Government policies and the cost of doing research

The changes in the political economy of science are the natural outcome of two trends: science itself has become a more capital-intensive activity at the same time that federal support for research programs has slowed its growth. The results of the accumulating shortfall in the capital base for university research--increased seeking of support from private industry, efforts to circumvent peer review and competitive allocation, and a falling-out between institutions and investigators over how to divide up available resources--threaten to unravel what has been an extraordinary way of doing science.     

Industrial support of university research in biotechnology

A 1984 study of biotechnology companies reveals that nearly one-half of all such firms fund research in universities. Industry may support as much as one-quarter of all biotechnology research in institutions of higher education. These investments seem to be yielding substantial benefits to involved firms. Per dollar invested, university research is generating more patent applications than is other company research. Research relationships do pose some risks to traditional university values such as openness of communication among scholars. These risks may be greater in relationships involving small firms. The data also reveal that government is now, and seems likely to remain, the principal source of support for university research in biotechnology.     

当代大学生价值观变化原因及对策研究

当今时代，大学生的价值观从总体上讲是积极、向上的，但仍存在许多问题，其价值观发生了一系列的变化。这是由多方面因素造成的。解决大学生价值观变化问题，需要凝聚学校、社会的合力，一要营造良好的社会育入环境，二要高校积极教育、引导大学生形成正确的价值观。     

Department of defense R & d in the university

The DOD carefully evaluates its technical needs and executes programs of sponsored research and development to fulfill them. Thus, while individual projects proceed in accordance with established scientific principles of objectivity, the overall system of DOD funding allows the military to influence the development of science technology. Many have argued that this system of contracts and grants has well served science and the universities. One cannot deny that the influx of money led to rapid progress in selected scientific fields and increased scientific institutions' affluence. With this fact we have no quarrel. However, these same people often continue to argue that the systems of federal funding for science, specifically DOD funding of science, follows merely on the work's scientific merit, not on how it fits any larger scheme. They continue, that, since DOD supports good science for its own sake, the combination of military money and universities strongly encouraging faculty to seek that money encourages healthy competition for faster scientific progress. The DOD's approval process is seen to follow from the scientist up, with the military deciding which proposals for research have the most intrinsic (scientific) merit, then after the fact, thinking up a military justification for congressional budget requests. It is this latter belief with which we take issue. The DOD considers the scientific worth of the proposals for research it receives, but only after it has determined that the proposal fulfills a specific military need. This fact and its implications for the university as an institution charged with protecting the process by which man discovers new knowledge have been ignored in the debates over DOD sponsored research and development in universities. In addition, the Nixon Administration's efforts to tighten management controls over civilian research, especially in the biomedical and energy areas, promises to further undermine the university's role as an institution charged with fostering a search for truth free from bias in both methodology and subject selection.     

The university, industry, and cooperative research

Yale University intends to issue a statement of policy governing the nature and extent of university and faculty involvement in the commercial application of scientific research. This policy will be based on the university's principles of openness and free dissemination of ideas, and will recognize the need of profit-oriented companies to treat knowledge as private property. The university will continue to allow relationships between faculty members and commercial companies, even in arrangements involving university-based results, but a faculty member who goes beyond any reasonable definition of "consulting" may be asked to take an unpaid leave of absence or to sever his or her ties with the university. While a university should not ignore the potential availability of funds from commercial sponsors, neither should it be driven to arrangements that are not compatible with the norms and mission of the university.     

当代大学生核心价值观培养路径探讨

当代大学生核心价值观的培育,需要深入分析目前价值观教育面临的主要问题,即学生主体地位被忽视,教学内容与形式的冲突,浮躁的学习风气,传统文化教育的不足,价值标准与现实的矛盾冲突等,然后开展针对性培育。     

University-industry research relationships in biotechnology: implications for the university

The growth of university-industry research relationships in biotechnology has raised questions concerning their effects, both positive and negative, on universities. A survey of over 1200 faculty members at 40 major universities in the United States reveals that biotechnology researchers with industrial support publish at higher rates, patent more frequently, participate in more administrative and professional activities and earn more than colleagues without such support. At the same time, faculty with industry funds are much more likely than other biotechnology faculty to report that their research has resulted in trade secrets and that commercial considerations have influenced their choice of research projects. Although the data do not establish a causal connection between industrial support and these faculty behaviors, our findings strongly suggest that university-industry research relationships have both benefits and risks for academic institutions. The challenge for universities is to find ways to manage these relationships that will preserve the benefits while minimizing the risks.     

角色理论视角下高校科研项目过程质量监管新机制研究

针对我国高校中存在的科研成果转化率较低,项目质量参差不齐等问题,就如何确保高校科研项目质量进行了研究。在继承前人的高校科研项目管理基础上,借鉴了美国环保署项目的监管手段方法,基于高校科研管理部门、科研人员本身及科研项目主管部门3个主体,提出了高校科研部门如何注重培育高校科研氛围、项目科研人员如何确保数据质量、科研管理部...     

Federal funding of basic research: the red tape mill

Federal regulations and concerns about accountability for public funds have added greatly to the administrative burden associated with federal support of research at universities. Much of the added burden is viewed as unnecessary and counterproductive by the scientists and administrators who must bear the load. They feel that funds and effort intended for research are being diverted and wasted. The various types of costs are reviewed, including some thoughts as to their origin and estimates of their magnitude. Topics covered include project versus programmatic support, the indirect cost game, accountability, federal regulations, and the bureaucratic syndrome. There are no simple solutions, but several promising initiatives have been taken and more should be forthcoming.     

