$cience is Important
by Kenneth Hanson on Sep 19 2010 (25496 Views)Last week Kei Koizumi, Assistant Director for Federal Research & Development for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, paid a visit to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (my new home as of mid-June). The visit included a tour of several laboratories where everyone did their very best to convince him that our funding (e.g. my salary) is worthwhile as well as a presentation by Mr. Koizumi that outlined the Presidents plans/goals/vision for scientific funding.
On many occasions, President Obama has voiced his strong support of the sciences. In an address to the National Academy of Sciences on April 27, 2009 he emphasized the importance of science by stating “Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been before.” In addition to this type of powerful dialogue we have seen significant action. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the scientific funding boost that came through with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, purple block in the graph below). In addition to this quick funding boost there is a continuing effort by the administration to double the 2006 budget for the Department of Energy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation by the year 2017. The approved 2011 budget continues with this upward funding trend as outline in the graph below.
So what does the future hold? Every year a memorandum is sent from the Office of Management and Budget to the major funding agencies requesting their budget proposals for the upcoming year. In this memorandum the current administration outlines how they intend to direct their funding. In the 2012 memorandum, the Obama administration emphasized the following six areas of focus:
- Promoting sustainable economic growth and job creation.
- Defeating the most dangerous diseases and achieving better health outcomes for all while reducing health care costs.
- Moving toward a clean energy future to reduce dependence on energy imports while curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Understanding, adapting to, and mitigating the impacts of global climate change.
- Managing the competing demands on land, fresh water, and the oceans for the production of food, fiber, biofuels, and ecosystem services based on sustainability and biodiversity.
- Developing the technologies to protect our troops, citizens, and national interests.
The proposal writing process is no doubt an exercise in balancing wishful thinking and self control. Along these lines it is not unusual for an agency to submit several versions of their budget (above, below and the same as the previous year). However, due to the recent economic issues, the administration was particular in asking all agencies to submit a funding request that is reduced by 5 percent relative to the previous year. As of Monday, September 13th the new budget proposals for the 2012 fiscal year were due. Over the next several months negotiations between the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science Technology Policy will determine the 2012 funding situation. The 2012 budget will then be announced in the first week of February 2011. Although it is unlikely that every agencies budget will be reduced by 5% , 2012 is likely to be a tough year for many researchers.
tl;dr: All you have to do to guarantee funding in 2012 is submit a solid proposal for a commercially viable, bulletproof, CO2 detecting solar energy converter that cures diseases while still maintaining the ecosystem.
Assuming this is the ARPA-E program, it should also be stressed that it only funds high-risk but high-reward proposals. It is an unusual amount of foresight for a government program.
Also, if you are interested in science policy specifically relating to the ARPA program and have your PhD you can apply here:
http://arpa-e.energy.gov/Jobs.aspx
[...] cuando veo en Chemistry Blog la gráfica con el presupuesto de ciencia de los Estados Unidos, ya no se qué [...]
Does this science funding also apply to chemistry and physics for high school because I know these past two years we have been really stretching our budget and could use some help. Or if there are grants we could look at or someone knows of I would appreciate a shout out. Thank you.
High school grants would fall under the department of education not DOE.
Clint, this isn't much help, but I imagine that granting agencies for high school science education are mostly private foundations. Depending on your location, you might try the local American Chemical Society section to get you started in terms of searching for funding sources.
(Readers, there's got to be a better answer than mine.)
Donors Choose is a good place to try for education grants.