Obama Pledges Record Spending on Science Research
April 27, 2009

President Barack Obama spoke to members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) during the Academy’s 146th annual meeting. In his address, Obama pledged to to increase U.S. public and private spending on science research and development to historic levels.

"I'm here today to set this goal: We will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and development." He added, "We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science."

Obama became the first president since John F. Kennedy to address NAS during his first year in office, and referenced Kennedy and his call for a massive increase in research funding.

In addition to promising increased funding for science research, Obama also announced the formation of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST), a group that will advise the president on numerous public policies.

"This council represents leaders from many scientific disciplines who will bring a diversity of experiences and views," Obama said. "I will charge PCAST with advising me about national strategies to nurture and sustain a culture of scientific innovation."

The council will be co-chaired by John Holdren, the President's Science Advisor, Eric Lander, Director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Harold Varmus, former head of the National Institutes of Health and a Nobel laureate.

Other council members include:

• Rosina Bierbaum, Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.

• Christine Cassel, President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

• Christopher Chyba, Professor of astrophysical sciences and international affairs at Princeton University and a member of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Sciences.

• S. James Gates Jr., Professor of physics and Director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland.

• Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and former Chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

• Richard Levin, President of Yale University and an economist with expertise in the area of international organizations.

• Chad Mirkin, Professor of materials science and engineering, chemistry, and medicine at Northwestern University, as well as Director of Northwestern's International Institute of Nanotechnology.

• Mario Molina, Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego, and the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, as well as the Director of the Mario Molina Center for Energy and Environment in Mexico City.

• Ernest Moniz, Professor of physics and engineering systems, Director of the Energy Initiative, and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at MIT. Moniz is former Under Secretary of DOE and Associate Director for science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

• Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer at Microsoft Corp.

• William Press, Professor of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

• Maxine Savitz, retired General Manager of Technology Partnerships at Honeywell Inc. and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for conservation in the Department of Energy.

• Barbara Schaal, Professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, with an expertise in plant genetics. Schaal serves as vice president of the National Academy of Sciences, the first woman ever elected to that role.

• Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google Inc. and a member of Apple Inc.'s board of directors.

• Daniel Schrag, Professor of geology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University and Professor of environmental science and engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is Director of the Harvard University's Center for Environment.

• David Shaw, Chief Scientist of D.E. Shaw Research LLC and founder of D.E. Shaw & Co., a hedge fund company. He is a former member of PCAST under President Bill Clinton and a member of the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness, where he co-chairs the steering committee for the council's federally funded High-Performance Computing Initiative.

• Ahmed Zewail, Professor of chemistry and physics at Caltech and Director of the Physical Biology Center.
  

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