National Science Board here to tackle funding issues

For the past 50 years, if U.S. scientists dreamed it, government usually found the money to make it a reality. But with current government budget-cutting and projections for even tighter budgets, it remains to be seen who will foot the bill for science and engineering research in the 21st century.

Hoping to frame new strategies for funding scientific research, the National Science Board, governing council for the National Science Foundation, will meet March 28-29 at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center here on campus.

"We're wrestling with how we can make the case for public investment in research in the post-Cold War era," said Charles Hess, director of international programs at UC Davis and former undersecretary for science and education at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "We hope that California, which so typifies the post-Cold War economy and receives more NSF research dollars than any other state, will provide a setting that will stimulate new strategies for funding scientific research."

The meeting will be preceded by the UC Davis Chancellor's Forum on the Future lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, in Wyatt Pavilion. (See the story.)

The National Science Board is a 24-member council of leaders from academia and industry.