 |
ALMA/AMMRL Federal Science Policy Page |
Resources to Help U.S. Scientists Participate in the
Political Process |
Why This Page Exists
My name is Bill Stevens and I am Director of the
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility at Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale. I am a member of
Analytical Laboratory Managers Association and
at their 1992 meeting at Tulane University, it was much remarked that the
Association would have to get politically active to combat the declines in
federal funding for instrumentation. ALMA co-founder Claude Lucchesi
approached me and suggested that I chair a new Political Action Committee
within ALMA. I replied that I would serve on such a committee, but
that I did not have the time or resources to chair it.
I have been a committee of one since and, by default, chairman.
Since I am also a member of
Association of
Managers in Magnetic Resonance Laboratories, I have passed along to its
members via its email listserver some of the fruits of my labors in this area.
I had always thought that this was mostly to the annoyance of the AMMRL
members. However, when I gave a brief speech to AMMRL at the 1996 ENC, it
was suggested that this information and advocacy is valuable and that I
ought to do even more of it.
So...here is my first effort to create a web resource for scientists who
are sick of seeing grant monies dry up, especially for instrumentation
facilities managers who are understaffed and coping with obsolete equipment
for lack of funds. We need to write our Congresspersons and tell them
that science funding is important.
Thanks go to Chris Schafer at A.C.S. for providing many of the links.
How to Contact your Representatives and Senators
Papers, Speeches, Reports, and Organizations
The Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable and the National
Science Board present Convocation
on Stresses on Research and Education at Colleges and Universities:
Phase II, a website that seeks your input.
PREPARED REMARKS OF
VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: This speech was given at the AAAS Annual
Meeting on Feb. 12, 1996 - "Walk through the halls
of Congress, and you'll see the Gucci loafers of corporate lobbyists, but
not the white lab coats of American scientists. Page through a directory
of members of Congress, and you'll find well over 150 lawyers, but only six
scientists, two engineers, and one science teacher among the 535 people in
the House and the Senate. As a result, scientific concepts sometimes elude
the vast majority of our elected officials."
The homepage of the
Science, Technology, and Government Program of the AAAS is a terrific
resource for information about what's happening in Washington, DC that
will affect federal funding and policy about science.
AAAS R&D BUDGET AND
POLICY PAGE is a shortcut to the latest breaking info on what the
federal government has in mind for research and development funding and
policy.
FYI:
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News is the
resource I mentioned at the AMMRL meeting during the 1996 ENC. Here are the
archives of the FYI newsletter, which comes out over 100 times each year.
Early issues within a given year have information about the need for and the
strategy appropriate for communicating to Congress the importance of federal
support for science research.
A recent position paper of the
Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) makes the case for
government funding of university research.
NSF Director Neal Lane on Science Funding Outlook, Role of Scientists:
"My message to you today is that if you don't take it as one of
your professional responsibilities to inform your fellow citizens
about the importance of the science and technology enterprise, then
that public support, critical to sustaining it, isn't going to be
there. Who knows more about science, its complex relationship with
technology, the linkage between research and education, the often
unexpected benefits to society, than you?"
Communicating With Congress - Writing to a Member of Congress:
Part 1 from the American Institute of Physics.
Communicating With Congress - Meeting With a Member of Congress:
Part 2 from the American Institute of Physics.
The home page of the American Chemical Society's
Government Relations and
Science Policy (GRASP) office. Among other things, you can find the
ACS Washington
Alert here.
"Who Will Hire Our Scientists?" by William C.
Stevens is an op-ed piece about industrial and governmental retreat from
R&D.
The man who brought us The Mechanical Universe on PBS,
David Goodstein, has been
telling us that post-cold-war science is going to be smaller. Select his
article
The Big Crunch from his homepage.
The home page of the Committee
on Federal Support for Research and Development from the National
Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine,
and National Research Council. There is a link to their controversial recent
report.
89 Members of House Support NSF. A letter to
Appropriations head Robert Livingston was signed by 89 Representatives.
Was yours among them? Why not?? Bill Stevens'
letter to his Congressman. And his Congressman's
Reply.
The Council on Competitiveness
has just released a report entitled
Endless Frontier, Limited Resources: U.S. R&D Policy for
Competitiveness.
The Council on Competitiveness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit forum
of chief executives from the business, university and labor communities
working together to set a national action agenda for U.S. leadership in
global markets, technological innovation, and education and training
that will raise the standard of living of all Americans. The Council
is known for its policy recommendations and its international
benchmarking of U.S. competitiveness.
The American Institute of Physics has a new page,
PHYSICS AND GOVERNMENT - Tools for Scientists
as Constituents. Recommended.
'Friend-Raising' For Biomedical Research: What Are You Waiting For? by
Mary Woolley
A new organization, Research!America, exists to promote
biomedical research. See
Fostering a
Science-Society Partnership by the group's President, Mary Woolley. More
information will be here shortly about Research!America.
Coming soon...
boilerplate
text for writing Congress
This page is maintained by William Stevens. Contributions and suggestions
are welcome and may be directed to
wstevens@siu.edu
Last Update ***3/28/97 wcs***
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