Research Universities and the Future of America Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation's Prosperity and Security (2012) / Chapter Skim
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3 America's Research Universities
3 America's Research Universities
Pages 37-54
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From page 37... ...
The structure and power of the nation's science and engineering enterprise changed dramatically during World War II. Critical to the war effort, a federal-university partnership created by President Franklin Roosevelt and led by Vannevar Bush led to significant uses of scientific and technological breakthroughs in the war -- including radar, the proximity fuse, penicillin, DDT, the computer, jet propulsion, and the atomic 37
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From page 38... ...
The model was harnessed to both civilian and military goals in the post–World War II era. Bush proposed, in Science: The Endless Frontier, a new partnership to achieve economic growth, national security, and the public health.
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From page 39... ...
There are another 60 or so that educate undergraduate and graduate students and conduct research, but have a more limited set of fields in which they seek to excel in either doctoral education or research.4 The ecosystem also includes our national laboratories that provide a unique capacity for large-scale, sustained research projects that would be inappropriate for universities, such as the deep space missions of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Yet it is important to note that most of these large laboratory projects involved both university faculty and graduate students as key players.
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From page 40... ...
American research universities from their counterparts around the world and the ecosystem they participate in may also be distinguished from its counterparts. The traditional European model of higher education emphasizes centralized planning, state control, state funding, little com
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From page 41... ...
Hugh Graham and Nancy Diamond note that higher education grew substantially in the post–World War II era because of growing economic prosperity, the baby boom, and revolution in federal science policy. The last of these more specifically drove the expansion of the nation's research universities.
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From page 42... ...
Afterwards, there was a great intellectual migration out of Germany, mainly to the United States. Consequently, as Cole relates, "Today, there is not one German university in the world's top 50." Meanwhile, since the 1930s, roughly 60 percent of Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scholars at American institutions.10 • International students: American higher education represents one of the few sectors of the U.S.
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From page 43... ...
institutions. For example, as shown in Box 3-2, the most recent Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
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New York University Source: Academic Rankings of World Universities, 2010. Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
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From page 45... ...
It can also be seen in, as shown in Box 3-3, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Science, Technology, and Industry Scoreboard 2011, which demonstrates that, "as measured by normalised citations to academic publications across all disciplines, 40 of the world top 50 universities are located in the United States, with some U.S. universities excelling in a wide range of disciplines."13 Our preeminence can be seen not just in these indicators, but in the 11 Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Academic Rankings of World Universities–2010.
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From page 46... ...
Leaders in nations around the world are reshaping their universities to compete with ours by emulating them and our system. For example, in the Bologna Process, the Council of Europe in conjunction with the European Commission is reforming European higher education, including doctoral education, across 47 countries.
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From page 47... ...
14 Second, reports of specific institutions have demonstrated their significant economic impact locally, regionally, and nationally, as talented graduates of these institutions have created and populated many new businesses that go on to employ millions of Americans. For example, Jonathan Cole notes: Stanford University reports, for example, that faculty members, stu dents, and alumni have founded more than 2,400 companies -- and a 14 See http://www.ehea.info/ (accessed September 16, 2011)
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From page 48... ...
Third, examples of specific products and companies demonstrate the economic and social impact and penetration of the results of university education and research. For example, Jonathan Cole summarized many of the examples in his book as follows: The laser, magnetic-resonance imaging, FM radio, the algorithm for Google searches, global-positioning systems, DNA fingerprinting, fetal monitoring, bar codes, transistors, improved weather forecasting, main frame computers, scientific cattle breeding, advanced methods of survey ing public opinion, even Viagra had their origins in America's research universities.
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From page 49... ...
. "Such discoveries, he writes, "have provided industry with the material needed for the growth of new, high-technology businesses -- and universities have trained most of the highly skilled work force that populates our major industrial laboratories."17 To add to Cole's list, the National Science Foundation and the Science Coalition have also catalogued how federal funding for research, and in particular, for research performed in universities, has led to important products, companies, and jobs.
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From page 50... ...
These challenges all share a human element, which makes them resistant to untested interventions or technological solutions, and makes evidencebased policy making difficult. After a half-century of progress, however, the SBE sciences can offer more rigorous, evidence-based strategies to address this human element.19 19 National Science and Technology Council, Subcommittee on Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research in the Federal Context, January 2009.
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From page 51... ...
Source: The Science Coalition, Sparking Economic Growth: How federally funded university research creates innovation, new companies, and jobs, April 2010. See www.sciencecoalition.
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From page 52... ...
Among its recom mendations, PCAST included action that social science researchers could take to improve the adoption of energy technology: A Multidisciplinary Social Science Research Program DOE's energy mission is to support basic and "use-inspired" research, but in fact it devotes little time or investment to understanding how energy technologies ultimately succeed in the marketplace. DOE needs to "close the innovation cycle" through support of a significant new multidisciplinary program into the processes of energy innovation.
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From page 53... ...
Other disciplines, such as history and international case studies, can also deliver important lessons. -- Excerpted from President's Council of Advisors on Science and Tech nology, Report to the President on Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy, November 2010.
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