Some 1,500 members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Medicine and Engineering on Monday denounced the White House’s dismissal of the National Science Board (NSB) longstanding expert board that oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF).
"NSF has become the model for other nations around the globe, including China, but the Trump administration has been destroying that edifice in a mere 18 months," Lane says.
The National Science Foundation's (NSF) future is in limbo, as the Trump Administration is pushing to slash the organization's budget by more than 50 percent. As a result, former directors and national leaders in science expressed concern about the trajectory of the agency and its independence as the administration shifts its funding priorities.
“The Trump administration, as far as I’m concerned, destroyed the old NSF and tried to create a new organization,” said Lane, who served as NSF director from 1993 to 1998. “It’s unrecognizable... The point I really want to emphasize is it’s really losing independence. It’s not being treated as an independent agency. It’s just being treated by some kind of new entity to fund things the president wants to see funded.”
US academics forecast China becoming the world’s biggest public funder of research, as stalled growth in government investment in the United States coincides with consistent rises in spending by the Chinese authorities. Lane believes that this shift will result in China becoming the global center of research, leading to talent heading abroad.
“Young people who wish to pursue careers in science will move from [the] US and other countries to China, learn the language, figure out how to function there,” he said.
Donald Trump has tabbed Jim O'Neill to lead the National Science Foundation, and as O'Neill would be the first non-scientist to hold the role, he's considered a relative unknown within the US research space. Lane and other past NSF leaders say it's imperative for O'Neill to listen to the science and technology community along with the NSF's program staff when charting the path forward.
“I don’t see why the White House would put him in a position with such a high risk of failure,” Lane said. “He’s going to have a steep learning curve. The challenge is enormous.”
President Donald Trump plans to nominate biotechnology investor Jim O’Neill to be the next leader of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and if confirmed by the Senate, O'Neill non-scientist or engineer to lead the NSF. According to Lane, this could give some in the science and technology community notable pause.
“His background is very different from that of his predecessors, all of whom were scientists or engineers and had R&D experience,” Lane said. “That will be a major concern of the [science and technology] community, including tech companies large and small, which depend on the discoveries and new technologies that emerge from NSF-funded research.”