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3 How Is America Doing Now in Science and Technology?
Pages 68-106

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From page 68...
... In the latest IMD International World Competitiveness Yearbook, the United States ranks first in economic competitiveness, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore.1 The survey compares economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure. Larger economies are further behind, with Zhejiang (China's wealthiest province)
From page 69...
... Fundamental Understanding? Pure Applied Research No (Edison)
From page 70...
... Research teams commonly include members from several nations, and industries have dispersed many activities, including research, across the globe. SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ADVANTAGE The strength of science and engineering in the United States rests on many advantages: the diversity, quality, and stability of its research and teaching institutions; the strong tradition of public and private investment in research and advanced education; the quality of academic personnel; the prevalence of English as the language of science and engineering; the availability of venture capital; a relatively open society in which talented people of any background or nationality have opportunities to succeed; the US custom, unmatched in other countries, of providing positions for postdoctoral scholars;8 and the strength of the US peer-review and free 4D.
From page 71...
... Central to the strength of US innovation is our tradition of public funding for science and engineering research. Graduate education in the United States is supported mainly by federal grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF)
From page 72...
... To position the European Union (EU) as the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world and enhance its attractiveness to researchers worldwide, EU leaders are urging that, by 2010, member nations spend 3% of gross domestic product (GDP)
From page 73...
... A27. R&D spending increased 140%, from $177 billion to $245 billion, in the same period.18 The rapid rise of South Korea as a major science and engineering power has been fueled by the establishment of the Korea Science Founda 18Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development.
From page 74...
... European Union totals are adjusted to account for duplications by removing papers with multiple EU national authorship to give an accurate net total.
From page 75...
... 100 Other Established Economies Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom 10 Fastest Growing Economies China, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan 1 1989 1992 1994 1998 2000 2002 2004 FIGURE 3-2 US patent applications, by country of applicant, 1989-2004. SOURCE: Task Force on the Future of American Innovation based on data from National Science Foundation.
From page 76...
... To attract the best graduate students from around the world, universities in Japan, Switzerland, and elsewhere are offering science and engineering courses in English. In the 1990s, both China and Japan increased the number of students pursuing science and engineering degrees, and there was steady growth in South Korea.20 Some consequences of this new global science and engineering activity are already apparent -- not only in manufacturing but also in services.
From page 77...
... SOURCE: Task Force on the Future of American Innovation based on data from US Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics, U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services.
From page 78...
... They came first from Europe, fleeing fascism, and more recently they have come from China, India, and the former Soviet Union, seeking better education and more economic opportunity. International students account for nearly half the US doctorates awarded in engineering and computer science28 (Figure 3-7)
From page 79...
... Many nations are seeking to reap the benefits of advanced education, including strong positive effects on GDP growth. They are working harder to attract international students and to encourage the movement of skilled personnel into their countries.30 • China implemented an "opening-up" policy in 1978 and began to send large numbers of students and scholars abroad to gain the skills they need to bolster that country's economic and social development.
From page 80...
... Survey of Earned Graduates. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, 2005.
From page 81...
... 81 HOW IS AMERICA DOING NOW IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY? Mathematics and Computer Sciences 2,500 Math and CS Total Doctorates Awarded 2,000 1,500 Math and CS 1,000 US Citizens and 500 Permanent 0 Residents 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 Life Sciences 9,000 Doctorates Awarded 8,000 Life Sciences Total 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 Life Sciences 3,000 US Citizens 2,000 and Permanent 1,000 Residents 0 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 Social Sciences 9,000 Social and 8,000 Behavioral Doctorates Awarded Sciences-Total 7,000 6,000 5,000 Social and 4,000 Behavioral 3,000 Sciences-US 2,000 Citizens and 1,000 Permanent Residents 0 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20
From page 82...
... In addition to sending students abroad for training, emerging economic powers, notably India and China, have lured their skilled scientists and engineers to return home by coupling education-abroad programs with strategic investments in the science and engineering infrastructure -- in essence sending students away to gain skills and providing jobs to draw them back.32 The global competition for talent was already under way when the events of September 11, 2001, disrupted US travel and immigration plans of many international graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and visiting scholars. The intervening years have seen security-related changes in federal visa and immigration policy that, although intended to restrict the illegal movements of only a few, have had a wider effect on many foreignborn graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who either were already in the United States or were contemplating studying here.
From page 83...
... US industry has traditionally excelled at innovation and at capitalizing on the results of research.35 For decades after World War II, corporate central research laboratories paid off in fledgling technologies that grew into products or techniques of profound consequence. Researchers at Bell Laboratories pursued lines of groundbreaking research that resulted in the transistor and the laser, which revolutionized the electronics industry and led to several Nobel prizes.36 34Ibid.,p.
