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Trends in Funding for R&D

Up to The Big Picture

Information on the overall level and distribution of federal and private research funding. Also information on anticipated changes in funding levels and major new initiatives.



Cargo Cult Science -- Revisited
by T. M. Georges. "So now we see scientists whining in the journals about 'the present climate of budget cutting in Washington,' and a coalition of 23 scientific organizations calling for a 7% across-the-board increase in research funding for fiscal 1998, as though we were experiencing some kind of temporary political aberration. As though cold war levels of funding for science might miraculously return, if only the politicians would come to their senses! Like the cargo cults, they don't understand the underlying cause of their predicament: The cold war was the aberration, a funding 'bump' for many branches of science."
End of a Golden Era
Inside Higher Ed, July 5, 2006. "When the National Institutes of Health budget doubled between the 1999 fiscal year and the 2003 fiscal year, many research institutions found themselves awash in funding as yearly budget increases of 15 percent became the norm. But many researchers and institutions were unprepared, financially and psychologically, when the windfall ended."
Young scientists hit the hardest as US funding falls
Boston Globe, January 23, 2006. "After years of steady support for science funding and a spurt in health sciences research over the last decade that drew many young people into research labs, federal funds are now flat or declining in many areas."
How Has the Field Mix of Federal Research Funding Changed Over the Past Three Decades?
NSF Issue Brief 99-328. "This Issue Brief examines how the overall research emphasis of the Federal government has changed between 1970 and 1997. It analyzes shifts in S&E field shares of total Federal research obligations and changes in the contribution of key funding agencies to the Federal research effort."
The Kept University
by Eyal Press and Jennifer Washburn, The Atlantic Monthly, March, 2000. "Commercially sponsored research is putting at risk the paramount value of higher education -- disinterested inquiry. Even more alarming, the authors argue, universities themselves are behaving more and more like for-profit companies."
Would Harvey, Sulston, and Darwin Get Funded Today?
by T.V. Rajan, The Scientist, April 26, 1999. "I suspect that if Charles Darwin submitted a grant to a NIH study section, proposing that he wished to travel around South America observing finches, the said study section would find his proposal hysterically amusing. I can see the summary sheet now: The proposal is of interest but suffers from being purely descriptive, and is not hypothesis-driven."
The President Discovers Science
"The president’s plan calls for doubling federal spending on the 'most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences” over a decade, to “support the work of America’s most creative minds as they explore promising areas such as nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources.'"
AAAS August Status Report on R in FY 2006 Appropriations
"The funding outlook for the federal research and development (R ) portfolio looks just a little brighter going into the August congressional recess than it did a month ago, and brighter still than when the fiscal year (FY) 2006 budget request was released in February. Because of Senate-proposed increases for biomedical R at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and congressional agreement on modest increases for environmental research in July, the federal R investment appears headed toward modest increases next year despite tough budget conditions."
Scientific Opportunities & Public Needs: Improving Priority Setting and Public Input at the NIH
"NIH's system for setting priorities has generally served NIH and the nation well in supporting research to improve human health, but some changes would strengthen it, especially in mechanisms for exchanging information and concerns with interested individuals and groups."
Allocating Federal Funds for Science and Technology
The National Academy's prescription for improving the allocation of federal research funds.
Of Semantics And The Scientist Population:Are There Too Many Of Us?
by Elie Shneour. The Scientist Vol. 9, #18. "...science has flourished in times of abundance and in times of penury, provided only that the climate for science remained favorable, as it was in Europe in the late 19th century and in the United States for the three decades 1940 to 1970. Alas, these days are over for the foreseeable future, and far more alarming than the diminishing resources is the climate of skepticism over, illiteracy about, and hostility to science that pervades modern society today. Unless and until this environment improves, the future of science and the future well-being and flowering of our civilization will remain at risk."
NIH to NRSA postdocs: Revise and Resubmit!
NIH cuts NRSA postdocs?
Zerhouni for a Day: A Challenge
The Problem: The NIH’s budget doubled over the past few years, and the NSF is currently working on a budget doubling of its own. Despite this vast influx of new federal funding, approval rates for grant proposals at the NIH have plummeted, and similar things are happening at NSF. The Challenge: If you were in charge, tell us what would you do differently. Join a public discussion.
Budget Outlook for 2007? Bleak
"Judging from what a trio of well-connected Congressional aides told a gathering of student loan officials Monday, higher education administrators are right to be worried about what’s around the corner in the budget for the 2007 fiscal year."
U.S. Support for Science Softens
"With Congress considering 2006 budgets that would barely increase support for scientific research — if not cut it back — new data from the National Science Foundation suggest that the rapid expansion of federal research funding in recent years has already begun to ebb."
What are the Sources of Funding for Academically Performed R&D?
NSF Issue Brief 99-317. "This Issue Brief focuses on the main sources of financial support for academic R&D and the changes that have taken place over the past two decades."
The lost generation
July 14, 2006: "...the age at which researchers typically get their first major grant has gone up by about 8 years within a single generation of scientists. As he puts it, 'the biomedical community in the United States lives with the prospect of relying on an aging cohort of researchers to direct its research projects.' Weinberg argues that this is an impending disaster, because many of the key advances come from dynamic and energetic researchers at the start of their careers."
How Has The Field Mix of Academic R&D Changed?
NSF Issue Brief 99-309. "This Issue Brief examines changes in R&D emphasis in the academic sector, which conducts roughly half of the Nation's basic research, by analyzing shifts in S&E field shares during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Tradeoffs among fields are examined-i.e., whether certain fields have gained or lost "market share." The Issue Brief discusses both the shifting distribution of overall funds among S&E fields and the effects of these changes in terms of their impacts on the individual fields."
Examining The Link Between Science And Economic Growth
Paula Stephan, The Scientist, May 26, 1997. "The research enterprise, which is influenced by economic incentives, is a key component of the new growth theory... Furthermore, ... a case could be made that some university researchers have become too interested in economic rewards for the good of science or for the long-term good of the economy."
Feds should double science budget, says Intel CEO
CNet News.com, June 10, 2004. "The federal government needs to double the budget of the National Science Foundation and encourage corporate research with financial incentives, according to Intel CEO Craig Barrett."
The 7 percent solution
David Gergen, US News and World Report, May 19, 1997 editorial: "Funding basic scientific research is vital to America's future."
The Future of Research Support
by Ed David, Notices of the AMS, March 1995. "The next eight or nine years will be a sobering experience. But on the other hand the good intentions of the federal government and some others--state government, in part, and to some degree industry--are comforting. Can they now perform what they have laid out as policy?" (requires Adobe Acrobat)
Have Forms of Primary Financial Support for S&E Grad Students Changed During the Past Two Decades?
NSF Issue Brief 99-313. "This Issue Brief examines how forms of support for S&E graduate students have changed during the past two decades."
Venture Capital Investment Trends in the United States and Europe
NSF Issue Brief 99-303. "This report describes and compares venture capital trends in the U.S. and Europe over the span of a decade."
Academic Pork
by Peter Brimelow, Forbes Magazine, September 6, 1999. "Some of the bricks in the ivory tower are supplied by politicians. They are a mixed blessing." (requires free registration)