CHAPTER 9 



PRIORITIES AND GAP AREAS 



This chapter presents the highlights of agency 

 perceptions of priorities and gaps in their research 

 agendas. No attempt has been made to correlate 

 these from agency to agency or to rank them ac- 

 cording to their importance.' Thus, no clear na- 

 tional agenda emerges from the agency lists. But 

 they do mention or have a clear relationship to a 

 number of problem areas that appear to merit na- 

 tional attention and that require basic research (if 

 for no other reason than to complete our under- 

 standing of the problem). The following are illus- 

 trative: 



• Earthquakes (the House of Representatives 

 has already recognized the need for basic 

 research in this area in the Earthquake Haz- 

 ards Reduction Act of 1977. Two agencies — 

 the National Science Foundation and the 

 U.S. Geological Survey — are currently ad- 

 dressing this problem). - 



• Climate and weather (the House of Repre- 

 sentatives also calls for a basic research ele- 

 ment in the National Climate Program bill 

 passed last year. Eight agencies are currently 

 scheduled for research initiatives in these 

 areas: NOAA — the lead agency — and NASA, 



'No attempt has been made to rank priorities either within 

 an agency or among the responding agencies. The question of 

 priorities within a given field of science is discussed by Wil- 

 liam W. l.owrance in "The NAS Surveys of Fundamental 

 Research 1961-1974, in Retrospect," in the September 23, 

 1977. issue of Science (p. 1254). Based on the 10 surveys of 

 major fields of science conducted by committees of the Na- 

 tional Academy of ,Sciences from 1962 through 1974. this article 

 states that the physics survey committee developed a method 

 of setting priorities, but adds: 



Never, in these surveys or elsewhere, has a perfect 



program been developed for deciding on the relative 



importance of different research programs. 

 In its submission in Part 1, HEW makes the point that priority 

 setting becomes increasingly difficult as the time span for plan- 

 ning increases. An example of a procedure for setting priori- 

 ties is contained in World Food and Nutrition Study: Potential 

 Contributions of Research. Steering Committee, NRC Study 

 on World Food and Nutrition, Commission on International 

 Relations of the National Research Council (National Acade- 

 my of Sciences: Washington, DC, 1977). First, 12 interdisci- 

 plinary study teams produced a list of more than ItX) priority 

 research areas. Then the list was analyzed by another study 

 team and by the Steering Committee itself. The end result was 

 a list of 22 priority research areas, but no ranking was made 

 among the areas. It is interesting to note the great similarity 

 and overlap between the NRC's selection and the yo priority 

 areas in basic research identified by the Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



-Special Analyses. Budget of the United States Government. 

 Fiscal Year 1979 (GPO: Washington, 1978), p. 308. 



NSF, EPA, and the Departments of Defense, 

 Energy, Agriculture, and Interior.'' 



• The brain and nervous system (the Presi- 

 dent's Biomedical Research Panel, for in- 

 stance, states that this area may be "the ulti- 

 mate challenge to biomedical research repre- 

 senting the very pinnacle of our understand- 

 ing of the human organism") 



• Urban revitalization 



• Poverty 



• Public transportation and traffic control 



• Crime and criminals 



• Upper atmosphere 



• Less developed countries 



• Nutrition 



• Mental health. 



Besides these broad problem areas, it is clear 

 from example after example that basic research 

 has a high priority in the accomplishment of many 

 specific agency missions. In the presentation of 

 the agency priorities below, research areas are 

 classified where possible by science fields and 

 subfields and priority areas are divided between 

 short- and long-term. Areas in which gaps or un- 

 derfunding are reported are then listed. 



Further details on the priorities and gaps of 

 each agency's research agenda are given in the 

 "Current and Future Emphasis" sections of the 

 agency submissions in Part I, although in some of 

 the shorter submissions no such separate subtitle 

 appears. In some cases, the agencies make the 

 distinction between basic and applied research; in 

 others, the distinction is either blurred or not 

 made at all. Nor do the agencies always distin- 

 guish between short- and long-term priorities as 

 requested by the Board (see Appendix C on meth- 

 odology used in preparation of the report, espe- 

 cially Exhibit 4). The gap areas were reported in 

 response to the Board's question: "What promis- 

 ing or vital areas of research, not now supported 

 but involving basic research, warrant increased 

 emphasis and support by your agency?" 



Department of Agriculture 



The following examples are areas of science in 

 which a basic research approach is required. 



Mbid. 



PRIORITIES AND GAP AREAS 303 



