Capitol Watch

In our last issue, we included an excellent article by Chris Dornfeld discussing a recent report from the Kauffman Foundation on the role of foreign born entrepreneurs. Some of our readers asked, “Why did we include that article?” The reason is that at the heart of science and technology is innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. If one of our goals is to educate the younger generations to be more knowledgeable and interested in science, it is our responsibility to create the right environment for the continued nurturing of that young interest. There also must be support of their innovations through our investments. Read Chris Dornfeld's article in the November/December issue.

It appears that Biotrends missions and goals are in agreement with the Congress and the National Academy of Science (NAS). In October 2005, a NAS report was prepared at the request of the Congress highlighting the urgent need for science education. Read more below:

“Rising Above the Gathering Storm”: Alarming Numbers

Shadi Farhangrazi

As interesting as the name a committee of the National Academies of Science chose for their report are the numbers and statistics presented in the report. “Rising above the Gathering Storm” is the name of about 500-page report outlining 20 specific actions that the federal government should take to ensure America 's economic leadership and ability to compete in the 21 st century.

The report warns that “the world is changing rapidly, and US advantages are no longer unique. Without a renewed effort to bolster the foundations of our competitiveness, we can expect to lose our privileged position.” Over a 10-week period, the committee (consisting of leaders from academia, industry, education and government, including three Nobel Prize winners) heard from experts. The report was released on October 12, 2005 , and was followed by hearings in both the Senate and the House. The report was requested in May, 2005 by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Bingman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy, and Ranking Minority Member of the full Energy and Natural Resources Committee, respectively. The request was endorsed by Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Congressman Bart Gordon (D-TN), the Chairman and the Ranking member of the House Science Committee, respectively.

The report highlights a number of issues including the K-12 science and mathematics education system. According to the report a Gallup poll asked respondents, “Overall, how satisfied are you with the quality of education students receive in kindergarten through twelve grade in the US today?” More than 50% of those responding were either “completely dissatisfied” or “somewhat dissatisfied”. According to the poll results outlined in the NAS report, the respondents answered that the critical required change would be to produce better educated, higher quality teachers.

Not only we are facing major issues related to training our teachers, but we also have to deal with fact that fewer US students pursue science and engineering degrees than students in other countries. The report noted that six percent of our undergraduates study engineering: that percentage is the second lowest among developed countries.

The recommendations in the Report included the followings:

10,000 TEACHERS, 10 MILLION MINDS IN K-12 SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

"Recommendation A: Increase America 's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 science and mathematics education."

"Action A-1 : Annually recruit 10,000 science and mathematics teachers by awarding 4-year scholarships and thereby educating 10 million minds." The program would "award competitive 4-year scholarships for...bachelor's degrees in the physical or life sciences, engineering, or mathematics with concurrent certification as K-12 science and mathematics teachers...and require a commitment to 5 years of service in public K-12 schools."

" Action A-2 : Strengthen the skills of 250,000 teachers through training and education programs at summer institutes, in master's programs, and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate (AP and IB) training programs and thus inspire students every day." This item includes establishing a national panel to "develop rigorous K-12 materials that would be available free of charge as a voluntary national curriculum."

" Action A-3: Enlarge the pipeline by increasing the number of students who take AP and IB science and mathematics courses...from 1.2 million to 4.5 million" by 2010. "Student incentives for success would include 50% examination fee rebates and $100 mini-scholarships for each passing score on an AP or IB mathematics and science examination."

The committee also proposes "expansion of two additional approaches...that are already in use": Statewide specialty high schools, and Inquiry-based learning through summer internships and research opportunities for students.

SOWING THE SEEDS THROUGH SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH

"Recommendation B: Sustain and strengthen the nation's traditional commitment to long-term basic research that has the potential to be transformational to maintain the flow of new ideas that fuel the economy, provide security, and enhance the quality of life."

" Action B-1 : Increase the federal investment in long-term basic research by 10% a year over the next 7 years, through reallocation of existing funds or if necessary through the investment of new funds. Special attention should go to the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, and information sciences," but this "special attention does not mean...a disinvestment in such important fields as the life sciences."

" Action B-2: Provide new research grants of $500,000 each annually, payable over 5 years, to 200 of our most outstanding early-career researchers...to underwrite new research opportunities at universities and government laboratories."

" Action B-3 : Institute a National Coordination Office for Research Infrastructure to manage a centralized research-infrastructure fund of $500 million per year over the next 5 years."

" Action B-4 : Allocate at least 8% of the budgets of federal research agencies to discretionary funding that would be managed by technical program managers...and be focused on catalyzing high-risk, high-payoff research."

