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WASHINGTON—Thomas Rona, confirmed in late November as associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is described in a press release as an electrical engineer with a Sc.D. from MIT. But it is ideas, not objects, that excite him. During a long career at Boeing Aerospace Rona was an anomaly, a self-proclaimed “exotic brain” whose job was to hunt for long range opportunities outside the defense contractor’s normal product line. That search

BOSTON—Two federal agencies have recently tightened procedures to avoid potential financial conflicts of interest among staff members. The new procedures at the National Science Foundation and the Office of Technology Assessment follow public disclosure that a staff member at each agency had ties to companies whose products were related to their work. This perennial thorny issue resurfaced last fall after reports that David T. Kingsbury, assistant director of NSF and chairman of the Wh

Sematech has found a home and it’s a homerun for Texas." Texas Gov. Bill Clements was reacting to the news that Austin, the state capital and home of the University of Texas, has been picked as the site for a $1.5 billion advanced semiconductor research facility. State officials expect the project to provide a scientific boost to their ailing economy by offering employment to thousands and attracting new electronics firms to the region. Texas beat out 11 other finalists from an original

WASHINGTON—An inadequate supply of scientists and engineers is the biggest obstacle to keeping the United States competitive in the world economy, according to a survey of 500 industrial, academic and state government research administrators. They ranked educational issues above research and development issues and fiscal and monetary policies as the most important factor in maintaining U.S. competitiveness. The survey, released last month, was conducted last winter by the National Govern

The money represents an increase of 6 percent over 1987, compared with a 4 percent rise in the government’s overall science budget. Sectors due to receive a reduced share of the $4.7 billion budget include research into the use of coal and other fossil fuels (down 10.5 percent) and nuclear fission technology (down 15.3 percent). Biotechnology (up 7.7 percent), oceanography (up 11 percent) and ecology (up 8 percent) are among the beneficiaries. Presenting his budget to the Bundestag, Re

LONDON—Embryo experimentation and the future of the fast breeder reactor are two of several topics that an Advisory Board for Science and Technology, due to be launched next month by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, will tackle to help inform U.K. members of Parliament. Seen as the first step toward a U.S-style Office of Technology Assessment, the new board will consist of four MPs, four members of the House of Lords and four members of the scientific community. Although so f

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has adopted new voting procedures for choosing its top officers that are, in part, a response to continued pressure by dissident members to give the rank and file a greater voice in the institute’s affairs. In the fall the 280,000 member international organization will use a system that allows members to vote for more than one candidate for each office. Officials said that this system, called approval plurality voting, is the

LONDON—Over two-thirds of British people believe that national prosperity depends upon advances in science and technology, while 80 percent feel that it is important for the future of their country to be a leader in science. But a Gallup survey of more than 1,000 people also found that half of the respondents think that scientists are too secretive and that scientific discovery can pose dangers to humanity. Asked to name “the three most famous scientists, living or dead,” 3

LONDON—Cambridge and Oxford are the academic foci for new research programs that the British hope will make them more competitive in the expanding field of high-temperature superconductivity. The Cambridge group will be Britain’s first University Research Center. Bolstered by $10 million in government funds over the next six years, it is expected to attract private support and generate marketable products within 10 years. The URC will be a new university laboratory within the Cav

The strategic role of the private foundations Purnell Choppin observes in this issue (p. 16-17) that “the health of the biomedical research enterprise [in the United States] is inseparable from the health of the NIH.” Since two thirds of federal support for biomedical research in this country goes into or through the NIH, and since that amounts to one third of total national support for basic research in biomedicine, one can only agree with the statement of the president of the How

McDonald is on the staff of THE SCIENTIST.

Although such appropriations and bond issues promise to foster excellence throughout the state, the primary beneficiaries of much pump priming are usually state colleges and universities. These efforts, in turn, have triggered recruitment wars between established research institutions and newer programs trying to join the top echelon. The bidding is particularly fierce in such fields as ceramics, computers, chemical engineering and all aspects of biotechnology. And although higher salaries alo