Page images
PDF
EPUB

EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF R. & D. FUNDS BY

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1967

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT RESEARCH,

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:15 a.m., in room 3302, New Senate Office Building, Senator Fred R. Harris (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senator Harris.

Also present: Dr. Steven Ebbin, staff director; and Fred Mansbridge, minority staff member.

OPENING STATEMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN

Senator HARRIS. The subcommittee will be in order.

The Subcommittee on Government Research is today resuming a series of hearings which were begun last July, designed to look into questions related to achieving a more equitable distribution of Federal funds for research and development.

The problem involved was pointed out by President Lyndon B. Johnson in his directive of September 13, 1965, calling on the relevant Federal agencies to adopt policies to foster the growth of additional centers of excellence in science and technology.

Without objection, a copy of President Johnson's directive will be printed in the record at this point.

(The presidential directive above-referred to, follows:)

The White House, Washington, D.C., September 13 1965.

Memorandum to the heads of departments and agencies. Subject: Strengthening academic capability for science throughout the country. A strong and vital educational system is an essential part of the Great Society. In building our national educational system, we must bear in mind all of the parts, and all of the levels-from Headstart for pre-school children to the most advanced university levels. At the apex of this educational pyramid, resting on the essential foundation provided for the lower levels, is the vital top segment where education and research become inseparable. The Federal Government has supported academic research in agriculture for over a half century and in the physical sciences, life sciences and engineering since World War II; the returns on this national investment have been immense.

Of the $15 billion which the Federal Government is spending in research and development activities this year, $1.3, or about 9%, is spent in universities. The $1.3 billion, which includes only Federal research grants and contracts, accounts for about two-thirds of the total research expenditures of our American colleges and universities. Over 25,000 graduate students in engineering, mathematics, physical and life sciences are supported indirectly by employment under these

research grants and contracts. Plainly the Federal expenditures have a major effect on the development of our higher educational system.

The strength of the research and development programs of the major agencies, and hence their ability to meet national needs, depends heavily upon the total strength of our university system. Research supported to further agency missions should be administered not only with a view to producing specific results, but also with a view to strengthening academic institutions and increasing the number of institutions capable of performing research of high quality.

The functions of the Federal agencies in relation to the strengthening of academic institutions are as follows:

a. The National Science Foundation continues to have responsibility for augmenting the research capabilities of academic institutions in all fields of science through the support of basic research and research facilities and through measures for improving the quality of education in the sciences; b. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare will contribute to the over-all development of colleges and universities and to the development of health professional schools, particularly through programs of the Office of Education and the Public Health Service.

c. All Federal agencies with substantial research and development programs have an interest and need to develop academic capabilities for research and scientific education as a part of their research missions. To the fullest extent compatible with their primary interests in specific fields of science, their basic statutes, and their needs for research results in high quality, all Federal agencies should act so as to:

a. Encourage the maintenance of outstanding quality in science and science education in those universities where it exists;

b. Provide research funds to academic institutions under conditions affording them the opportunity to improve and extend their programs for research and science education and to develop the potentialities for high quality research of groups and individuals, including capable younger faculty members;

c. Contribute to the improvement of potentially strong universities through measures such as:

Giving consideration, where research capability of comparable quality exists, to awarding grants and contracts to institutions not now heavily engaged in Federal research programs;

Assisting such institutions or parts of institutions in strengthening themselves while performing research relevant to agency missions, by such means as establishing university-administered programs in specialized areas relevant to the missions of the agencies.

Funds for these purposes should be provided on a scale and under conditions appropriate to the mission of an agency and in accordance with any governmentwide policy guidelines which may be established.

Departments and agencies should carefully assess the degree to which and the manner in which their existing programs support this policy, and, when indicated, should use a larger proportion of their research funds in accordance with the intent of the policy. The means for attaining this objective will be determined by each department and agency. In carrying out the policy, the various Federal agencies supporting research at a university should act in concert to a greater degree in making decisions, so as to make the university better able to meet the collective needs of the agencies and to make the Federal support most effective in strengthening the university.

My Special Assistant for Science and Technology, Dr. Donald Hornig, with the help of the Federal Council for Science and Technology will follow the response of the departments and agencies to this policy. I have asked him to obtain monthly progress reports and submit them to me.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON.

Senator HARRIS. We also have before this subcommitee Senate Resolution 110, by Senators Curtis and Hruska, which provides that the National Science Foundation, following the passage of such resolution, would formulate and transmit to the Congress recommendations for changes in the laws and the administration of laws having to do with research and development, to provide for more equitable distri

bution of such funds to qualified institutions of higher learning throughout the States.

