Q&A: Why cutting science is good

As stimulus funds run out and other federal programs take priority over science research and development, academic research programs will soon feel the squeeze, says linkurl:Diane Auer Jones,;http://www.washcampus.edu/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=Diane%20Auer%20Jones&category=Staff%20List CEO of the Washington Campus, a non-profit business leadership and education organization, and former assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the US Department of Education. But the culling of academic research programs isn't necessarily a bad thing, she argues in an opinion piece published this week in linkurl:Nature.;http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html

Diane Auer Jones

The expansion of research programs at colleges over the last ten years stretched research funding too thin, writes Jones, hurting faculty, productivity, and especially undergraduate students. This week, Jones took the time to chat with The Scientist about how fewer research programs could help the U.S. re-focus on undergraduate teaching, and what institutions facing research cutbacks should do. The Scientist: As you describe in your article, science funding steadily...