Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

bronxiteforever

(9,287 posts)
Wed Mar 25, 2020, 09:11 AM Mar 2020

The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2020 (Immigration & federal funding)


On January 15, 2020 the National Science Board submitted a biennial report “on indicators of the state of science and engineering in the United States” as required by 42 U.S.C. § 1863(j)(1). The Indicators series provides a broad base of unbiased, quantitative information about the U.S. science and engineering (S&E) enterprise for use by policymakers, researchers, and the public.

Below are excerpts from the Executive Summary and a link to the whole document.

The United States continues to perform the largest share of global research and development (R&D), generate the largest share of R&D-intensive industry output globally, award the largest number of S&E doctoral degrees, and account for significant shares of S&E research articles and citations worldwide. However, other nations, particularly China, are rapidly developing their science and technology (S&T) capacity. The changing global landscape affects the position of the United States relative to the other major global players. For example, the United States has seen its relative share of global S&T activity remain unchanged or shrink, even as its absolute activity levels have continued to rise.

Although total U.S. R&D investment has grown, funding and performance patterns have changed. Since 2000, the rise in U.S. R&D was driven mainly by the business sector, which continues to perform and fund most of the overall R&D in the United States, as well as most of the applied research and experimental development. During this period, the share of U.S. R&D funded by the federal government has declined. This decline is notable as federally funded R&D is an important source of support, particularly for the higher education sector and for the nation's basic research enterprise.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) competencies in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling are an important component of the pathway to an S&E-capable workforce. U.S. eighth graders continue to rank in the middle of advanced economies in international mathematics and science assessments. Similarly, U.S. national assessments of mathematics show little to no growth in scores over the past decade. At the same time, for higher education, the United States remains the destination for the largest number of internationally mobile students. Foreign-born noncitizens make up a considerable proportion of S&E doctorate recipients, including half or more of the doctorate recipients in engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, and economics. Many of these students stay in the United States after graduation. As such, foreign-born individuals account for a sizeable share of U.S.S&E employment, particularly among workers with graduate degrees.

... Increasingly, the United States is seen globally as an important leader rather than the uncontested leader. Whether and how long the current global trends continue is an important question that will be affected by the overall S&E environment, along with the economic, social, and political forces that shape the S&E environment in the United States and around the world.

https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20201/preface


For a generation the GOP and “free market” or business run R&D have had their foot on the neck of American Science. They are about to reap the rewards of business funded R&D. As an additional major prize, we push out all the scientists who immigrate to our “welcoming” shores. The U.S. “science gap” is here and it will continue to grow. We are left with Brit Hume and Glen Beck telling us to die for the fatherland. Far cry from Jonas Salk isn’t it?

1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2020 (Immigration & federal funding) (Original Post) bronxiteforever Mar 2020 OP
Here's an example of how truth can lead to a false inference. Igel Mar 2020 #1

Igel

(35,191 posts)
1. Here's an example of how truth can lead to a false inference.
Wed Mar 25, 2020, 09:59 AM
Mar 2020

And the writer knows it. But the false inference makes the reader say, "We must increase funding!"

The statement is, "the share of U.S. R&D funded by the federal government has declined."

This is a true statement. But the quick takeaway, "R&D funded by the federal government has declined" is false, as would be "total R&D funding in the US has declined". The absolute amount of federal funding increased from around 2005-2008, and then returned to the baseline level from around 2000. But it's not below that level, except possibly because of inflation and overhead.

What's declined is the percentage funded by the feds. That's because corporate funding of research and philanthropic funding has increased rather sharply. $38 billion is a much bigger share of $48 billion than it is a share of $72 billion.

The result is that there are billions of dollars *more* research funding than in 2000.

Any sense of equality says that the US cannot stay far ahead of the pack. We are the 3rd largest country. As other countries become more wealthy, all things being equal we'd expect more population = more science. (Or we can make the assertion that some counrties' population are just dumber than we are, something I doubt most here would like to suggest.) That we are still ahead the pack means that there's still a lot of equality around.

Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Science»The State of U.S. Science...