" Action B-5: Create in the Department of Energy (DOE) an organization like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) called the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)," with the director reporting to the under secretary for science, that would sponsor creative "out-of-the-box" generic energy R&D "to meet the nation's long-term energy challenges."

" Action B-6 : Institute a Presidential Innovation Award to stimulate scientific and engineering advances in the national interest."

BEST AND BRIGHTEST IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING HIGHER EDUCATION

"Recommendation C: Make the United States the most attractive setting in which to study and perform research so that we can develop, recruit, and retain the best and brightest students, scientists, and engineers from within the United States and throughout the world."

" Action C-1 : Increase the number and proportion of US citizens who earn physical-sciences, life-sciences, engineering, and mathematics bachelor's degrees by providing 25,000 new 4-year competitive undergraduate scholarships each year to US citizens attending US institutions." The scholarships, of up to $20,000 annually, "would be distributed to states on the basis of the size of their congressional delegations and awarded on the basis of national examinations."

" Action C-2 : Increase the number of US citizens pursuing graduate study in ‘areas of national need' by funding 5,000 new graduate fellowships each year," of up to $20,000 annually, administered by NSF.

" Action C-3 : Provide a federal tax credit to encourage employers to make continuing education available (either internally or through colleges and universities) to practicing scientists and engineers" to enable career-long learning and retraining for new job market demands.

" Action C-4 : Continue to improve visa processing for international students and scholars," including improvements in visa categories and duration, reciprocity, travel to scientific meetings, and the technology alert list.

" Action C-5: Provide a 1-year automatic visa extension to international students who receive doctorates or the equivalent in...fields of national need at qualified US institutions to remain in the United States to seek employment." Students who are offered jobs by US-based employers and pass a security screening test "should be provided automatic work permits and expedited residence status."

" Action C-6 : Institute a new skills-based, preferential immigration option" so that candidates with doctoral-level education or science and engineering skills would receive "priority in obtaining US citizenship" and, in the interim, increase the number of H-1B visas by 10,000.

" Action C-7 : Reform the current system of ‘deemed exports'" so that "international students and researchers engaged in fundamental research" in US industrial, academic, and national laboratories receive access to information and research equipment "comparable with the access provided to US citizens." Additionally, items (information and equipment) that are "available for purchase on the overseas open market" or "that have manuals that are available in the public domain" should be removed from the deemed-exports technology list.

INCENTIVES FOR INNOVATION AND THE INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT

"Recommendation D: Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world to innovate; invest in downstream activities such as manufacturing and marketing; and create high-paying jobs that are based on innovation by modernizing the patent system, realigning tax policies to encourage innovation, and ensuring affordable broadband access."

" Action D-1: Enhance intellectual-property protection for the 21st century global economy" through reform of the patent system by: providing sufficient resources to the Patent and Trademark Office; switching to a "first-inventor-to-file" system with administrative review after a patent is granted; shielding research uses of patented inventions from infringement liability; and changing intellectual-property laws that act as barriers to innovation.

" Action D-2 : Enact a stronger research and development tax credit to encourage private investment in innovation."

" Action D-3 : Provide tax incentives for United States-based innovation."

" Action D-4 : Ensure ubiquitous broadband Internet access."

“An educated, innovative workforce-human capital-is the most precious resource of any country in this new, flat world.”

These are some interesting comments and statistics from the report:

"The United States is today a net importer of high-technology products. Its share of global high-technology exports has fallen in the last 2 decades from 30% to 17%, and its trade balance in high-technology manufactured goods shifted from plus $33 billion in 1990 to a negative $24 billion in 2004."

"Chemical companies closed 70 facilities in the United States in 2004 and have tagged 40 more for shutdown. Of 120 chemical plants being built around the world with price tags of $1 billion or more, one is in the United States and 50 in China ."

"Fewer than one-third of US 4th grade and 8th grade students performed at or above a level called ‘proficient' in mathematics; ‘proficiency' was considered the ability to exhibit competence with challenging subject matter. Alarmingly, about one-third of the 4th graders and one-fifth of the 8th graders lacked the competence to perform basic mathematical computations."

"US 12th graders recently performed below the international average for 21 countries on a test of general knowledge in mathematics and science. In addition, an advanced mathematics assessment was administered to US students who were taking or had taken precalculus, calculus, or Advanced Placement calculus and to students in 15 other countries who were taking or had taken advanced mathematics courses. Eleven nations outperformed the United States , and four countries had scores similar to the US scores. No nation scored significantly below the United States ."

"In 2003, only three American companies ranked among the top 10 recipients of patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office."

"In 2004, China graduated over 600,000 engineers, India 350,000, and America about 70,000."

"In 2001 (the most recent year for which data are available), US industry spent more on tort litigation than on R&D."

For more information visit:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html

http://www.nap.edu/execsumm_pdf/11463.pdf