President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package, approved by Congress and signed by the president into law on February 17, 2009, includes federal funding for research and development – a reason for Bay Area research universities to celebrate.

The stimulus plan is said to allocate $21.5 billion for federal research and development to be invested within 2 years, for which most of the support will be directed to climate research, biomedical matters, and energy. This funding is the realization of President Barack Obama’s promise of restoring science to its rightful place.

After years of sluggish funding for basic research in various sciences, local research universities in Bay Area, San Francisco acknowledged that the financial aid coming from the stimulus plan would bolster education, research, and future businesses. Bay Area research universities, principally Stanford University and the University of California-Santa Cruz, stated that they are the leading candidates for funding, based on their notable track record for research grants secured. They added that several under-funded projects have suffered in the recent years.

The government has been funding majority of scientific research except for studies on some specific diseases and embryonic stem cells. However, funding has been sluggish and inadequate over the years and a number of labs were forced to stop their work and close. One concrete example is the gravity reference sensor project of Stanford University that could have been utilized by future space missions. The project lost funding and had to be stopped. Another example is Stanford chemistry department chairman Richard Zare’s research project involving the creation and destruction of chemical bonds, whose progress had slowed down since he could not secure federal funding for six months in 2007.

With the funding on hand, a brighter future awaits the world of science, especially since these local research institutions will be able to use the money on renovation of facilities, equipment, financial aid, new construction, research support, and new technological advancements in local laboratories. According to Bruce Margon, vice chancellor for research of the University of California-Santa Cruz, the research university is recognized in the 21st century to be “just as important as the steel mill to the economic strength of our country.”

Research and development funding included in the stimulus plan consists of $140 million for the U.S. Geological Survey for natural science research and $1.3 billion for facility renovation and purchase of equipment. In addition, it also allocates $1 billion for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; $1.6 billion for Department of Energy’s Office of Science; $3 billion for the National Science Foundation for fundamental science and engineering research; and $8.2 billion to the National Institutes of Health for biomedical research.

Related Sources:
President Barack Obama’s signing of the economic stimulus package into a law.

Stanford University is featured in an article in The Time Herald.

The New York Times features details of the final economic stimulus package passed by Congress.