Issue Updates

WASHINGTON NEWS
FROM THE FEDERATION OF MATERIALS SOCIETIES
SEPTEMBER 10, 2004

LONG CONTINUING RESOLUTION OR LAME DUCK?

Will Congress be forced to pass a “continuing resolution” to keep the government functioning past the start of fiscal year 2005 on October 1? The answer is “probably yes,” but for how long? As late as mid-September, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) was resisting pressure for a resolution continuing operations until the new Congress convenes in January 2005 – or even longer. Increasingly likely is a resolution that would allow Senators and Representatives to adjourn for election campaigns on October 8, to reconvene after November 2. Complicating that scenario, however, is the fact that because of term limits and retirements, committee leaderships will change in 2005 regardless of which party wins control of the House and Senate, and the new chairmen will not want to be bound by the actions of a “lame duck” session. We’ll have a more definitive outlook in next month’s column.

OUT-YEAR BUDGET PRIORITIES

As agencies start preparing their requests for inclusion in the President’s FY 2006 budget (which is supposed to be submitted to Congress in early February), the directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the White House have issued a joint memorandum describing the Administration’s priorities for research and development funding.

The memorandum states that “the Administration favors Federal R&D investments that:

Enable potentially high-payoff activities that require a Federal presence to attain long-term national goals including national security and energy independence;

Sustain specifically authorized agency missions and support the missions of other agencies through stewardship of user facilities;

Strengthen science, mathematics and engineering education and accomplishments to enable continuation of superiority in math and science;

Support technological innovation to enhance economic competitiveness and new job growth;

Address the workforce needs of the Nation to ensure a scientifically literate population and a robust supply of qualified experts;

Advance fundamental discovery to improve future quality of life;

Enhance our understanding of the global environment;

Maximize efficiency and effectiveness of the R&D enterprise through means such as competitive, peer-reviewed award and review processes and phase-out of programs that are only marginally productive or are not important to an agency’s mission; and

Strengthen international partnerships that foster advancement of scientific frontiers and accelerate the progress of science across borders.”

The directive emphasizes that “winning the war on terror and securing the homeland continue to be the highest of national priorities,” and states that “fundamental R&D should be considered to address and counter new or novel threats.” Nanotechnology is described as “a top Administration priority” and “novel approaches to accelerating interdisciplinary and interagency collaborations” in nanotechnology are encouraged.

The OMB/OSTP guidance contains an entire section on “Priorities of the Physical Sciences,” which states that “Investments in the physical sciences likely to lead to or enable economic competitiveness continue to be important. Priority will be given to research that aims to close significant gaps in the fundamental physical understanding of phenomena that promise significant new technologies with broad societal impact. High-temperature and organic superconductors, molecular electronics, wide band-gap and photonic materials, thin magnetic films, and quantum condensates are examples of novel atomic and molecular-level systems with such gaps where coherent control holds great potential.”

S&E JOBS – NOT JUST FOR THOSE WITH 4-YEAR DEGREES

A new national Science Foundation report concludes that more than one-fifth of individuals employed in science and engineering occupations have less than a bachelor’s degree. These S&E workers – more than 1 million people – hold high school diplomas (5 percent of the S&E workforce) or associate’s degrees (17 percent). The proportions of individuals with less than bachelor’s degrees vary by occupational groups, accounting for 40 percent of those employed in computer and math science and 20 percent of those employed in engineering. The proportions are much smaller (10 percent or less) for occupations in the life, physical, and social sciences. Men and women are represented in about the same proportions, but proportions of racial or ethnic groups with less than a bachelor’s degree range from 6 percent for Asian-Pacific Islanders to 34 percent for blacks and 37 percent for Hispanics. The new NSF report is available at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/infbrief/nsf04333