Funding a Revolution Government Support for Computing Research (1999) / Chapter Skim
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3 Federal Support for Research Infrastructure
3 Federal Support for Research Infrastructure
Pages 52-84
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This chapter explores the federal government's contributions to the research infrastructure, examining the government's support for research, human resources, and research equipment. Although computing technology draws on research in a number of academic disciplines from computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, materials science and engineering, and cognitive science and psychology this chapter ex 52
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Research in electrical engineering includes work in communications, semiconductor technology, and electronic circuits, which is relevant to computing, as well as work in electric power, which is not.2 Data on research funding is categorized according to the National Science Foundation's definitions of basic research, applied research, and development uses. Although the distinctions among these categories are increasingly difficult to make in the computing industry, they reflect the manner in which federal statistics are currently collected (see Chapter 1~.3 FEDERAL RESEARCH FUNDING4 Levels of Federal Support Since the end of World War II, the federal government has been a strong supporter of computing research.
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Several other fields, such as biology and physics, have historically maintained higher levels of federal investment than computer science and electrical engineering, although growth in physics research funding slowed after the mid-1980s (Figure 3.3~.
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has long been the largest funder of computing and communications research. Early funding 1,200 1 ,000 800 co o a)
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Between 1976 and 1995, DOD provided some 60 percent of total federal research funding in computer science and over 75 percent of total research funding in electrical engineering (Figures 3.4, 3.5~.
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FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTUR 1 ,000 900 800 ,` 700 a, to 400 o ~ 300 600 500 200 100 o E 121 Others 1~1 NASA [] DOE · NSF [1 DOD 1 _ ~ ~ ~ , l l i 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 Fiscal Year 57 FIGURE 3.4 Federal funding for research in computer science by agency, 1976-1995.
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In contrast to DOD, NSF has concentrated its efforts on funding basic and university research in computer science, for which its research expenditures have generally equaled or exceeded those of DOD (Figure 3.6~.6 With the exception of a 4-year period between 1983 and 1987, NSF has provided between 40 and 45 percent of all basic research funding in computer science, and it has consistently provided about 40 percent of university research funding in computer science. In electrical engineering, NSF contributed just under 30 percent of the funding for basic research and 30 to 40 percent of the funding for university research, but it lagged behind DOD by a wide margin (Figure 3.7~.
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Comparisons to Industrial Research Funding Federal funding has supported a substantial fraction of all research conducted in computing. In 1950, government funding for research and development dominated the computer world: it exceeded all industrial R&D spending on computing by a factor of three.
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104-105~. Direct comparisons between federal and industrial research funding are hard to make because of differences in the way data are collected from federal and industry sources.7 Nevertheless, a rough estimate of the federal share can be made by comparing federal funding for research in computer science to company funding for research in the office, computing, and accounting machinery industry.8 This comparison shows that federal funding constituted roughly one-third of total computer-related research funding in the late 1970s (Figure 3.8~.
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While the share of the computer industry's total R&D funds coming from government sources declined dramatically between 1975 and 1979, the share of the industry's research funding coming from the federal government remained high, declining only from 47 percent to 37 percent (Table 3.1~. Flamm estimates that federal funding accounted for 40 percent of total computer industry research funding through the mid-1980s (Flamm, 1987, p.104, Table 4-5~.
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Federal 1965 1,912 66425 49 1970a~b 2,578 54522 41 975b 2,385 44569 27 1979c 3,635 44787 19 1985 9,397 451,674 30 1990 5,928 401,321 51 NOTE: Funding levels indicate total support for R&D and research conducted by industry; expenditures for research conducted by universities are excluded. aIncludes funding for electronic components, which had $330 million in R&D funding in 1972.
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In the United States, graduate education is tightly connected with university research, and university research budgets are an important driving force for graduate enrollment. The federal government has played an important role by supporting university research in computing and communications, which has directly and indirectly supported the
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Electrical engineering also experienced significant growth, expanding at an average annual rate of 4 percent, from 11,000 to 27,000 during this period, while the total number of bachelor's degrees awarded in all academic fields rose at a 1 percent annual rate. Between 1987 and 1995, the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in both these fields declined precipitously, reflecting changing student preferences and shifts in the job market, as well as attempts by some universities to relieve the burden on electrical engineering and computer science departments by shifting students to other academic departments.~4 By 1995, the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in computer science and electrical engineering had declined to 25,000 and 18,000, respectively, although the decline showed evidence of leveling off.
