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The following Energy Sciences Coalition FY 2002 Funding Statement was endorsed by the AIP Governing Board in early 2001:The Energy Sciences Coalition (ESC) encourages the Administration and Congress to strengthen the nation's financial commitment to the Department of Energy's Office of Science programs and facilities by providing no less than $3.68 billion in FY02, a fifteen percent increase over last year's funding level. The National Academy of Sciences has noted that much of U.S. economic growth, quality of life, and security derive from the national investment and leadership in science and technology. Indeed, during the last half century, science-driven technology has accounted for more than 50 percent of the growth in the U.S. economy. The Department of Energy's Office of Science programs and national user facilities are vital to the nation's basic research investment across the scientific disciplines and yield both short term benefits and future advances for economic prosperity and educational growth. As one of the United States' major federal science agencies, DOE is the largest sponsor of research in the physical sciences, principally through programs managed by the Office of Science, and is responsible for a significant portion of federal R&D funding to scientists and students at our colleges and universities. Through support of K-12 education, as well as undergraduate and graduate programs in many research areas, the Office of Science is also involved in fostering the next generation of scientists and engineers. DOE's support of large and very specialized scientific facilities at our national laboratories and universities complements, and in many cases centrally supports, the individual investigator funded research performed by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Each year over 15,000 sponsored scientists and students from academe, industry and government many funded by agencies other than DOE conduct cutting edge experiments at DOE research facilities. An expanded Office of Science budget will allow for more complete utilization of DOE's world-class facilities, thus returning more on the investment made for their construction and maximizing their scientific contributions and their tremendous educational value. Scientific exploration underway within the Office of Science serves as a link and supporting element for developments in numerous areas, including major initiatives like the human genome, nanotechnology, and information technology, as well as programs in molecular biology and alternative domestic energy sources. Through major program activities and core research, DOE's Office of Science plays a critical role in each of the department's four basic missions: science, environmental management, national security and energy. An investment made today will help maintain an appropriate and critical balance in the federal research portfolio between the biomedical sciences and the physical sciences and will have lasting and extensive impacts throughout the civilian, and in some cases the national security, arena. ESC appreciates the bipartisan support shown by Congress and the Administration
in the final FY01 budget for DOE's Office of Science. To maintain the tremendous
advances that America brings to basic scientific research and into the marketplace,
we strongly encourage Congress and the Administration to provide DOE's Office
of Science with a minimum fifteen percent increase to $3.68 billion in FY02. |
