Ed.—This post is excerpted from Dr. Whitacre's annual presentation, this year delivered on Nov. 6 and titled, "One University: Many Connections – The current state of research at The Ohio State University." While much of the presentation focused on Ohio State achievements and challenges, the preface provided us with a fairly universal set of concerns and perspectives. For other posts similar to this one, follow the research tag.
The grand challenges we face in the 21st century are monumental. As the mobility of humans, animals, food and products increases across borders, so does the threat of the spread of dangerous pathogens and infectious diseases. Cardiovascular disease, once confined primarily to industrialized nations, has emerged as a major health threat in developing countries. An estimated 32.4 million people were temporarily displaced by climate-related disasters in 2012. Extreme poverty and social inequality continue to leave entire communities in a devastating state of vulnerability and need. With the number of people aged 65 and over expected to increase from 390 to 800 million by 2025, demographic shifts will put massive strains on global resources and institutions. And the list goes on. Solving these important national and global problems will require creative new approaches in science and technology.
But responding to these 21st century challenges will prove even more difficult in light of the economic realities facing the nation and the world. The fiscal climate that currently envelops this country will undoubtedly have serious ramifications for the path we take and how we conduct research far into the future.
Following strong growth in the 60s, the U.S. research and development (R&D) budget has been flat or declining since 1964. This overall decline is compromising our nation’s ability to capitalize on scientific opportunity, and it comes at a time when other nations are ramping up investments in research to fuel their own global competitiveness. The U.S. is losing ground to countries like China, South Korea and Japan, who are all experiencing rapid R&D growth.
Last spring, lawmakers could not agree on how to reduce the federal deficit over the next 10 years. The Budget Control Act of 2011 established sequestration as a mechanism to levy automatic, across-the-board cuts to federal spending beginning in 2013 and lasting through 2021. As a result, more than $12 billion in federally funded research was cut this year, and $95 billion will be cut over the next nine years.
Federally funded R&D – particularly basic research – plays a huge role in boosting economic growth in the U.S. Cuts imposed by sequestration will have an exponential impact on future job creation and economic development.
Budgets at all federal agencies have been cut: NIH by 5.5 percent, NSF by 2.1 percent, and DOE by 5.0 percent. These cuts impact not only future work, but also threaten the momentum of previous investments. For example, NIH will not be funding 640 grants, scoring in the top 17 percent of all proposals received. One hundred fifty of these grants are from scientists who were financed in a previous budget period and were trying to secure additional funding to continue their research. The overall effect of these reductions on research activity will be significant. But the further impact of these cuts on regional economies will be even more significant.
Vendors span the entire country. Specifically, eight Big 10 universities, including Ohio State, spent more than $866 million in the first two quarters of FY 13 on the purchase of scientific equipment and supplies from vendors. With sequestration, cuts to R&D spending will severely impact these companies.
At a time when funding is already tight and competition is fierce among researchers for available funds, universities must brace for potentially even deeper cuts.
Thus far, the full impact of these reductions has not set in. At Ohio State, we have seen a 7.2 percent decrease in federal funds. This is due not only to sequestration, but also to the general shrinking of the federal R&D budget that preceded it. These cuts in basic science funding will be increasingly evident if sequestration continues.
Such an abrupt reduction in funding will curtail the advancement of critical research that could lead to new breakthroughs in medicine, national security, agriculture or environmental science. The career development of young researchers will be hindered. And our ability to find solutions to the most pressing global challenges will be severely limited. Cutting basic science funding will be detrimental to our future.
Just last month, we witnessed the continuing budget duel that led to a partial shutdown of the federal government. The 16-day shutdown and near default on government obligations came with a high economic cost. Budget talks are continuing in Washington. We do not know if lawmakers will reach a deal that will replace sequestration cuts in 2014, or if their gridlock will trigger another shutdown in January. The only certainty is – if negotiations fail, the next round of across-the-board cuts will hit automatically and will be even deeper than the first.
So how do we keep the research enterprise moving forward in this current climate of uncertainty?
First, we will need to look beyond the federal agencies for alternative funding sources to fuel our research endeavors – alternatives like private foundations, philanthropy and crowd funding. Working with advancement offices, we must identify areas of research that foundations and individual philanthropists might be interested in putting their names on. Crowd funding, the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money via the Internet, is increasingly being used to support scientific research as well. We need to think beyond federal funding and make new connections.
Second, we need to identify and capitalize on the strengths that set Ohio State apart from other research institutions. We must make connections that cross disciplines and colleges, institutions, regions, nations and the globe. We must forge links with industry and with our communities. We must find new ways to collaborate and keep pace with game changing technologies. And we must look to our bright and talented students to make connections that will lead us into the future and keep the nation globally competitive.
Collaboration and partnerships are the watchwords for the future, and through these, solutions to our greatest challenges will surely be found. The future is about making and building connections, actively maintaining them, and giving back as much as we receive.
