ARISE – Recognizing the future of scientific research
By Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H.
In many areas of biomedical research, we stand on the cusp of understanding. Stem cell biology, epigenetics, proteomics, genetic variation – all play a role in understanding why the human and mammalian organism works and what happens when things go wrong.
Getting on the other side of that cusp requires experience, preparation and often the impetus of bright young minds willing to take risks. That's the topic of a new report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. ARISE – Advancing Research in Science and Engineering – recommends encouragement of the work of researchers early in their careers.
Their report, of which Huda Zoghbi, M.D., professor of pediatrics, neuroscience and molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, was a co-author, recommends that federal agencies:
- Establish new research programs only if they are large enough to avoid fruitless grant writing in which only a few applicants receive funding.
- Track the demographics of those researchers who receive funding across all agencies to find out how well the federal government actually funds research.
They also recommend that universities:
- Take on more of the responsibility for their faculty members' salaries. "The extreme model of expecting faculty to raise all of the funds for their own salaries, their students' stipends and tuition, and their research space puts a disproportionate burden on early-career faculty and discourages risk taking," the report's authors write.
- Accept a larger share of the cost of new facilities and programs.
For decades now, the United States has led the world in technological innovation, biomedical science and exciting endeavors. That leadership is now under challenge from emerging economies that are anxious to take risks and achieve benefits. Investing in younger scientists is the fastest way to stimulate advances in research, particularly in those areas that have the most risk and the most promise of reward. Acquiring knowledge and understanding is never a safe proposition – but not learning and advancing is the most dangerous proposal of all.
