Articles by Jeffrey Mervis

Sidebar: Wrong Number, Please Try Again The president's request for 1993 specifies more science support overall but dims hopes for some individual researchers WASHINGTON--On the surface, the 1993 budget that President Bush submitted to Congress January 29 should look very familiar to researchers: A lot more for the National Science Foundation, a little more for the National Institutes of Health, and large increases to pay for the continuing construction of the superconducting supercollider an

WASHINGTON--The National Science Foundation has created a new program that funds research on how to store, retrieve, and manipulate scientific data. Its goal is to help scientists make better use of the flood of information their work is generating, as well as to stimulate cooperation among individual disciplines in tackling common problems in processing data. In addition, participants hope to upgrade the status of the information sciences by demonstrating the importance of modern scientific da

Making sense of the mass of numbers in the president's budget isn't easy, even for administration officials who have played a role in developing them. For example, at his news conference held the day the budget was released, presidential science adviser Allan Bromley declared that military spending in the 1993 proposed budget represents only 53 percent of the total R&D budget request. Several articles in the national media cited that number as proof that the Bush administration has shifted it

WASHINGTON--The National Science Foundation violated several federal procurement laws in an attempt to replace the National Academy of Sciences as the contractor for its prestigious graduate fellowship program, according to a report issued by the agency's inspector general, Linda Sundro. These actions include a breach of confidentiality in the bidding process, conflict of interest by a staffer, and a failure to follow normal procedures in reviewing the bids of potential contractors. The resul

Ruling On Lab Rodents Could Reduce Oversight Of All Animal Sites WASHINGTON--Animal rights activists are pleased about a federal judge's ruling last month that the United States Department of Agriculture acted in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner in excluding rats, mice, and birds from its interpretation of a federal law meant to protect research animals. But the judge's favorable decision in their suit could result in less-frequent inspections of research facilities housing these and othe

The National Academy of Sciences has operated NSF's graduate fellowship program since 1952. But it has never had to compete for the contract, now worth close to $2 million annually. That's because of the academy's own rule that prohibits it from doing any work for the government if it first must submit a bid and be chosen over several competitors. "We can't compete," says Frank Press, academy president. "If an agency accepts other bids, then we can't do the work. The rule stems from our 1863

While the five hopefuls have opinions on such matters as education and science funding, their views lack depth WASHINGTON--The five major Democratic contenders for president of the United States generally agree that the country needs to strengthen its technology base, that spending on civilian research should be increased, and that universities remain the key to the nation's scientific preeminence. At the same time, they differ over whether it makes sense to build the superconducting supercol

WASHINGTON--Biomedical researchers need to win over the public to survive attacks on their integrity and answer questions about the value of their work to society, says cardiologist Kenneth Shine, the new president of the Institute of Medicine (IoM). "We have to work harder to bolster confidence in universities and in research," says Shine, named last month to a five-year term as president of the 470-member institute that is closely affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences. "People hav

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,

More than a decade later, it seems that Gibbons has met the challenge. He presides over a $21 million budget and a 150-member staff of scientists and technologists who, with the help of outside experts, produce more than two dozen major reports each year, conduct hundreds of briefings for federal officials, and appear regularly before Congress and at scientific meetings and conferences. A recent report from the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government cites the agency's "sol

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

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

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

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