Obama good for science, experts say

Written byBob Grant

| 2 min read

Science groups are welcoming Senator linkurl:Barack Obama's;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54995/ landslide victory as the 44th President of the United States. Throughout his campaign, Obama made several promises regarding American science, including linkurl:doubling the budgets;http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/FactSheetScience.pdf of key research agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Energy's Office of Science, over a decade. "We're looking forward to working with Obama as well as the Congress to make these promises come true," linkurl:Richard Marchase,;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/54829/ president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), told __The Scientist__. But what actions must Obama undertake to buoy US science? "We would like to see a cabinet-level science advisor," linkurl:Stacie Propst,;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55137/ vice president of policy and outreach at science advocacy group Research!America, told __The Scientist__. Though outgoing President George W. Bush linkurl:relegated his science advisor to a somewhat diminished role,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/54983/ Propst said that Obama is likely to restore the role to real prominence. "We are confident that President-elect Obama will have a science advisor who is highly engaged in decision-making and policy-making." Marchase, agreed. He told __The Scientist__ that appointing a strong science advisor will get "the theme that science matters off to a good start in this administration." "We are looking forward to science becoming an important part of a wide variety of policy decisions," Marchase continued. Obama also needs to focus on fulfilling his pledge to increase funding for federal science agencies, Marchase said. To accomplish his goal of doubling the budgets of science agencies in ten years, Obama must increase spending at these agencies by seven or eight percent per year, according to Marchase. "We certainly are very much expecting the increase for the linkurl:NIH;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53858/ budget to be closer to 10% than 5% [per year]," Marchase said. Marchase also said that he is confident that Obama's appreciation of science will change science policy in positive ways. Policy concerning linkurl:global climate change,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/54049/ environmental issues, and linkurl:embryonic stem cell;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/12948/ research, are likely to improve in an Obama administration, Marchase said. "There's clearly a commitment to encouraging embryonic stem cell research," he said. "We expect that will be a policy change." Propst also said that Obama is likely to encourage a more healthy respect for science; a sentiment that withered within the Bush administration. "We're happy to get out of this era of blocking science for ideological reasons," she said. "We want to get the investment [in science] restarted so we can innovate our way out of a very sick healthcare system." __Correction (posted November 5): When originally posted, this article omitted the affiliation of Stacie Propst. __The Scientist__ regrets the error.

Meet the Author

Bob Grant

From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

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