ments in biological science, pharmaceutical research, and leadership in the pharmaceutical industry; the New Jersey Institute of Technology (1992) for his contributions to medical research; Pamukkale University in Turkey (1992); and the University of New York at Stony Brook (1994) for outstanding achievement; Mount Sinai Medical School (1997); and the University of British Columbia (1998). He received Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees for leadership in the battle to conquer diseases from Princeton University (1990), the University of Pennsylvania (1999) and Harvard University (2003). Rutgers University (1991) granted him honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in recognition of his “ambitious agenda to develop effective cures for the most perplexing illness of our time." The author of more than 100 scientific papers, he received the Enzyme Chemistry Award of the American Chemical Society in 1967. He was elected in 1972 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1993 to the American Philosophical Society. In 1989 he received the Thomas Alva Edison Sciences Award from Governor Thomas Kean. In 1993, he received the Lawrence A. Wien Prize in Social Responsibility from Columbia University. In 1994 he received the C. Walter Nichols Award from New York University's Stern School of Business. In 1995 he received the National Academy of Science Award for Chemistry in Service to Society. In 1998 he was awarded the Prince Mahidol Award conferred by His Majesty the King in Bangkok (Thailand). In 1999 he received the Othmer Gold Medal from the Chemical Heritage Foundation and Bower Award in Business Leadership from Franklin Institute. Dr. Vagelos was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania from October 1994 to June 1999, having served as a trustee since 1988. He also served as Co-Chairman of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center from 198999, was President and CEO of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens from 1999-2001 and served in the National Research Council Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism in 2002. He is currently Chairman of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Theravance, Inc., two biotech companies. He is also Chairman of the Board of Visitors at Columbia University Medical Center where he also chairs the Capital Campaign. He serves on a number of public policy and advisory boards, including the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the Danforth Foundation. Dr. Vagelos is married to the former Diana Touliatos. They live in New Jersey, and have four children and seven grandchildren. Dr. Vagelos was born on October 8, 1929, in Westfield New Jersey. Chairman BOEHLERT. Thank you very much, Doctor. STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM A. WULF, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING Dr. WULF. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. I have to say I am particularly delighted to be here this morning with Norm and Roy. I would point out that Norm Augustine is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and in fact, was its Chairman a few years ago. Just echoing your comments before, I think the issue that we are talking about today is the most important issue facing our country. It may not be the most urgent, but I believe it is the most important. I wasn't a member of Norm's committee, and so I can't hope to represent the content of "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" as well as Norm or Roy, so I am not going to try, but I would like to make three points. First, as Norm suggested, the problem is, itself, a creeping crisis. In fact, it is not a problem; it is a set of problems. And those set of problems I view as rather like tiles in a mosaic. Each one of them viewed up close, perhaps, doesn't sound like a crisis and isn't, perhaps, likely to provoke action, but if you stand back and you look at the overall mosaic, a pattern emerges. It is a pattern of short-term thinking, a pattern of lack of long-term investment. It is a pattern for preserving the status quo rather than reaching for the next big goal. It is a pattern that presumes that we in the United States are entitled to a better quality of life than others and that all we have to do is to circle the wagons and defend that entitlement. It is a pattern that does not balance the dangers and opportunities in current circumstances. I don't have time to talk about all of the tiles in this mosaic, and I would largely be redundant with the report that is the subject of this hearing if I did, but they include the dramatic decline in industry-based basic research, the flat-to-declining federal support of research in the physical sciences and engineering, the increasingly short-term risk averse nature of the research that is supported, the discouraging effect on foreign students and scholars of our current visa policy and its impact on our ability to get the world's best and brightest to come to the United States and to contribute to our security and prosperity, the draconian proposals for handling of deemed exports in basic research, and their chilling impact on longterm basic research at universities, and finally, the rapid growth in the use of the category of sensitive but unclassified information and its impact on the free flow of scientific information. My second point is that although the problems depicted in “Rising Above the Gathering Storm" may not have a Sputnik-like wake-up event, that does not mean they are unimportant. Quite the contrary. In my view, collectively, they are the most important issue currently facing the United States. I am hardly alone in that view. There is an increasingly wide recognition of it, I believe. In my written testimony, there are references to some recent reports from a variety of sources that reflect this deep concern, from the National Academies, from the private sector, from government agencies, and from academia. Despite the differing perspectives of the authoring organizations, there is surprising consistency among this report. As is said in the American Electronics Association report, and I quote, "We are slipping. Yes, the United States still leads in nearly every way one can measure, but that does not change the fact that the foundation on which this lead was built is eroding. Our leadership in technology and innovation has benefited from an infrastructure created by 50 years of continual investment, education, and research. We are no