DALLAS, June 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. educator said Tuesday in Dallas the United States must make a stronger commitment to basic research to stay ahead of growing global competition.
Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, told a forum that the war on terror, the uneven economy, and the federal budget deficit "have weakened government resolve to invest in basic research."
Jackson warned that a "perfect storm" is building in the U.S. research because scientists are aging, U.S. students are not interested, and Asian nations are producing more graduates.
"To arrest the perfect storm we need a full fledged national commitment to invest in basic research, in science and engineering," she said.
Jackson said an untapped source of new U.S. talent resides in minorities and young women. She said 80 percent of today's scientists and engineers are white and 75 percent are men.
Federal funding of research and development has declined an average of 2.5 percent a year since its peak in 1965, according to figures presented at the forum organized by the Woodrow Wilson International Center of Scholars, a non-partisan think tank.