Four years of reagan science policy: notable shifts in priorities

Administration priorities for federal support of nondefense research and development emphasize basic research and the concomitant training of students. In 4 years basic research has moved from the smallest to the largest component in nondefense R & D expenditures, and basic research specifically to universities has grown by 26 percent in real terms during that period. New programs for fiscal year 1985 emphasize engineering education and research, as well as improved interactions between universities, federal laboratories, and industry.     

How Much Research?: The educational aspect is crucial in justifying further growth in research

In conclusion, I believe the components which I have discussed constitute an outline of a sound program for federal support of science in universities, which provides first, a basic minimum of funding proportional to the growth of the research student population, and second, a pattern of grants based upon justified need and individual merit for more costly instruments, post-doctoral appointments, and other factors that allow our best scientists to be more productive. In addition, there is, of course, the array of major national facilities and programs, each judged individually, in fields requiring very costly equipment.     

Undergraduate research, graduate mentoring, and the university's mission

Undergraduate research and graduate mentoring have received a great deal of attention in recent times. What do these activities have in common? They both speak to the primary mission of the research university, which is not merely carrying out research but training students to do research. The knowledge-based global economy, with its wealth of information and opportunities, has increased undergraduate students' need for research skills as well as graduate students' desire for personal guidance. As the research university matures, the boundaries between graduate and undergraduate education are blurring. Indeed, if we focus on the learning process, we find not two but five levels of learning at the research university: lower division, upper division, master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral. All five levels form a continuum, a series of gradual steps. The mission of the university is to introduce students to research, to inspire in them a passion for discovery at each of these levels.     

Federal R & d and industrial policy

Long-term U.S. economic growth requires better use of R & D resources and closer interaction of the academic, government, and industrial research communities. The federal government has proposed to increase support for university research as a key means of addressing national needs for new knowledge in fields important to industrial development and for training of technical personnel. But continuing growth in support for basic research depends on how well the science community can agree on what research investments will have the greatest impact in producing new knowledge.     

Natural philosophy in the constitution

The natural philosophers who wrote the U.S. social contract held the advancement of science to be the supreme exercise of citizen sovereignty. The rising nation, in the late 19th century, established the seat of that sovereignty in its universities. Today those institutions have come to be regarded as contract research centers at the service of the federal government. Research contracts in support of the proposed Strategic Defense Initiative are pressed on them against the consensus of the scientific community that holds this "Star Wars" enterprise to be technically infeasible. The time has come to reconstruct the relation between the federal government and university science in the spirit of our social contract.     

大学生校园暴力问题的心理诱因

由于社会的发展变化及不良生活方式与价值观对大学生的侵蚀,如今大学校园内的暴力行为对校园和社会构成了很大威胁,已逐渐成为一个全球高度关注的社会问题。大学校园暴力看似一种个别的、简单的社会现象,其实具有复杂的社会心理背景。要解决这个问题,必须家庭、学校、社会等方面的共同配合。大学生的暴力问题与自身的年龄、身心发育特征有着密切的关联。为有效遏制和预防大学生暴力行为和暴力犯罪,必须分析其根源,以便从源头上防治。     

Federal funding in materials research

The performance of the 20 materials research laboratories (MRL's) at universities funded with institutional grants by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration is evaluated in comparison with 15 other universities (non-MRL's) receiving individually funded projects for materials research. Performance is measured by peer review and citation frequency analysis of publications, subjective evaluation of research achievements and researcher reputation by a panel of experts, review of equipment purchases and utilization, and analysis of administrative costs. The study concludes that there are no significant differences between the MRL's and non-MRL's with respect to innovation, interdisciplinarity, utilization of specialized equipment, concentration of funding, rate of tumover, duration of research areas, and level of effort per research paper. The MRL's have a greater number of major achievements and attract researchers with higher reputations. The MRL's tend to emphasize experimental work, and in about 70 percent of the materials research areas sponsored by the National Science Foundation there is no overlap between the two groups. Institutional grants involve much less total (federal plus university) administrative cost per grant dollar than project grants.     

Federal support of research in the life sciences

Federal support of contract and grant research in the life sciences continued to grow during the period 1952-55 and showed an increase of 28 percent between the years 1954 and 1955. The basic biological science component (Table 2) increased from $18 to $26 million between 1952 and 1954 and to $30 million in 1955. Although a greater dollar amount is now available for basic research in the life sciences, the amount available in 1955 was proportionately a smaller part of the total than was the amount available in 1954. In 1955, $52 million was expended for activities which were not categorized as basic research. The needs and motivations of the major granting federal agencies are, and continue to be, primarily problem-and program-oriented.     

研究型大学农科师资队伍建设的对策与措施

基于对研究型大学农科师资队伍现状的分析,以上海交通大学农业与生物学院为例,就提高农科师资队伍的水平提出相应的对策与措施。     

An industry picture of u.s. Science policy

With regard to promoting the competitiveness of U.S. industry, federal science policy is performing unevenly. Federally supported basic research is not well aligned with industrial needs, although the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Centers and similar programs are improving matters. Large-scale federal undertakings in science and technology, such as the Apollo program and now the Strategic Defense Initiative, actually tend to divert resources away from commercial research and development. Needed are federal and industrial leaders who will work together to serve the interests of both competitive industry and efficient government in the United States.     

Science and the university

The federal government-university relationship in scientific research has been eroded by excessive, unthinking regulations for the purposes of accountability. The Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-21 continues to jeopardize the quality of government-sponsored research in universities by demanding wasteful, meaningless work-load documentation. These regulatory demands must be revised to reflect the realistic obligations of accountability by a leadership capable of transcending special interests. Mutual respect between government and universities must be restored to achieve a partnership that helps better the national life while also protecting the integrity of the scientific faculty and its mission.