The automatic federal spending cut known as the sequester that goes into effect today will have profound adverse effects on U.S. scientific research, cutting "past fat, through muscle and into bone," writes Tom Levenson in a guest blog post at Scientific American.
Levenson, an MIT professor of science writing currently on leave to write a book, gives us a thoughtful analysis that argues that it's not the youngest researchers or the most established researchers who will be hurt by the cut, but those who've just established themselves and are seeking funding. A newly tenured research faculty member "competes for grants against the entire population, Nobel laureates, National Academicians, and all," Levenson writes. First-time winners of a standard National Institutes of Health research grant known as an "R01" have an average age of 42–up five years since 1980. It's taking longer for smart people to get funding, in other words.
Levenson does a good job of showing what the sequester–which falls on top of other research cuts–will do to science and scientists. I would like to have read a little more about the politics of the sequester, which he mostly doesn't touch. The sequester is a mindless fiscal cattle prod, put in place to spur the government to make intelligent cuts, which might have been kinder to research. The surprise was that the government proved incapable of making intelligent cuts and is now stuck with something no one wanted. Even those members of Congress willing to cut government spending no matter what the consequences did not have a say in these cuts.
Perhaps some of the lucky winners of the reduced pool of grants now available will use their research funds to study human behavior and the forces that propel Congress. Surely we could use some help with our collective decision-making.
-Paul Raeburn
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