From page 84...
... First, the Bell Laboratories model was supported by funding from a monopoly that now is dismantled and no longer relevant to the organization of science and engineering research in the United States. Second, Wall Street analysts increasingly focus on quarterly financial results and assign little value to long-term (and therefore risky)
From page 85...
... Appendix Tables B-2 and B-22. Available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf05308/secta.htm.
From page 86...
... Led by a resurgence in late-stage financing, total venture capital investment rose 10.5% to $20.9 billion in 2004, according to the MoneyTree Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics, and the National Venture 37National Science Board. Science and Engineering Indicators 2004.
From page 87...
... Venture capital funding is returning to pre-2000 levels. SOURCES: Thompson Venture Economics, special tabulations, June 2003.
From page 88...
... tax credit (Table 3-3) and the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
From page 89...
... The R&E credit is designed to stimulate company R&D over time by reducing after-tax costs. Companies that qualify may deduct or subtract from corporate income taxes an amount equal to 20% of qualified research expenses above a base amount.
From page 90...
... Data reflect disbursements funded publicly through federal SBIR and ATP and privately through US venture capital funds. SOURCE: National Science Board.
From page 91...
... FIGURE 3-11 Offshored services market size, in billions of dollars, 2003. NOTE: Offshored services market size includes Business Process Outsourcing and Information Technology, Captive and Outsourced.
From page 92...
... The DOE laboratories focus mainly on national security research, as at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, or more broadly on scientific and engineering research, as at Oak Ridge National Laboratory or Argonne National Laboratory. The national laboratories could potentially fill the gap left when the 50In contrast, there are approximately 14,000 industrial laboratories with about 1,000 that are considered to be substantive contributors to national innovation according to M
From page 93...
... NOTE: Life sciences -- split into NIH support for biomedical research and all other agencies' support for life sciences. SOURCE: American Association for the Advancement of Science analysis based on National Science Foundation.
From page 94...
... The nation faces several areas of challenge: K–12 student preparation in science and mathematics, limited undergraduate interest in science and engineering majors, significant student attrition among science and engineering undergraduate and graduate students, and science and engineering education that in some instances inadequately prepares students to work outside universities. K–12 Performance Education in science, mathematics, and technology has become a focus of intense concern within the business and academic communities.
From page 95...
... . About 30% of high school mathematics students and 60% of those enrolled in physical sciences have teachers who either did not major in the 53The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
From page 96...
... SOURCE: US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) , various years, 1990-2005 Mathematics Assessments.
From page 97...
... NOTE: Percentages within each science achievement-level range may not add to 100, or to the exact percentage at or above achievement levels, due to rounding. SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
From page 98...
... However, undergraduate programs in those disciplines report the lowest retention rates among all academic disciplines, and very few students transfer into these fields from others. Throughout the 1990s, fewer than half of undergraduate students who entered college intending to earn a science or engineering major completed a degree in one of those subjects.55 Undergraduates who opt out of those programs by switching majors are 54National Science Board.
From page 99...
... 2006. National Defense Education and Innovation Initiative based on data from Appendix Table 2-35 in National Science Board.
From page 100...
... SOURCE: National Science Board. Science and Engineering Indicators 2004.
From page 101...
... Appendix Table 2-23.
From page 102...
... Attrition is generally lower in the doctoral programs than among undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but doctoral programs in the sciences nonetheless report dropout rates from 24 to 67%, depending on the discipline.59 If the primary objective is to maintain excellence, a major challenge is to determine how to continue to attract the best international students and still encourage the best domestic students to enter the programs -- and to remain in them. Student interest in research careers is dampened by several factors.
From page 103...
... Increasingly, the new graduate students are US citizens or permanent residents -- 67% in 2003 compared with 60% in 200063 -- and their prospects seem good: In 2001, the share of top US citizen scorers on the Gradu 61NAS/NAE/IOM. Reshaping Graduate Education.
From page 104...
... Policy Implications of International Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2005.
From page 105...
... Both approaches could undermine the protections for fundamental research established in National Security Decision Directive 189 (NSDD-189) , the Reagan Administration's 1985 executive order declaring that publicly funded research, such as that conducted in universities and laboratories, should "to the maximum extent possible" be unrestricted.70 Where restriction is considered necessary, the control mechanism should be formal classification: "No restrictions may be placed upon the conduct or reporting of federally-funded fundamental research that has not received national security classification, except as provided in applicable U.S.
From page 106...
... • The GI Bill eased the return of World War II veterans to civilian life and established postsecondary education as the fuel for the postwar economy. • The Soviet space program spurred a national commitment to science education and research.


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