longer maintaining that infrastructure.' In my view, the erosion alluded to by the AEA, if unchecked, will lead to a poorer quality of life for our grandchildren, and quite possibly to a world that is less secure and less free. My third, and final, point is that it is all about innovation and the multifaceted environment that supports innovation. There is wide agreement in the reports cited in my written testimony that the U.S. ability to innovate has been the source of its prosperity, and hence that ensuring our ability to continue to innovate is central to our future prosperity and security. Each of these reports proposes specific policy options to do this. Many of them are similar, few are identical. I think that is because there is no simple formula for innovation. There is, instead, a multi-component environment that collectively encourages, or discourages, innovation. Just to mention a few of the components of this environment: there must be a vibrant research base; there must be an educated work force; there must be culture that permits and even encourages risk taking; there must be a social climate that attracts the best and brightest to practice engineering, whether from within the country or outside it; there must be "patient capital" available to the entrepreneur; the tax laws must reward investment; there must be adequate and appropriate protection for intellectual property; and there must be laws and regulations that protect the public but also encourage experimentation. To prosper in the future, we need to attend to all of these components of the innovation environment. In summary, by almost any objective measure, the United States is doing very well at the moment. But, the prosperity and security that we now enjoy is the result of decades of investment, research, and education. We now see a pattern, a mosaic, of disinvestment, of a retreat from bold research, and of a declining interest of American youth in education in science and engineering. We see a pattern suggesting a shift from creating the new to protecting the status quo. No single tile in this mosaic is going to ruin the American economy, which perhaps makes it all the more dangerous. There is a chance that we won't take action until the consequences become apparent in a decade or two, at which point it may be too late. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, Mr. Chairman. [The prepared statement of Dr. Wulf follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF WILLIAM A. WULF Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. My name is William (Bill) Wulf and, since 1996, I have been on leave from the University of Virginia to serve as President of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Founded in 1964, the NAE provides engineering leadership in service to the Nation. It operates under the same congressional act of incorporation that established the National Academy of Sciences, signed in 1863 by President Lincoln. Under this charter the NAE is directed "whenever called upon by any department or agency of the government, to investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art [technology]." The NAE's 1998 strategic plan, however, goes beyond this reactive, "whenever called upon," role to one in which we are to "Promote the technological health of the Nation. ." It is much in the latter spirit that I am here today. I am particularly delighted to be here in the company of Norm Augustine, former Chairman of the NAE, to testify on what I believe to be the most important (as opposed to urgent) issue facing our country. I was not a member of Norm's Committee, but I participated in its initial meeting and tracked its progress closely, so I first want to acknowledge and thank all of the stellar committee members for the enormous energy and creativity that went into producing the report. I hope that the Science Committee will appreciate that the Academies' committee's willingness to spend countless hours on this report was the result of their depth of concern over our nation's future. I cannot hope to represent the content of "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" as well or as fully as Norm Augustine or Roy Vagelos, so I won't try-but I would like to draw attention to three points. First, unfortunately the problem is a “creeping crisis.” Unfortunately the problems we are concerned about don't have a Sputnik-like wake-up call. You all know the storied procedure for boiling a frog. They say that if you drop a frog in boiling water, it will jump out. But, if you put a frog in cool water and heat it very slowly, the frog won't jump out, and you'll get a boiled frog. The theory is that each small, incremental rise in temperature is not enough of a crisis to make the frog react. I don't know if this story is true, but it fits my purpose-the slowly warming water is a creeping crisis for the frog! Our creeping crisis is not a slow, one-dimensional change like the frog's water temperature. We are facing a number of problems-each one like a tile in a mosaic. No one of these problems by itself creates the sort of crisis that provokes action. But if you stand back and look at the collection of problems, a disturbing picture emerges—a pattern of short-term thinking and a lack of long-term investment. It's a pattern for preserving the status quo rather than reaching for the next big goal. It's a pattern that presumes that we in the United States are entitled to a better quality of life than others and that all we have to do is circle our wagons to defend that entitlement. It's a pattern that does not balance the dangers and opportunities in current circumstances. I do not have the time to discuss all the tiles in this mosaic, and I would be largely redundant with the report that is the subject of this hearing if I did, but they include: The dramatic decline in industry-based basic research. The flat-to-declining federal support of research in the physical sciences and engineering. The increasingly short-term, risk-averse nature of the research that is supported. The discouraging effect on foreign students and scholars of our current visa policies, and its impact on our ability to get the world's best and brightest to come to the U.S. and contribute to our security and prosperity. The draconian proposals for handling of “deemed exports" in basic research, and their chilling impact on long-term basic research at universities. The rapid growth in the use of the category of "sensitive but unclassified" information, and its impact on the free flow of scientific information. Second, nonetheless the problem is both important and widely recognized. Although the problems depicted in "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" may not have a Sputnik-like wake-up event, that does not mean they are unimportant. Quite the contrary; in my view collectively they are the most important issue currently facing the United States. I am hardly alone in that view; there is an increasingly wide recognition of it. Below are references to recent reports from a variety of sources that reflect this deep concern: 1 National Academy of Engineering. 