Science and the President-Elect. (January 16, 2009)

This week both Nature and  Science feature the relationship between scientists and the US president-elect, Barack Obama.

Of course as of Tuesday January 20 (US eastern standard time) he'll no longer be the president-elect, and with his taking of the oath of office the buck will pass to him and stop.

Nature's lead editorial admonishes the scientific community that "science is not a spectator sport" and "they would be wrong to view this simply as a chance to get more money. They will also need to help Obama clean up George W. Bush's legacy on science-related issues ranging from nuclear non-proliferation to endangered species. And they must help him retool the scientific capabilities of agencies throughout the federal government.

     "Some early road maps towards that goal... fixing the Food and Drug Administration to revitalizing the country's embryonic stem-cell research programme [and] one area that definitely needs a well-organized and massive injection of funds is climate change".

Nature offers this advice to Mr Obama: "The United States must now learn the right lessons from the European emissions-trading system — don't give away allowances for free, for example, or sell them too cheaply — in order to institute its own system effectively. [He] must also set up the infrastructure to support such a system and to drive a low-carbon economy. One top priority is expanding and improving the electricity grid to accommodate solar and wind energy. Another is a long-term adaptation strategy to help the nation's cities and states cope with the changing climate. But solving these and other such problems will require new policies and decades of reliable investment".

The editorialist concludes with this warning: "Around Washington the talk is that climate is like health care in 1993, when incoming president Bill Clinton made it a signature issue and put his smartest people on it — only to watch it fail spectacularly. Scientists must help Obama ensure that climate action doesn't suffer the same fate."

As regards the matter of the scientific community being an active participant if influencing policy Nature also reports that "Scientific groups are actively pushing their argument that modernizing the nation's scientific infrastructure could help create the skilled workforce needed to address challenges such as global warming", and Maria Zuber, a geophysics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told the journal: "It's amazing. The scientific community has a voice; the fact that we are invited to sit at the table with the economists when we are talking about the future of the US economy — it's like a new day."

Furthermore, Jeff Tollefson writes in NatureNews: "Representatives from the American Physical Society began talking to Obama's transition team shortly after the November 2008 election, and have developed a shortlist of desired projects at the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The price tag stands at nearly $3.5 billion for dozens of projects, including renovations and upgrades at various Department of Energy labs and supercomputing work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, [however], it is not clear whether calls for basic research funding, as opposed to infrastructure and technology, will make the cut.

Yesterday, ScienceInsider outlined the proposed science funding in the draft text of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, the supplemental appropriations bill forming the spending part of the US$850 (A$1,263) billion economic stimulus package to deal with the depressed US economy.

• National Science Foundation: $3 billion, including $2 billion for expanding employment opportunities in fundamental science and engineering

• National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research: $2 billion; including $1.5 billion for expanding good jobs in biomedical research and $500 million to implement the repair and improvement strategic plan developed by the NIH for its campuses

• University Research Facilities: $1.5 billion for NIH to renovate university research facilities and help them compete for biomedical research grants. The National Science Foundation estimates a maintenance backlog of $3.9 billion in biological science research space. Funds are awarded competitively

• Department of Energy: $1.9 billion for basic research into the physical science

• NASA: $600 million; including $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellites and Sensors: $600 million for satellite development

• National Institute of Standards and Technology: $300 million for competitive construction grants for research science buildings

• Agricultural Research Service: $209 million for agricultural research facilities across the country

• U.S. Geological Survey: $200 million to repair and modernize USGS science facilities and equipment

• School Construction: $20 billion, including $14 billion for K-12 and $6 billion for higher education

• Education Technology: $1 billion for 21st century classrooms, including computer and science labs

• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Research: $2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy research

AAAS' budget analyst sums it up: "The draft stimulus appropriations bill contains $13.3 billion in R&D funding, $9.9 billion for the conduct of research and development and $3.4 billion for R&D facilities and large research equipment, mostly extramural. Adding in another $2.5 billion in non-R&D but science and technology-related funding brings total science and technology-related funding in the stimulus to nearly $16 billion. There is also additional money for higher education construction and other education spending of interest to academia.

     "The bill requires nearly all of the funding to be awarded within 120 days of when the President signs the bill into law, with staggered deadlines of 30 days for formula funds, 90 days for competitive grants, and 120 days for competitive grants in brand-new programs, with the intention of spending the funding as quickly as possible to provide immediate economic stimulus."

Just how bold the Obama administration will turn out to be will be very much a spectator sport for the world outside the United States. The president-elect from Illinois who will take the oath of office with his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible is faced with cleaning up a daunting legacy left behind by an administration -- which demonstrated that despite the vaunted checks and balances of the US system of the separation of powers of government -- had the ability to monumentally defile that nation's self-image, and significantly worsen the condition of the planet and its inhabitants.