IEEE-USA President's Column

MARCH 2008

In early March, I joined more than 250 engineers and scientists in Washington to participate in the annual Congressional Visits Day (CVD). This event, under the auspices of the Science-Engineering-Technology Working Group (SETWG), works to assure the future vitality of the U.S. science, mathematics, and engineering enterprise. IEEE-USA is one of SETWG's leading organizations.

Our message this year was that research funding should not be viewed as an expense, but an investment. And past investments have paid huge dividends. It has been noted by many economists that more than 50 percent of all industrial innovation and growth in the United States since World War II can be attributed to advances pioneered through scientific research. Whether the applications are broad and enabling, or part of a new product or process, publicly funded science is at the core of our society's progress. Most federal agencies require research to achieve their goals for our government and taxpayers. The nation's scientists and engineers produce those research results, ensuring our national strength, security, health, economy and workforce development.

It is well known that the Internet is the result of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency developing a computer-based means for their researchers to communicate rapidly. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is an outgrowth of the U.S. Navy's need to know the location of its assets around the world. These two technologies alone have resulted in hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States.

Congress in 2007 passed one of the most important pieces of legislation for the high-tech community in decades, the America COMPETES Act. The competitiveness and innovation legislation, which the President signed into law in August, supports research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as improved STEM educational programs to help the United States maintain its global leadership in science and technology.

Unfortunately, Congress and the administration were unable to agree on the appropriations necessary to enact the provisions of the America COMPETES Act. And there is very little funding for the act in 2008. The President's budget for 2009, however, contains substantial funding for programs closely related to the legislation. The budget would include funding that would put the National Science Foundation (NSFG), the Department of Energy Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on a path to double their research and development (R&D) funding in seven years.

During visits to our senators and House representatives, our message was that the inability of the Congress and the administration to agree on appropriations for 2008 has caused a "train wreck" for the high-tech community. We urged our legislative representatives to do whatever was necessary to remedy the situation. We also strongly encouraged them to ensure that the 2008 appropriations supplied adequate funding for engineering and science programs in 2009.

On 4 March, I was honored to serve as master of ceremonies for a SETWG-sponsored press conference to help make the media aware of our important mission. The press conference was led by the co-chairs of the Congressional R&D Caucus, Reps. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and Judy Biggert (R-Ill.). The high-tech community has no bigger friends in the Congress than these two representatives. They are always supportive of our programs and have led the way in many legislative initiatives important to IEEE-USA and the U.S. science and engineering community. The press conference resulted in very favorable media coverage.

The members of the Congress we met with were very supportive of our agenda. The House passed its budget resolution on 6 March and it would fund our priorities substantially. Here's the message accompanying the legislation:

"It is the sense of the House that the House should provide sufficient funding so that our Nation may continue to be the world leader in education, innovation and economic growth; last year, Congress passed and the President signed the America COMPETES Act, bipartisan legislation designed to ensure that American students, teachers, businesses, and workers are pre-pared to continue leading the world in innovation, research, and technology well into the future; this resolution supports the efforts authorized in the America COMPETES Act, providing substantially increased funding above the President's requested level for 2009, and increased amounts after 2009 in Function 250 (General Science, Space and Technology) and Function 270 (Energy); additional increases for scientific research and education are included in Function 500 (Education, Employment, Training and Social Services), Function 550 (Health), Function 300 (Environment and Natural Resources), and Function 370 (Commerce and Housing Credit), all of which receive more funding than the President's budget provides; because America's greatest resource for innovation resides within classrooms across the country, the increased funding provided in this resolution will support initiatives within the America COMPETES Act to educate tens of thousands of new scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, and place highly qualified teachers in math and science K-12 classrooms; and because independent scientific research provides the foundation for innovation and future technologies, this resolution will keep us on the path toward doubling funding for the National Science Foundation, basic research in the physical sciences, and collaborative research partnerships, and toward achieving energy independence through the development of clean and sustainable alternative energy technologies."

IEEE-USA's leadership plans to continue working to ensure that 2009 appropriations follow the directions of the budget resolution. U.S. IEEE members are encouraged to meet with their representatives to support this message.

Please send comments to president@ieeeusa.org.

Updated:  15 August 2008
Contact: Chris McManes, c.mcmanes@ieee.org