2005. Engineering Research and America's Future: Meeting the Challenges of a Global Economy. Washington, D.C.: Nation Academies Press. 2 National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine. 2005. Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. 3 AeA (American Electronics Association). 2005. Losing the Competitive Advantage? The Challenge for Science and Technology in the United States. Washington, D.C. AeA. 4 Business Roundtable. 2005. Tapping America's Potential: The Education for Innovation Initiative. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 5 Business Roundtable. March 2005. Securing Growth and Jobs: Improving U.S. Prosperity in a Worldwide Economy. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 6 Council on Competitiveness. 2004. Innovate America. Washington, D.C.: Council on Competitiveness. 7 Electronics Industry Alliance. 2004. The Technology Industry at an Innovation Crossroads. Arlington, VA. Electronic Industry Alliance. 8 National Association of Manufacturers. 2005. The Looming Workforce Crisis: Preparing American Workers for 21st Century Competition. Washington, D.C.: National Association of Manufacturers. 9 National Intelligence Council. 2004. Mapping the Global Future: Report of the National Intelligence Committee's 2020 Project. Washington, D.C.: National Intelligence Council. 10 National Science Board. August 2003. The Science and Engineering Workforce: Realizing America's Potential. Report NSB 03-69. Arlington, Virginia: National Science Foundation. 11 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. January 2004. Sustaining the Nation's Innovation Ecosystems, Information Technology Manufacturing and Competitiveness. Washington, D.C. 12 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology-Workforce Education Subcommittee. June 2004. Sustaining the Nation's Innovation Ecosystem: Maintaining the Strength of Our Science & Engineering Capabilities. Washington, D.C. 13 Council of Graduate Schools. June 2005. NDEA 21: A Renewed Commitment to Graduate Education. Washington, D.C.: Council of Graduate Schools. 14 American Association of Universities, To be released. Despite the differing perspectives of the authoring organizations, there is surprising consistency among these reports. They all identify problems like the tiles in my mosaic as representing serious long-term problems for the country-problems that require action now! As is said in the American Electronics Association (AeA) report33: "We are slipping. Yes, the United States still leads in nearly every way one can measure, but that does not change the fact that the foundation on which this lead was built is eroding. Our leadership in technology and innovation has benefited from an infrastructure created by 50 years of continual investment, education and research. We are no longer maintaining this infrastructure.” In my view, the erosion alluded to by the AeA, if unchecked, will lead to a poorer quality of life for our grandchildren—and quite possibly to a world that is less secure and less free. Third and finally, it's all about innovation and the multi-faceted environment that supports innovation. There is wide agreement in the reports cited above that the U.S. ability to innovate has been the source of its prosperity-and hence that ensuring our ability to continue to innovate is central to our future prosperity and security. Each of these reports proposes specific policy options to do this-many of them are similar, but few are identical. I think that is because, in my view, there is no simple formula for innovation. There is, instead, a multi-component "environment" that collectively encourages, or discourages, innovation. Just to mention a few of the components of this environment: • There must be a vibrant research base. • There must be an educated workforce. • There must be a culture that permits and even encourages risk-taking. • There must be a social climate that attracts the best and brightest to practice engineering—whether from within the country or outside it. • There must be “patient capital” available to the entrepreneur. • The tax laws must reward investment. • There must be adequate and appropriate protection for intellectual property. • There must be laws and regulations that protect the public while also encouraging experimentation. To prosper in the future we must attend to all the components of this innovation environment-and in particular we need to be sure that they are attuned to the current and future technologies rather than those of the past (when many of the components of the environment were first created). In Summary By almost any objective measure, the U.S. is doing very well at this moment. But, the prosperity and security that we now enjoy is the result of decades of investment, research and education. We now see a pattern, a "mosaic,” of disinvestment, of a retreat from bold research, and of a declining interest of American youth in education in science and engineering. We see a pattern suggesting a shift from creating the new to protecting the status quo. No single tile in this mosaic is going to ruin the American economy-which perhaps makes it all the more dangerous. There is the chance that we won't take action until the consequences become apparent in a decade or two, at which point it will be too late. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, Mr. Chairman. I would be pleased to answer any questions the Committee might have. Personal: BIOGRAPHY FOR WILLIAM A. WULF Wm. A. Wulf, President, National Academy of Engineering, 2101 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC; e-mail: wwulf@nae.edu University Professor and AT&T Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Computer Science, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia Education: B.S., Engineering Physics, University of Illinois, 1961 M.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, 1963 |