ADVANCE - Purdue and the Center for Faculty Success

Now that the elections are over, the next issue that needs to be resolved is the federal deficit.

As an expert in your field, you are in a unique position to influence this topic.

Science is one of the last frontiers of bipartisanship, both sides support federally funded research. While the federal budget for research in this country has been stagnating, we are now facing far more substantial cuts. This won't affect just next year's budget, which would put funding levels back where they were at the beginning of the millennium, but will impact the next decade of science as well.

This means scientific advances will be slowed, whether in biomedical research, clean energy, defense, as well as clean air and water, safe food and drugs, and the number of medical professionals being trained will be severely impacted. It also means far less money for grants for scientists and engineers currently in training, thus fewer jobs and fewer opportunities.

If you value federally funded research in this country for our economic and innovative competitiveness, we encourage you to take a few minutes out of your day to write a letter or email to your members of Congress. Tell them your story, what you do and why it's important. To help get you started, we have developed an Advocacy 101 tutorial. If you have further questions, need information, or have suggestions, please let me know.

Best regards,

~ Erin Cadwalader, Ph.D., Phoebe S. Leboy Public Policy Fellow 2012-2013