June 3, 2008

Report: Better faculty support, riskier research needed for a competitive America

The report, "ARISE: Advancing Research in Science and Engineering," focuses on the support for faculty members at universities early in their careers and the encouragement of higher-risk, and possibly higher-reward, research.

A blue-ribbon committee convened by the academy and consisting of leaders from government, academia and business, produced the report. Purdue University President France A. Córdova participated as a committee member.

"This report goes to the heart of our ability to remain competitive as a nation in a global society," Córdova said. "Bold and creative research in science and engineering is the key to our future, but young researchers lack the support they need to succeed. The ARISE report aims at ensuring our long-term prosperity."

Nobel laureate and Howard Hughes Medical Institute President Thomas Cech chaired the 24-member committee. Other members included Albert Teich of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Robert Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Steven Chu of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The report offers recommendations for both federal agencies and universities to support early-career faculty in their research endeavors.

Among the recommendations for federal agencies is a call to strengthen seed funding opportunities for these faculty to enable the exploration of new ideas for which no results have yet been achieved.

The report also recommended that federal agencies:

* Pay special attention to early-career faculty during merit reviews of regular grant programs.

* Create or strengthen existing large, multiyear awards for early-career faculty.

The academy's report encourages universities to strengthen mentoring programs for faculty, as well as develop promotion and tenure policies tailored to young faculty. The report also suggests that private foundations cap the number of start-up and first awards made to a single investigator in order to spread the funding around to more early-career researchers.

Both universities and federal agencies are encouraged to address the needs of primary caregivers, many of whom are women, with the appropriate support necessary to enable them to advance in science and engineering. Agencies could offer grant extensions while universities could explore appropriate child care options.

Report recommendations for fostering research center on the need to pursue higher-risk, transformative proposals and reduce red tape. Federal agencies should consider targeted programs and grants for such research and should establish metrics to evaluate the success of any new efforts. Peer review systems should be reevaluated. Universities and federal agencies alike should do more to help researchers move ideas from the grant-application stage to commercialization.

Leslie Berlowitz, chief executive officer and the William T. Golden Chair of the American Academy, said the ARISE report is an important answer to "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," in which the National Academies described critical challenges facing science and technology in America.

"The American Academy is grateful to Tom Cech and his colleagues for highlighting a set of issues that are critical to the nation's future and for proposing thoughtful, implementable steps to nurture the next generation and the next breakthroughs in science and engineering," Berlowitz said.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. With headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., the academy's work is carried out by its 4,600 elected members, who are leaders in academia, the arts, business and public affairs.

Writer: Tanya Brown, (765) 494-2079, tanyabrown@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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