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STATEMENT OF C. JUDSON KING 



PROVOST 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 



before the 



House Science Committee 



U.S. House of Representatives 



February 28, 1996 



Thank you for the opportunity to present our statement on the National Academy 

 of Sciences (NAS) report titled "National Academy Report: Allocating Federal Funds 

 for Science and Technology." The NAS report presents an important opportunity to 

 show the direct relationship between the health, security and economic well-being 

 of the basic research enterprise and of the nation. 



The historic investment of the United States in basic research resulted in the 

 technologies which won the cold war. The economic engines which drive the econo- 

 mies of today in microelectronics, biotechnology and telecommunications are the di- 

 rect result of the government's earlier investments in basic science. The life expect- 

 ancy and the well-oeing of Americans have increased dramatically, in large part due 

 to the increased understandings which have resulted from federal investment in 

 such fields as medical and agricultural research. 



SUSTAINING THE EFFORT 



The NAS report acknowledges today's budget realities, as we all must. Policy 

 makers have the difficult job of determining how to move forward within fiscal con- 

 straints. This is particularly difficult in basic research where long-term experiments 

 are not easily interrupted and then reconstructed after five or seven years. If the 

 "pipeline" of information and specialists-in-training is interrupted for several years, 

 it will not be possible to make up for lost time down the road. Whole generations 

 of scientists and information can be lost and, consequently, the United States' com- 

 petitive edge in fields which impact the economy, security and health of the nation 

 could be adversely affected. Basic science is the key to future prosperity. It is critical 

 to maintain the current momentum. The University of California concurs with the 

 findings of the NAS report that it is important for the United States to maintain 

 capacity and strength in all fields of research and clear superiority in strategic 

 fields. 



THE INSTITUTIONS WHICH PERFORM BASIC RESEARCH 

 1. Universities and National Laboratories 



The Senate Appropriations Committee requested the Academies to report on "the 

 criteria that should be used in judging the appropriate allocation of funds to re- 

 search and development activities, the appropriate balance among different types of 

 institutions that conduct such research and the means of assuring continued objec- 

 tivity in the allocation process." This presents an opportunity for the nation to as- 

 sess the relative strengths of the different types of institutions used for conducting 

 basic research. 



The report notes how the combination of research and scientific training at United 

 States universities has been a major factor in creating scientific and technical pre- 

 eminence, as well as in providing competent professionals to staff industries and 

 federal laboratories throughout our country. It also notes that many of our federal 

 laboratories have unmatched facilities and capabilities and contribute in unique 

 ways to national goals. As the steward of nine research universities and the contrac- 

 tor-operator of three of the federal laboratory system's most prestigious labora- 

 tories — The Los Alamos, the Lawrence Livermore and the Lawrence Berkeley Na- 

 tional Laboratories — The University of California is, perhaps, uniquely qualified to 

 point out the ways in which the work of scientists at some federal laboratories and 

 at the nation's research universities depends on strengths unique to each set of in- 

 stitutions, in the process amplifying the capabilities of both. 



In a February 1996 report, the University of California President's Council on the 

 National Laboratories (a board of external experts chaired by Sidney D. Drell, Pro- 

 fessor and Deputy Director, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford Univer- 

 sity) emphasized the synergistic relationship between scientific research at the fed- 



