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National Institutes of Health director Bernadine Healy says that university administrators need to act more like their private-sector colleagues when it comes to dealing with the issue of indirect costs. If they don't, she warns, rising overhead rates will eat into the amount of new money available for academic research grants. "Every corporation in this country is trying to hold down its costs," Healy says, "and I think that university presidents need to do the same thing. Unfortunately, I

HEALY URGES SCHOOLS TO TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS Author: JEFFREY MERVIS Date: January 20, 1992 National Institutes of Health director Bernadine Healy says that university administrators need to act more like their private-sector colleagues when it comes to dealing with the issue of indirect costs. If they don't, she warns, rising overhead rates will eat into the amount of new money available for academic research grants. "Every corporation in this country is trying to hold down it

"We're a state school that depends on the kindness of the board of regents and the state government," says Charlotte Tilson, marketing manager at the University of Arizona Press. "But if the point is getting regular funding, we might be better off having ties with the Mafia. Nobody seems to care very much. "When the latest [state] funding cuts went through and the [university] marching band lost $75,000 to $100,000, you never heard such an uproar in your life. There were bake sales and mar

Sidebar: NIH's Nealy to Play the Numbers Game Sidebar: NSF's Ambitious Plans Outpace Budget Hikes Despite big budget hikes for NIH and NSF, many researchers and officials claim that government backing is inadequate WASHINGTON--The budgets of most federal research agencies rose this year, some by double digits, as Congress once again was generous to science. The primary sources of money for academic research had good years: the National Institutes of Health's budget increased by 9 percent, t

A Rocky Mountain biotech firm proves that success requires something more than strong management and top-notch research For 10-year-old biotech company Synergen, 1991 was a banner year indeed. The Boulder, Colo.-based firm raised $52.5 million in an R&D limited partnership and $95 million in a stock offering. Stock zoomed from $12 per share in January to $69 in November, and seven of its protein-based pharmaceuticals entered or advanced further in clinical testing. Moreover, the company broke g

Udall Fellowships Support Federal Service The congressional board of the Office of Technology Assessment has renamed its fellowship program to honor Morris K. Udall, the Arizona Democrat and longtime OTA board member who recently retired from Congress. The Udall Fellowships support up to six technical experts annually in one-year appointments to the OTA staff. Those who have completed doctoral-level research in some technical field related to OTA's mission are eligible to apply. Relevant discipl

John Guckenheimer, a professor of mathematics and of theoretical and applied mathematics at Cornell University and director of Cornell's Center for Applied Mathematics since 1989, has been named the first director of research programs at the Cornell Theory Center. The Theory Center is one of four National Science Foundation-funded supercomputer centers. It provides advanced computational tools to approximately 2,000 scientists. Guckenheimer, 46, received his B.A. in 1966 from Harvard University

Mikulski Supports Change at NIH Nuclear Engineering Program Gets Boost Industry Expects to Spend Less on R & D Finding Room for Innovative Research Speaking in an NIH auditorium as both a legislator concerned about science and an incumbent seeking reelection, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) told a crowd of more than 500 scientists that federal laws must be changed to meet the needs of the agency's 10,000 intramural scientists and support staff. Mikulski promised her audience, many of wh

Publishing books on or about science presents unique challenges, academic press directors say. First among these challenges, says Susan Abrams, executive editor for the natural sciences at the University of Chicago Press, is the fact "that some scientists just won't write them--it's not their style. And, of course, [finding the] time is a problem. With the state of grant support being what it is, people are spending more and more time just trying to get their work funded." Unlike scholars

David Sanchez presides over a $600 million budget as assistant National Science Foundation director for the mathematical and physical sciences. But even with steady growth each year in that budget, he says he's hard-pressed to find the money next year to continue work on, among other projects, a $211 million laser interferometer gravity wave observatory (LIGO), a $192 million eight-meter telescope, and a $120 million high magnetic field laboratory. "If we put in much less than what the proje

National Institutes of Health director Bernadine Healy says she is trying to shift the debate over adequate funding for biomedical research away from scientists and toward health as she sells the idea of a larger NIH budget to Congress and the public. But sometimes it's hard to separate the needs of her colleagues and the needs of the country. "I'm not talking about a full-employment program for scientists," she told a recent meeting of the director's advisory committee that was focusing on

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has added a new predoctoral fellowship program for minority students and has expanded its honors undergraduate research training program in biomedicine. The honors program, founded in 1977, offers support for institutions with substantial minority enrollments to provide biomedical research training. It also provides tuition for qualified students. Previously, tuition support was offered only to juniors and seniors. Under the expanded program,