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Indirect costs scandals and a new federal mandate pressure budget officers to grapple with what they see as a befuddling to grapple with what they see as a befuddling task WASHINGTON--University research administrators across the United States are moving to comply with a newly imposed limit on how much money they can recover from the government to compensate their schools for administrative support of federally funded research. And in the process of observing the new federal regulation,

Insiders say that the biotech firm got too big for its britches--while putting all of its eggs into one basket Biotechnology firm Cetus Corp., which more or less disappeared from sight in the wake of last month's $700 million takeover by its Emeryville, Calif., neighbor Chiron Corp., once seemed to have all the tools needed to succeed. But the company didn't survive--despite its talented scientists, deep pockets, and the prospect of a blockbuster product. And the factors that led to the ing

DISCIPLINE 2 7 10 15 18 24-25 Atmos., Earth, Marine and Space Science $2,864 $3,555 $3,848 $4,214 $4,625 $5,221 Biological Science N/A 2,975 3,748 3,457 3,651 4,021 Chemistry N/A 3,066 3,168 3,544 4,063 4,727 Computer Science 3,189 3,819 4,170 4,483 4,722 5,130 Mathematics 3,171 3,882 4,479 5,000 4,833 5,673 Optics/Lasers 3,669 3,571 4,430 4,758 4,447 5,467 Physics 3,370 3,405 4,414 4,584 4,872 5,349 Source: The Hay Group, 1991

The Louis Jeantet Foundation for Medicine will support one to three clinical or basic biomedical research projects in 1993 by distinguished scientists, at a total funding level of approximately $1.2 million. Scientists, physicians, and institutions are invited to nominate researchers for the awards on the basis of the excellence of nominees' past and present research. Candidates being considered for final selection will be asked to submit specific research proposals. Eligible candidates may b

The GTE Corporation Lectureship Program in Technology and Ethics offers U.S. colleges and universities grant support for an on-campus lecture series to promote public discussion of ethical issues in science and technology. Programs will be open to the public as well as to members of the sponsoring institution, and are designed to promote interdisciplinary discussion of technology issues and allow the institutions' faculty and students to hear the views of outside experts. Eligible institutio

YUDI P. GUPTA has been appointed to head the new Arlington, Va., office of the Houston Applied Research Center (HARC). HARC is a private, nonprofit organization that fosters ties between science and the marketplace. Its research interests include high-energy physics, space technology, materials science, lasers, geotechnology, supercomputing, and molecular biology. The Arlington office will focus on working with federal agencies and with the Washington, D.C., offices of HARC's partners in industr

WASHINGTON--Fierce rivalries and ruthless competition among scientists traditionally have characterized the United States research environment, according to Radcliffe College president Linda Wilson. But leaders of the nation's science establishment should reexamine the value of this approach to science, she maintains, if the profession hopes to attract more women and minorities. Wilson, a chemist and former vice president for research at the University of Michigan, expressed her views last

Rejection Rate Rises at NIH Bromley Bids Farewell to Sununu Good Swaps Science Advisory Post Kassirer Won't Play the Name Game Stick to Politics and Religion Congress thinks that NIH's peer reviewers, who in 1990 rejected only 5 percent of the proposals they judged as members of NIH study sections, are too easy on scientists, and last year they asked NIH to do something about it. So last fall, as part of a broader series of changes in the peer review system, NIH created a new category-

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