Press Release
Contact: Peter Harsha
COMPUTING RESEARCHERS APPLAUD CONGRESS FOR STRONG INVESTMENTS IN SCIENCE, INNOVATION
WASHINGTON, Feb 13, 2009 — Members of the computing research community today praised Congress for passing an economic stimulus package that includes substantial investments in the nation’s science and engineering enterprise. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes just over $7 billion in supplemental funding for several key federal science agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Computing Research Association Chair Daniel A. Reed said congressional action to pass the economic recovery legislation shows that members “understand the fierce urgency of innovation to ensure our economic future.”
“Congress and the Administration clearly recognize that today’s urgent economic challenges require strategic investment in research and research infrastructure to spawn tomorrow’s great discoveries and innovations,” Reed said. “This funding will also provide an immediate jolt to an innovation ecosystem that is key to ensuring our long-term economic success and quality of life.”
Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Peter Lee echoed Reed’s assessment. “The investments in education, research and scientific research facilities in this bill can be put to use right now to create a stronger, more resilient economy and a more highly-skilled, competitive workforce in this country,” Lee said. “The investments in research are both the fuel for our long-term innovation and a down payment on tomorrow’s infrastructure.”
University of Washington computer scientist Edward Lazowska said the community was heartened when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named her four priorities for the bill as “science, science, science and science,” and was “absolutely thrilled” when it became clear that those priorities had survived the conference process with the Senate. “Science lays the foundation for the future. Like the Internet and Google in previous decades, today’s computing research will become tomorrow’s vital infrastructure. America will be far stronger for the investments that Congress and the Administration have made”
About CRA: CRA represents more than 250 research entities in academia, industry and government. Its mission is to strengthen research and advance education in the computing fields, expand opportunities for women and minorities, and improve public and policymaker understanding of the importance of computing and computing research in society.
On the web: http://www.cra.org
Speaker Pelosi’s office just released a fact sheet on the conference agreement for the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act and, wow, it looks good for science agencies in the bill. Here’s the relevant bit:
Transform our Economy with Science and Technology: To secure Americas role as a world leader in a competitive global economy, we are renewing Americas investments in basic research and development, in training students for an innovation economy, and in deploying new technologies into the marketplace. This will help businesses in every community succeed in a global economy.
Investing in Scientific Research (More than $15 Billion)
- Provides $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, for basic research in fundamental science and engineering which spurs discovery and innovation.
- Provides $1.6 billion for the Department of Energys Office of Science, which funds research in such areas as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences areas crucial to our energy future.
- Provides $400 million for the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to support high-risk, high-payoff research into energy sources and energy efficiency in collaboration with industry.
- Provides $580 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including the Technology Innovation Program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
- Provides $8.5 billion for NIH, including expanding good jobs in biomedical research to study diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons, cancer, and heart disease.
- Provides $1 billion for NASA, including $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research.
- Provides $1.5 billion for NIH to renovate university research facilities and help them compete for biomedical research grants.
Extending Broadband Services
- Provides $7 billion for extending broadband services to underserved communities across the country, so that rural and inner-city businesses can compete with any company in the world.
- For every dollar invested in broadband, the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment.
It’s essentially everything we asked for. The entire fact sheet (pdf) doesn’t seem to be online yet, but we’ve got it here.
We’ll have more on the details as soon as we get them, but this is appears to be great news for the science community and great news for those who care about the long-term health of America’s innovation ecosystem!
COMPUTING RESEARCH ADVOCACY NETWORK
**ACTION ALERT**
THE SITUATION:
Now that the Senate has narrowly passed its version of the economic stimulus, the bill will head to conference with the House to work out some of the significant differences between the two versions — including significant differences in how the science investments in the bill are handled. The conference represents our last chance to influence the level of science funding contained in the stimulus. We are asking for your help urging your representatives in Congress to support the levels of funding for science contained in the House version of the bill. Please call or fax your representatives today to express your support for research and research infrastructure funding in the bill.
BACKGROUND:
Both the Senate and the House have now passed their own versions of the “American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (H.R. 1), but each version contains substantially different levels of funding for key science agencies.The version passed by the House contains significantly more funding for research and research infrastructure than the Senate-passed version. It provides “catch-up” funding for NSF, DOE Office of Science, NIH, and NIST that would put those agencies back on a trajectory that would double their budgets over the next 7 years — a budget trajectory that was authorized by the 2007 “America COMPETES Act” but never funded. The House version of this stimulus bill includes:
- $2 billion in science funding at DOE’s Office of Science, including $100 million for Advanced Scientific Computing Research;
- $3 billion for NSF, of which $2.0 billion would go into core research programs, $300 million to the Major Research Instrumentation program and an additional $200 million to academic research facilities modernization;
- $100 million for NIST’s core research programs, $300 million for facilities, and another $70 million for the Technology Innovation Program and $30 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership;
- $1.5 billion to NIH for grants to improve university research facilities and another $1.5 billion in new research funding.
In contrast, the Senate version provides no funding for DOE’s Office of Science and just $330 million for DOE Labs (and no additional funding for Advanced Scientific Computing Research); $1.0 billion less than the House for NSF core research, $250 million less for Major Research Equipment and Construction, and $50 million less for Education and Human Resources; and $25 million less for NIST.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The most important thing you can do now is call or fax your representatives in the House and Senate and urge them to support the House funding levels for science in the conference. A sample letter you can use can be found here (rtf).
Please complete it using your own information and FAX it to your Representative and Senators offices as soon as possible. Please also fax a copy of your letter to CRA’S Melissa Norr at 202.667.1066 — having copies of letters from our community is incredibly helpful in our advocacy activities on the Hill.
To identify your Representative and Senators visit Write Your Rep and the Senate Directory.
If you have any trouble figuring out your Members of Congress or their contact information, please don’t hesitate to contact Melissa (mnorr@cra.org) for help.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Now is not the time for contacting the agencies involved with proposals for spending these potential increases. If and when these increases are realized, the agencies will put in place processes to accept proposals for funding — and CRA will keep you informed. But, until then, the agencies are sharply limited in the advice and help they can provide. Please instead focus your efforts on ensuring that your representatives in Congress have heard from you on the importance of supporting research and research infrastructure!
From the CCC Blog
- MIT’s Subra Suresh reportedly to be nominated as new Director of NSF Ran Libeskind-Hadas
- Eric Brewer wins ACM – Infosys Foundation Award Ed Lazowska
- Chuck Thacker wins Turing Award Ed Lazowska
- FOCUS identifies “The Best Jobs in America� Ed Lazowska