12 



I know I certainly would. 



Well, I thank you for allowing me to make these remarks and I 

 would be delighted to join my colleagues in the question and an- 

 swer period, wherever I think I can add anything. 



Thank you again. 



Chairman Walker. Did you wish to jdeld as well to Dr. Fox? 



Dr. Press. I'd like to turn to her now. 



Chairman WALKER. Okay. Dr. Fox? Thank you. 



STATEMENT OF DR. MARYE ANNE FOX 



Dr. Fox. Thank you, Mr. Walker. Thank you. Committee mem- 

 bers, for allowing us to come. 



Let me introduce myself as well. I'm the vice president for re- 

 search at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Waggoner Re- 

 gents Chair in Chemistry there. I'm also the vice chairman of the 

 National Science Board and a recent member of the Council of the 

 National Academy of Sciences. 



Relevant to the comments that I'd like to make, I also want to 

 mention that I served on the Galvin Panel on Futures for the Na- 

 tional Laboratories. 



The question I want to address is: what is the proper relation- 

 ship between universities and national labs? This is a topic that 

 the committee worked on a great deal. 



The report's intent is not to drive a wedge between sectors of the 

 community, but, rather, to recognize the complementarity of goals 

 between the research that's conducted in universities and in na- 

 tional labs. 



We were unanimous of our recognition of the important roles 

 that federal labs play in the nation. We recognized, as the report 

 tells us, that federal labs should focus on the objectives of the spon- 

 soring agency and not expand beyond the assigned mission, which 

 is in complete concert with the conclusions that were drawn by the 

 Galvin Commission as well. 



In saying so, we recognize that there is superb science and engi- 

 neering which is conducted in the national labs, that the national 

 labs contribute a great deal in terms of long-term, stable funding 

 which allow us to approach the important national goals of na- 

 tional security, energy, and the environment, which are important 

 for the functioning of the national labs. They provide a means by 

 which one can focus on research without distraction of turn-over 

 that accompanies research conducted in universities of students, 

 which if, of course, one of their strongest assets, as well as, in a 

 complementary sense, one of their weaknesses, something that the 

 universities can provide in terms of flexibility to respond to new op- 

 portunities. 



The national laboratories also have a pronounced capacity for 

 rapid response to emergencies and, as was mentioned earlier today, 

 Mr. Chairman, they are multi-disciplinary, they are facilities-inten- 

 sive, and they are very complementary, in that they focus on a mis- 

 sion in which universities can provide excellent cooperation. 



So when the report says that we should favor people and projects 

 over institutions, what we are arguing is that the flexibility that 

 universities provide in flexibly responding to new opportunities 

 while simultaneously training our next generation of scientists. 



