon panel of scientists and engineers. Recommendations are aimed at creating a new PhD that would retain the existing strengths of the current system while substantially increasing the information available, the potential versatility of students, and the career options afforded to them by their PhD education.

As science and technology advance, the needs of employers change, and these changes continually reshape the job market for scientists and engineers. Such shifts present challenges for students as they struggle to make well-informed education and career choices. Careers in Science and Engineering offers guidance to students on planning careers--particularly careers in nonacademic settings--and acquiring the education necessary to attain career goals. This booklet is designed for graduate science and engineering students currently in or soon to graduate from a university, as well as undergraduates in their third or fourth year of study who are deciding whether or not to pursue graduate education. The content has been reviewed by a number of student focus groups and an advisory committee that included students and representatives of several disciplinary societies.Careers in Science and Engineering offers advice on not only surviving but also enjoying a science- or engineering-related education and career-- how to find out about possible careers to pursue, choose a graduate school, select a research project, work with advisers, balance breadth against specialization, obtain funding, evaluate postdoctoral appointments, build skills, and more. Throughout, Careers in Science and Engineering lists resources and suggests people to interview in order to gather the information and insights needed to make good education and career choices. The booklet also offers profiles of science and engineering professionals in a variety of careers. Careers in Science and Engineering will be important to undergraduate and graduate students who have decided to pursue a career in science and engineering or related areas. It will also be of interest to faculty, counselors, and education administrators.

In this report, the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) provides its observations on the federal science and technology (FS&T) portion of the president's fiscal year (FY) 1999 submission. The FS&T budget (see box) reflects the federal investment in the creation of new knowledge and technologies and excludes such activities as the testing and evaluating of new weapons systems.

Although the United States is currently capitalizing on its investment in science and technology effectively, there remains much room for improvement. This volume identifies the ingredients for success in capitalizing on such investments to produce national benefits, assesses current U.S. performance, and identifies future challenges. The book cites specific examples and examines several cross-cutting issues. It explores the possibility that the national research portfolio is losing diversity as a result of less long-term research in critical fields such as networking and materials. It also examines the implications of imbalances in the supply of and demand for science and engineering talent in emerging interdisciplinary fields such as bioinformatics.

This guide offers helpful advice on how teachers, administrators, and career advisers in science and engineering can become better mentors to their students. It starts with the premise that a successful mentor guides students in a variety of ways: by helping them get the most from their educational experience, by introducing them to and making them comfortable with a specific disciplinary culture, and by offering assistance with the search for suitable employment. Other topics covered in the guide include career planning, time management, writing development, and responsible scientific conduct. Also included is a valuable list of bibliographical and Internet resources on mentoring and related topics.

How can the federal government gauge the overall health of scientific research--as a whole and in its parts--and determine whether national funding adequately supports national research objectives? It is feasible to monitor US performance with field-by-field peer assessments. This might be done through the establishment of independent panels consisting of researchers who work in a field, individuals who work in closely related fields, and research "users" who follow the field closely. Some of these individuals should be outstanding foreign scientists in the field being examined. This technique of comparative international assessments is also known as international benchmarking. Experiments in International Benchmarking of U.S. Research Fields evaluates the feasibility and utility of the benchmarking technique. In order to do this, the report internationally benchmarks three fields: mathematics, immunology, and materials science and engineering, then summarizes the results of these experiments.

In 1995, the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council issued a report entitled Allocating Federal Funds for Science and Technology, which recommended tracking of federal investments in the creation of new knowledge and technologies -- what the report referred to as the federal science and technology (FS&T) budget. Observations on the President's Fiscal Year 2001 Federal Science and Technology Budget, the third annual report, identifies potential impacts of the President's proposed FS&T budget. This report does not make recommendations about specific spending levels, but rather identifies aspects of the proposed budget as they affect the health of the nation's research enterprise.

The concept of postdoctoral training came to science and engineering about a century ago. Since the 1960s, the performance of research in the United States has increasingly relied on these recent PhDs who work on a full-time, but on a temporary basis, to gain additional research experience in preparation for a professional research career. Such experiences are increasingly seen as central to careers in research, but for many, the postdoctoral experience falls short of expectations. Some postdocs indicate that they have not received the recognition, standing or compensation that is commensurate with their experience and skills. Is this the case? If so, how can the postdoctoral experience be enhanced for the over 40,000 individuals who hold these positions at university, government, and industry laboratories? This new book offers its assessment of the postdoctoral experience and provides principles, action points, and recommendations for enhancing that experience.

This report is the second edition of the 1992 COSEPUP report "Science and Technology Leadership in American Government: Ensuring the Best Presidential Appointments." As was the case with the original report, this report analyzes the federal government's capacity to recruit highly qualified individuals for the top science and technology (S&T)-related leadership positions in the executive branch and makes appropriate recommendations.

Fourth in a series of annual reports, this study provides observations on the Administrationa (TM)s FY 2002 budget proposal for federal science and technology (FS&T) programs. The report comments first on approaches to tabulating federal spending on FS&T and endorses the Administrationa (TM)s method for developing an FS&T budget cross-tabulation for inclusion in its budget proposal. The report then provides observations on the FY 2002 FS&T budget proposal, identifying changes in FS&T investments by federal agencies from the prior year; and assessing the longer-term impacts of these FS&T proposals in various fields.

Fifth in a series of annual reports, this study provides observations on the Administrationa (TM)s FY 2003 budget proposal for federal science and technology (FS&T) programs. The first section of the report outlines the development during the 1990s of national goals for science and technology (S&T), re-iterating the importance of U.S. leadership in these fields. It also comments on development of approach to tabulating and analyzing the federal S&T investment. The second section of the report summarizes the Presidenta (TM)s FY 2003 budget proposal, including proposals for spending on research for countering terrorism. The third section provides observations on the Presidenta (TM)s proposal, noting differences in funding trends by agency and outlining an approach to FS&T budgeting that focuses on both priority-driven and discovery-oriented research. The final section provides recommendations for ensuring that federally-funded S&T programs provide high-quality research outcomes that are relevant to agency missions and provide the U.S. with global leadership in S&T.

In 1995, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created a special account to fund large (several tens of millions of dollars) research facilities. Over the years, these facilities have come to represent an increasingly prominent part of the nationa (TM)s R&D portfolio. Recently concern has intensified about the way NSF is selecting projects for this account. In 2003, six U.S. Senators including the chair and ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations expressed these concerns in a letter to the NRC asking it to a /review the current prioritization process and report to us on how it can be improved.a This report presents a series of recommendations on how NSF can improve its priority setting process for large research facilities. While noting that NSF has improved this process, the report states that further strengthening is needed if NSF is to meet future demands for such projects.