The resolution says:

To avoid the concentration of such activities in any geographical area and to insure a continuing reservoir of scientific and teaching skills and capacities throughout the several States.

Without objection, the text of the resolution will be included in the record at this point in my opening remarks.

(The resolution above-referred to, follows:)

[S. Res. 110, 90th Cong., first sess.]

RESOLUTION

Resolved, That the National Science Foundation is requested to formulate and transmit to the Congress at the earliest practicable date its recommendations for such changes in

(1) the laws under which research and development funds are granted, loaned, or otherwise made available by departments or agencies of the Government to institutions of higher learning for scientific or educational purposes; or

(2) the administration of such laws; as may be necessary and desirable to provide for a more equitable distribution of such funds to all qualified institutions of higher learning to avoid the concentration of such activities in any geographical area and to insure a continuing reservoir of scientific and teaching skills and capacities throughout the several States.

Senator HARRIS. The subcommittee last year invited a number of witnesses from Government agencies and the so-called have-not universities to testify in order to find out how the President's directive was being implemented. We learned that up to that time, not much had been done.

Most of the Government agencies testified that they needed additional money to institute special programs to build research capability in the have-not areas. Since that time, some agencies have responded further, though in a nominal way.

Testimony at those hearings also disclosed that small colleges and universities in certain areas of the country still suffer from what has become known as the "brain drain", since the big universities, with extensive research contracts and grants, frequently are able to hire away their top people.

During the hearings this year, which begin today and continue throughout the month of May and July, the subcommittee will take a close look at present policies for distributing these research funds to higher education, and the private sector. We will examine all proposals and see if a workable system can be devised to effect a more equitable distribution while while maintaining existing centers of excellence.

The research and development expenditures of the Federal Government total roughly $16 billion annually. The subcommittee will in this regard, also examine the economic impact of science and technology on regional economic development.

The goal of these hearings, therefore, is to devise means, by which the building of additional centers of research and educational excellence may be accomplished and accelerated and a more balanced regional economic growth may be achieved throughout the country.

Senator Curtis had expected to be here this morning, but unfortunately, he is unable to do so.

Therefore, without objection, we will place in the record the statement which he has prepared, and which he may desire to actually deliver in person at a later date in these hearings.

STATEMENT OF HON. CARL T. CURTIS, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NEBRASKA

Senator CURTIS. During the last session of the Congress this committee afforded hearings on my resolution seeking to insure a more equitable distribution of research funds supplied by the Federal Government. The resolution was reintroduced on April 18, 1967, and I am deeply gratified that it has been set for further hearings.

I did not seek the wide cosponsorship which was given this resolution a year ago because the hearings last year established the deep interest of the Senate in its subject matter. A review of the record of last year's hearings would find me remiss were I to fail to express my high esteem for the chairman of this committee and to applaud the thorough and incisive manner in which he went to the heart of this problem. Its solution has never been believed to be an easy one but I know the hearings today show the full determination of the chairman and this committee to find that solution.

The enormity of this committee's problem can best be attested to by the growth of research and development funds spent by the Federal Government. Just 27 years ago, 1940, the total research and development expenditures of the Federal Government were $74 million. By 1949 this amount exceeded $1 billion for the first peacetime year. By 1959 this amount grew to $5.8 billion, and the estimate for 1966 was $15.4 billion. If the proportionate increase continues upward we can only guess its increased impact on concentration of academic and other research skills. And it is interesting to note that the concentration of federally supplied funds almost matches, with but one notable exception, the concentration of research funds spent by the Nation's 50 largest corporations.

The record is clear that, of the $15.4 billion R. & D. cited for fiscal year 1966, a little more than $1 billion actually goes to higher education which is, of course, the target of my resolution. However, it is not possible to avoid the interrelation between academic grants, other Federal R. & D. expenditures, and the private corporation expenditures in this total picture. No study of expenditures in the academic area can ignore a proper weighting of these other factors.

A review of the testimony last year of Dr. Leland J. Haworth, National Science Foundation, and of Dr. Donald F. Hornig, Office of Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President, points out clearly the complexity of the problem which this committee has engaged. I submit unreservedly that we cannot transform the issuance of R. & D. funds into a grant-in-aid program to be disbursed on a geographical or per capita basis. I know that excellence in the sciences became the basis for the evolution of a pattern. I recognize that, comparing pre-World War II with post-World War II finds some dispersal, some widening away from the earlier posture. But it has not accelerated in a manner that relieves the Congress of its present re

« PreviousContinue »