Campuses warn of cuts in research, MIT, others cite shift, slowdown in US

[Rose Siding]

...MIT, others cite shift, slowdown in US funds

CAMBRIDGE -- Years of increases in federal research spending are coming to a halt, and top universities like MIT fear they will have to make cutbacks in cherished projects.

The cuts will be felt most sharply by schools where the research emphasis is on the physical sciences as opposed to medicine. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is among those schools, projects that its federal funding will be flat or down in the coming year. An MIT nuclear fusion reaction experiment funded by the Department of Energy is one project expected to take an immediate hit: It would run for 12 weeks next year, down from 17 weeks this year.

''That whole ability to have a good idea and get funding for it and pursue it is in our DNA," said Alice Gast, vice president for research and associate provost at MIT. Gast said she worries that the flattening budget and other changes in the research environment could stymie technology innovation at leading academic centers.
...
Apart from the tighter budget, changes in policy at the federal agencies that fund research also have universities worried. In some cases, schools are being forced to choose between refusing contracts or accepting restrictions on publication of their results and participation by foreign students.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/11/campuses_warn_of_cuts_in_research/

[cornermouse]

1. We're outsourcing our scientific advances.

It's cheaper that way. :crazy:

[DeepModem Mom]

2. These people are taking us back to the "Dark Ages." nt

[sam sarrha]

3. eleminate Fusion research .. ??? well they vetoed the solar project

his second day in office that could have producedover 70% of day time electricity.. I am supprised it lasted this long

[NEOBuckeye]

17. Hey, that's what Big Oil is supposed to take care of, remember?

We can't have really nice, renewable things like Nuclear or Solar Power cutting into something as American as the Oil Industry right? We've got to look after our established industries, too.

:eyes: :sarcasm:

[fasttense]

4. We will no longer have brain drain, we will have

brain atrophy.

[Mockingbird]

5. Corporations will buy up the schools...

This is an important topic. One that should be abuzz at every watercooler.

Somehow we're going to Mars, on the backs of Elephants & Donkeys, I suppose.


There's a lot of hidden & not-so-hidden consequences in this administration's choices.

The No Choice Demagogues are allowing the schools to wither on the vine.

But the other end of this - is that the research that used to be done, will mean a greater influx of money by private corporations to fund the "testing" & "research" that will bolster their bottome line.

This is already underway as some schools derive as much as 15-20% of their research budget funding from private corporations with specific interests in the outcome.

Which means true advances in the sciences & medicine will suffer unless they make big pharma profits.

We won't cure diseases so much as find a new aspirin formulation that will address a few of the symptoms based on the repeat business drug dealer model. Very soon the U.S. becomes a backwater of new science advancements.

The interesting thing, however, is the fact that the neverending war & tax cuts for an over-priviledged segment of society is also affecting defense industry R&D. Not all defense contractors are rolling the dough when much of the money goes to soldier pay & simple equipment like armor plate for humvees.

On Tucker Carlson's Unfiltered on PBS June 10, the 2nd to the last show - he had a tirade about the schools being our "secular churches" as he peppered his silly-ass diatribe with pseudo-religious code words & claimed that it was all the new buildings going up on campuses that is driving truition up. (Well, if that's the case - they must all be Camelots - but I sure haven't noticed anything remarkably new).

Presented opinion, but without the scantest hint of evidence.
The bowtie doesn't make him erudite nor less slimy.

Haven't you learned?
Anything good for business & to the detriment of society at large is good. The common good & seeing past the end of your noses is BAD.

[MisterP]

11. the launches of all unmanned ships have been taken from NASA

and privatized by the Monkey King.

[twenty4blackbirds]

18. The Story of Monkey King

http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/China/monkey.html
http://www.china-on-site.com/monkey.php
http://www.chinapage.com/monkey/monkey.html

[K-W]

12. The schools are withering because of lack of funding and

an antiquated educational system.

[Stuckinthebush]

6. It's not just the physical sciences

But also in the area of social sciences and education research.

Since Bush has been in office, my clients (non-profits, educational institutions) have seen a steep drop in available service AND social service research dollars available from the feds.

It takes a lot of money to finance a stupid war while simultaneously cutting taxes for the wealthiest in this nation.

Every time I see a W-still president sticker on the back of an SUV Subdivision (thanks to the DUer who came up with that), I just want to pull the fool over and slap them in the back of the head to try to wake them up.

[undeterred]

7. Our country used to attract the best scientists from around the world

I am afraid that now our best scientists will leave the country to work in a country that supports them.

[confludemocrat]

15. I am a scientist. I have seen the decline

I have seen how foreign universities have become magnets for students instead of U.S. universities, with much better physical facilities than us, and a much more dynamic environment since we are spending so much on killing people overseas. Our standards of living and decency have dropped precipitously under Bush and his thugs, as well as the intellectual climate. I have witnessed this disaster in slow motion since 2001. I would leave if I could. Anyone contemplating a science career should really and truly learn a foreign language, not because English is no longer the lingua franca, but to adapt to daily life better, it may be needed.

[Athame]

16. I'm in international education

and just returned from NAFSA, the international educators conference in Seattle. What you say about foreign universities becoming magnets is very true. Germany, Australia, and Denmark/Sweden are ACTIVELY recruiting from our traditional base of foreign students in the sciences and social sciences (nearly everyone is neglecting the humanities). The hottest ticket at the conference was the Space Needle reception held by the Australian university consortium. They are providing funding and making it easy for the best and the brightest from all over the world to go down under. While we are not only decreasing funding, but putting up insane obstacles to visas and entry tests in the name of Homeland security. What is being dismantled will take decades to rebuild once it is gone. We are truly eating the seed corn.

[indigo]

20. Interesting

Anecdotal support -- I recently spoke to a member of a campus ministry for Asian students at a large R&D oriented campus on the East Coast. He mentioned the nr of Asian students is decreasing as "they are all going to Europe."

[megatherium]

21. So you've got to ask yourself, where are all the American grad students?

The universities have in effect discouraged Americans from going into the sciences by over-relying on foreign nationals. In many disciplines, it's often a buyers market for the universities seeking faculty or staff scientists. Universities have blamed Americans for not showing interest in science, but American students (at the best colleges) are aware of how unpleasant a scientific career is, how competitive, precarious and poorly paid it can be. I think the laws of economics may provide a silver lining here. American students will come back to the sciences if there are opportunities for them.

[Patty Diana]

8. Welcome to the new and improved 3rd world Corporate America

just wait till our intelligent design kids reach the job market.. What a joke All part of the Fascist war on science 11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts. Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.

FASCISM ANYONE http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm

[Laughing Mirror]

10. Corporate militarized America "developing battlefield robots"

No real enemies but themselves, armed to the teeth and extremely dangerous.

[reprobate]

9. The Republicand party, building bridges to the twelfth century.

[cap]

13. stuff is filtering to bush supporters

look at R&D money being given to Rice University (nanotechnology) in TX and the small fundamentalist colleges.

[indigo]

19. To be fair,

I would imagine that the nanotech $$ goes to Rice b/c of Richard Smalley. However, I'd be interested to hear if nanotech $$ is going to small fundamentalist colleges.

[cap]

23. i dont know about nanotech going to the

fundamentalist colleges... but a lot of "Intel" money is.

[Endangered Specie]

14. We are supposed to be the flagship when it comes to scientific advancement

It will not be long before science 'outsources' itself, as a matter of survival.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. That's a brilliant move, isn't it?