US Science Leaders Offer Blueprint for Maintaining Global Leadership in STEM

The U.S. could soon lose its position of global leadership in STEM without urgent action, according to a report released today by prominent figures in the U.S. science enterprise. The report warns the country is at risk of falling behind competitors, particularly China, in terms of talent, infrastructure, and capital investment.

The Unleashing American Potential report represents contributions from more than 70 leaders from nonprofit organizations, government, academia, and industry known collectively as the Vision for American Science and Technology (VAST) Task Force. (AIP CEO Michael Moloney is a member of the task force.)

The report calls for increasing public and private investment in science, increasing the involvement of local leaders in regional STEM job creation, reinvigorating K-12 STEM education, strengthening public-private partnerships, attracting and retaining both U.S. and foreign-born workers, and increasing research security to protect scientific discoveries from foreign adversaries.

Among its funding recommendations, the report suggests creating a “recurring national priority-setting process to confirm areas of research that are foundational to national competitiveness and security.” It also proposes “aggressively” increasing spending on AI, materials science, quantum computing, biotechnology, and “technologies for a resilient energy future” as well as using tax credits to incentivize private sector investment.

Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chair of the VAST Task Force, acknowledged during the AAAS meeting in Boston earlier this month that the report comes at a time when many scientists are worried about the future of U.S. science, particularly given recent layoffs at federal science agencies.

“There is uncertainty, there is anxiety, and it is rightfully so,” Parikh said during a plenary session on the work of the VAST Task Force on Feb. 15. He said the task force debated “how to react to the current moment” and decided that their report is relevant as it provides a long-term “vision for the future.”

Parikh argued that the U.S. should look to the ambitions for federally funded basic research that emerged in the immediate aftermath of World War II. “We are standing on the shoulders of an 80-year-old vision, which is wonderful and thoughtful and amazing,” he said. “Shouldn’t this generation do something like that?”

The report highlights a proposal put forward by National Science Board leaders to pursue an updated version of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 that would boost U.S. STEM education, training, and job opportunities. Via email, Parikh said the potential for an NDEA 2.0 is still present but it is “not a one-year discussion,” adding, “We must build momentum, but the building blocks and potential congressional champions are there.”

During an Axios event today, Parikh again made the case for the government supporting basic research, stating that developments in fundamental science drive investment from the private sector.

“The U.S. government invests about $200 billion a year in science and technology. The private sector, industry, and philanthropy invests almost $800 billion a year in science and technology, but the $200 billion in basic research and other investments done by the federal government are critical. They actually enable all the rest of it,” Parikh said. “The more dollars we put in from the feds, the more investment comes in from industry, and we get job growth, we get economic success, and we get national security out of it. What a deal.”

Reps. Brian Babin (R-TX) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), chair and ranking member of the House Science Committee respectively, also appeared at the event. Asked about the outlook of congressional funding for science, Babin said he wanted to see the U.S. “maintain our position as the number one nation on the face of the Earth in space and science and technology,” but noted, “we’re spending an enormous amount of our tax money just paying interest on the national debt, and so we’ve got to be very careful about where we put our money.” Babin also defended the actions of the Trump administration as cutting fraud, waste, and abuse, while acknowledging there are “a lot of nervous people out there right now, and I don’t blame them.”

Lofgren criticized the Trump administration’s layoffs at science agencies and said the administration should work with Congress to understand where the country’s STEM priorities lie.

“The damage being done to the science enterprise is extreme, and in some cases, will not be undone,” Lofgren said.