DOD dollars have been stripped from California and Massachusetts in behalf of heartland science. |
WASHINGTON—Last fall, Caltech mechanical engineer Frank Marble was due to receive $500,000 from the Department of Defense to study the fuel dynamics of the hypersonic aerospace plane. It was to be the second installment in a three-year, $1.75 million award under the Defense Department’s new University Research Initiative—a program designed to support on campus. research with potential military applications.
But Congress had other ideas. A few days before its Christmas recess, the lawmakers imposed geographic restrictions on how the Good Scientists, Bad Science? How To Respond To ‘Renegade’ Researchers Case One: The molecular biologist who refuses to believe that AIDS is caused by a virus.
The cap also sends a message to the Pentagon, proponents argue, that its basic research dollars do not necessarily need to flow in the same direction—namely Southern California—as its applied programs....