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The Taulbee surveys show that the percentage of Ph.D. recipients in computer science who are nonresident aliens increased from
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1984 1987 1990 1993 20 percent in the early 1970s to 40 percent in the 1980s and l990s. In computer engineering the percentage reached as high as 64 percent.
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By 1997, U.S. industry was already seeing shortages of qualified information technology personnel to fill job market vacancies, raising questions about the need for policies to expand the proportion of the labor force entrants who possess computing and related skills.
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As early as the 1960s, federal agencies conducted or sponsored studies that identified human resource issues as matters of national concern.~7 Federal agencies have provided a number of fellowships for graduate students in computer science, and NSF has worked to develop curricula for university programs. But the most important contribution has come indirectly through federal support of university research.
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FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTUR 400 350 in o Lr)
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Of graduate students in U.S. computer science and electrical engineering departments supported by federal funds (i.e., research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and fellowships)
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top computer science departments, federal funding plays an even greater role (Figure 3.16~. Between 1985 and 1995, approximately 56 percent of the graduate students in computer science and electrical engineering departments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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In electrical engineering, research equipment expenditures doubled during this same period to $68 million. The federal government's support for financing the purchase of computing equipment by universities has taken a variety of forms, ranging from funding for general computing resources for universities, to financing of research-grant-related equipment in computer science departments, to establishing large supercomputer centers.
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Other agencies also supported computing facilities on campuses during the 1960s. In fact, virtually all government-funded computer research included significant monies for equipment; one study estimated that in 1963 federal agencies were supplying about half the support for campus computing in the country.
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In electrical engineering, the share of equipment funds coming from the federal government declined from its 75 percent level in 1982, but remained at 60 percent in 1995 (Figure 3.18~. Many government agencies provided funds for equipment in research contracts with universities, but NSF established two programs specifically designed to provide infrastructure for computer science departments: the Computer Research Equipment (CRE)
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The CER, started in 1981, was a response to growing concerns that computer science departments were not producing enough Ph.D.s in part because they lacked funds to pursue large-scale experimental computer research (NSF, 1981a)
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and Division of Computer Research (1984-1985) 1977 1.65 15.79 1978 1.55 16.63 1979 1.66 16.77 1980 1.97 18.17 1981 1.02 5.69 3.7722.12 1982 1.21 8.55 7.1025.59 1983 1.20 11.19 9.5233.88 1984 1.39 13.50 12.7433.79 1985 1.46 14.99 14.7638.59 TOTAL 13.11 53.92 47.89221.33 aExperimental Computer Research was the predominant source of infrastructure support within the Coordinated Experimental Research Program.
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As such, the supercomputer sites brought together academic and industry researchers to work on problems of mutual benefit and filled a much-needed gap for computing resources. In doing so, the centers generated scientific and technical benefits as well as economic ones.
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The connections program provided 2 years of financial support, after which participants were expected to assume financial responsibility. Under the federal government's National Research and Education Network program, different federal agencies, including NSF, NASA, DOE, DARPA, and the National Library of Medicine, launched or expanded separate, interconnected networking efforts that served specific communities.
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companies, the majority of the papers cited by these patents were written by university or government researchers (Table 3.7~. Moreover, of the papers for which funding information is available, 51 percent acknowledged funding from the federal government, whereas 37 percent acknowledged industry funding.
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CONCLUSION As this chapter demonstrates, the federal government has played an important role in helping to create the research infrastructure needed to support the nation's computing industry. The federal government became the primary source of funding for university research in computer science and electrical engineering and for research equipment in these disciplines.
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It does not include communications service providers, such as telephone companies, radio and television broadcasting stations, and cable television companies, which are separately classified under SIC code 48. Historical data on R&D ex
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11. The electronic components industry includes integrated circuits as well as discrete components, such as transistors, diodes, resistors, and capacitors.
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These are the the National Computational Science Alliance, which is anchored by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, anchored by the San Diego Supercomputing Center in California.
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