The Gathering Storm in US Maths, the Physical Sciences, and Engineering Remains Unaddressed. (September 20, 2008)

Norman R. Augustine is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. He was chairman of the US National Academies committee that produced The Gathering Storm report that in 2005 recommended doubling the investment in maths, physical sciences and engineering, and at a minimum, protecting the health sciences against inflation.

Invited to contribute the editorial for this week's issue of Science he writes a scathing critique of the US' response.

He notes:

The United States ranks 16^th and 20^th among nations in college and high-school graduation rates, respectively; 60^th in the proportion of college graduates receiving natural science and engineering degrees; and 23^rd in the fraction of GDP devoted to publicly funded nondefense research. The number of U.S. citizens receiving Ph.D.s in engineering and the physical sciences has dropped by 22% in a decade. U.S. high-school students rank near the bottom in math and science.

What happened to the funds that the report recommended be provided to combat The Gathering Storm?

According to Bob Park they "were lost in an orgy of congressional earmarking [pork barrelling] of projects for local districts".

Mr Augustine with more than a touch of irony goes on to inform his readers that "much has been accomplished since The Gathering Storm was published":

 A new research university was established, with an opening endowment equal to what the Massachusetts Institute of Technology amassed after 142 years. -- Saudi Arabia

Next year, over 200,000 students will study abroad, mostly pursing science or engineering degrees, often under government scholarships. -- China

Government investment in R&D is set to increase by 25%. -- United Kingdom

An initiative is under way to create a global nanotechnology hub. -- India

An additional $10 billion dollars is being devoted to K-12 education, with emphasis on math and science. -- Brazil

And a $3 billion dollar add-on to the nation's research budget is in process. -- Russia

And he drives home the point that "More than half the increase in the U.S. gross domestic product is attributable to advances in science and technology".

He doesn't discuss the current rent in the US economy which is undermining those contributions, but he does decry the lack of interest displayed "during the past two presidential campaigns... Every candidate declined to... engage in a "user-friendly" science policy conversation not designed to be a debate (questions were to be provided in advance and "contentious" issues were off limits)".

He then refers to the 535 members of the U.S. Congress, of which "only 8 list themselves as engineers or scientists", while "of the 9 senior leaders in China, 8 hold such degrees."

How can America's political leaders be expected to make sound policy decisions in a world of increasingly complex science and technology if the most qualified individuals in those fields remain absent from the field of play? If current trends persist, the United States may well be on its way to becoming "America, the land of the free and the home of the unemployed."

To make for a good weekend Jeffrey Mervis reporting in today's ScienceNOW reveals: "Next year's [US]federal budget may not contain a penny more for research and education if Republican Senator John McCain (AZ) is elected U.S. president and has his way with Congress. An aide to the McCain campaign delivered that sober fiscal message today to science lobbyists, who pressed him unsuccessfully for leeway in the candidate's promise to curb federal spending by imposing a 1-year freeze on domestic discretionary spending."

_________________________________

Australia is now 4.5 months into the current federal budget, and despite the political spin, the nation's science and higher education languishes under something resembling the projected McCain freeze. What the myriad of reviews, resulting white papers and the 2009/10 budget will bring... it's a mystery.

Of course the lack of scientific and engineering nuance by Australian parliamentarians within and outside the cabinet is legendary.