Pelosi, Holt, Tilghman: Science can stimulate U.S. economy

A meeting between Tilghman and Pelosi earlier this year inspired the discussion. Both felt that there should be greater dedication to scientific research in the United States.

Pelosi emphasized the association between future advancements in science and technology and the “intellectual success of our country.”

There needs to be an “investment in the kind of innovation and creativity that has always fueled this country and its economy,” Tilghman agreed.

Holt, whose district includes the University, added that the nation should “make a commitment to research and development.

“They are not luxuries to be engaged in in plush times, but rather the basis for economic growth [and] economic prosperity,” said Holt, a former assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Norman Augustine ’57, former chairman of the National Academy of Engineering and former president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, said that future economic success was dependent on attracting talented scientists, drawing on the knowledge that comes from research and providing an environment that encourages the endeavors of entrepreneurs and scientists. Augustine taught in the engineering school from 1997 to 1999.

An increase in American innovation could reduce the rate of unemployment, Augustine said. Though only a minority of American citizens are engineers and scientists, their efforts affect the lives and the jobs of millions, he explained.

The nation should take advantage of the “opportunity that we have now to improve peoples’ lives and peoples’ well-being,” Holt said, adding that it’s “important to get leaders in science, science policy [and] academia to look at the role of research.”

Augustine noted that not everyone would accept the idea of greater commitment to the sciences. Increased devotion “could be a watershed event in terms of impacting our country,” he said.

Pelosi expressed a similar sentiment. “[We] need you to validate what we do in this legislature … We need you as advocates to get this package passed [because] it won’t be without resistance,” she said.

Other congressional contributors to the discussion included Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), George Miller (D-Calif.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.). Gordon is the chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology.

University president emeritus Harold Shapiro GS ’64, Wilson School professor and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change member Michael Oppenheimer, and astrophysics professor and director of the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering Jeremiah Ostriker also attended the conference. They were joined by scientists, businessmen and educators from the Association of American Universities, the American Chemical Society, Harvard’s Program on Science, Technology and Public Policy, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Intel Corporation, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Human Genome Research Institute, Merck Research Laboratories, MIT, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.