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FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 58: April 25, 2003

Nobel Laureates and Corporate Leaders Urge Higher FY 2005 S&T Funding

Sixteen Nobel Laureates and sixteen corporate leaders have sent a
letter to President Bush urging a Presidential Initiative for FY 2005
focusing on the long-term research portfolios of DOE, NASA, the
Department of Commerce, NSF, and NIH. This letter, spearheaded by
Burton Richter, Director Emeritus of the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center, was sent to the President last week. The Administration is
now in the first stages of preparing its budget request for FY 2004
that will go to Congress early next year.

The text of the letter follows:

April 14, 2003

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

This letter is prompted by the beginning of preparations for the FY
2005 budget, and the release, on October 16, 2002, of the report by
your Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, "Assessing the U.
S. R&D Investment." That report noted serious problems in the
physical sciences, environmental sciences, mathematics, computer
science and engineering that, unless remedied, will affect our
scientific and technological leadership, thereby affecting our
economy and national security. You began addressing these challenges
in your FY 2004 budget submission, and more will need to be done to
reverse the decline of the 1990s. From our perspectives in industry,
academia and national laboratories, the PCAST report accurately
stated,

"[T]he lack of funding in these disciplines is cause for concern for
a number of reasons: Both full-time graduate and Ph.D. students in
most physical sciences, math and engineering are decreasing.
Facilities and infrastructure in general for the physical sciences
are becoming less than adequate for the needs of today's research
problems. It is widely understood and acknowledged that the
interdependence of the various disciplines requires that all advance
together" (p. 5).

We note, further, that the growth in expert personnel abroad,
combined with the diminishing numbers of Americans entering the
physical sciences, mathematics and engineering an unhealthy trend is
leading corporations to locate more of their R&D activities outside
the United States. 

We applaud your support for research as demonstrated by your
administration's recently completed doubling of the NIH bio-medical
research budget, and your signing of the bill authorizing major
increases in the NSF budget. However, it is not widely recognized
that NSF supports only a small portion of long-term research in the
physical sciences, mathematics and engineering. A Presidential
initiative for FY 2005, following on from your budget of FY 2004, and
focusing on the long-term research portfolios of DOE, NASA, and the
Department of Commerce, in addition to NSF and NIH, would turn around
a decade-long decline that endangers the future of our nation. 

Dr. Marburger and Mr. Kvamme put it succinctly in their letter
accompanying the PCAST report: "the report suggests targeting the
physical sciences and certain engineering fields ... for budgetary
reallocation given their importance to our nation's economic
well-being and competitiveness in order to better balance the
available budget dollars." We concur, and hope that even in these
times of budgetary stress you can, through a Presidential initiative
in the FY 2005 budget, expand on what you have begun to increase the
nation's investment in future strength.

Respectfully,

Nobel Laureates: Burton Richter, Phillip Anderson, Nicholaas
Bloembergen, Steven Chu, Jerome I. Friedman, Ivar Giaever, Sheldon
Lee Glashow, Russell A. Hulse, Martin Perl, Robert Richardson, Horst
Stormer, Richard Taylor, Charles H. Townes, Daniel C. Tsui, Kenneth
Wilson, Robert W. Wilson 

Corporate Leaders: Craig Barett, Ned Barnholt, Linden Blue, John F.
Cassidy, Stuart D. Doyle, Jerome J. Gaspar, Raymond G. Hemann,
William D. Hill, Dick Lampman, Joseph J. Miller, Jr., Craig J.
Mundie, Richard Pearson, Robert N. Schmidt, William T. Siegle, Russ
Shade, John J. Tracy

################
Richard M. Jones
Media and Government Relations Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi{at}aip.org
(301) 209-3095
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