57 



.)_' / IMPR()\I.\(, THLALLOCAriOS PROCESS 



biotechnology' is only now becoming central to drug discovery, and that the biolog>- underly- 

 ing many of today's dread diseases is still almost wholly unknown. Further, science and tech- 

 nolog)' are essential to building on the effective campaigns to reduce infant mortality, smoking, 

 and deaths and injuries from drunk driving. 



Perhaps less obvious but just as promising is the future potential for science and technol- 

 og>' to address diverse national needs in transportation, public infrastructure, agriculture, and 

 the environment. New materials, propulsion systems, and imaginative use of information tech- 

 nologies to create "sman" highways and cars will map onto currently obvious transportation 

 needs — from reducing pollution to improving traffic flow and highway design. Research has 

 contributed, albeit considerably below its potential, to development of the national systems by 

 which we get our drinking water remove our wastes, and obtain electrical power As these 

 systems become more complex and the pressures on public funds intensify', research that re- 

 duces costs and improves safety, such as non-destructive testing of bridges, tunnels, railroad 

 tracks, and the like, will become even more urgent. 



U.S. agriculture has been a triumph. Now the advent of biotechnology has created major 

 new opportunities to increase the qualiri' of foods, raise the efficienc>' of crop production, and 

 develop new industrial uses for crops, including biodegradable plastics and pharmaceutical 

 products. The current U.S. export lead in agriculture builds on a cenrur}- of public and private 

 investments in agricultural research and development. Future research will surely offer ways to 

 sustain the produaivity of U.S. agriculture while also making it more en\Tronmentally benign. 



Finally, resource pressures will inexorably increase as we enter the next millennium — as 

 populations, industrialization, and demand for energy' and other resources increase. These 

 pressures will increase debates about risks versus costs. Informing that debate will require a 

 base of science and technology so that the problems are well understood, the impacts of alter- 

 native remediation strategies are anah-zed, risks are adequately assessed, and effective preven- 

 tion strategies are put into place. 



A strong research and development capacity will be integral to dealing with future chal- 

 lenges, whether environmental problems, medical emergencies, or national security threats — 

 or crises that we cannot yet predict. We also know that solutions come in unexpected ways 

 from what is the world's premier research enterprise. With wise management, solutions to 

 pressing problems — and irmovations giving rise to now unimagined advances — will continue 

 to come from many directions, for example, from the work of astronomers tr>'ing to under- 

 stand the large-scale structure of the imiverse, or from mathematicians' studies on improving 

 the calculations of properties of alloys, or from the efforts of social scientists to devise new 

 ways for institutions to manage public resources such as fisheries, grazing groimds, and water 

 supplies, or from biologists' investigations of the neural systems of invertebrates. New knowl- 

 edge that enlarges our understanding will in time serve national needs. Science and technol- 

 og>', contributing a unique national capability for problem solving and creative discover)-, will 

 continue to be key in keeping the United States in its world leadership position — economi- 

 cally, militarily, and intellectuaU)-. 



Endnotes 



I The Budget of the United States Government. Fiscal Year 1996. Chapter ".'•Investing in 

 Science and Technology" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1995), p. 94. 



2. TTie phrases research and development and science and technology arc often used 

 interchangeably The committee ha.s chosen to use research and development, except when it is 

 explicitly referring to its proposed budget index, federal science and technology (FS&T),and the 

 work encompassed by it. 



