Battle Over Federal Grants
A grant is economic aid given by the federal government to fund advances in research that can make a difference in our society. In the article Who Picks up the Tab for Science, Jahnke states a few agencies, in the United States government, that give out federally funded grants and they include the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the Scientific American article written by Trager, some of the controversies surrounding federally funded grants come from politicians in Congress who have questioned the value of a lot of research that’s being funded. In particular, Trager states that many republicans are starting to reject science because it’s giving them a political advantage in the public eye. According to the article, the Environmental Protection Agency has also been under a lot of scrutiny by politicians because of the widespread belief that global climate change doesn’t really exist or that it’s simply not a serious problem. The stakeholders, with regards to federally funded grants, include both politicians and universities. Politicians would benefit from minimizing the amount of money they give to research, especially research on global climate change, if they have financial interests in the coal industry. Moreover, Jahnke states that many universities also rely heavily on federal grants and they are now in turmoil looking for other sources of funding for important research.
The government should handle federal funding in the future by investing more on academic research in universities instead of trying to give more money to industry research. According to Jahnke, many legislators don’t believe federal grants should be focused on universities but rather they should be focused on the industry. However, universities are necessary and aide industry research and developments by providing the basics. Basic research happens in universities and are central to the advancement of science and technology.
If I was in charge, I would make sure to hire experts in the field where money is being granted to decide what research deserves federal grants rather than let politicians sway those decisions. Some criteria I would use for giving out grants in the sciences and medicine would include whether or not the scientific community itself valued the research enough for it to be funded and what contributions that research could bring to society. I would also make sure that global climate research received funding because many people from the scientific community and many nations have acknowledged that it’s a serious problem we need to focus on. The criteria for the social sciences would be similar by having experts in those fields, who aren’t receiving grants, deciding which research deserves to be funded.
