SWCS Contributes to the AAAS Report XXXV

SWCS Contributes to the AAAS Report on Research & Development Budgets for Ag and Natural Resource Sciences

By Jim Gulliford, SWCS Executive Director

For 35 years, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has published a report summarizing Research and Development budgets proposed by the executive branch of the federal government. This summary is an important resource to the scientific community and policymakers as Congress establishes priorities and funding levels for programs that make up the federal government’s Research and Development portfolio.

For many years, the chapter on the US Department of Agriculture has been authored by members of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. However, for the first time this year, AAAS agreed to add a new chapter in PART III: DISCIPLINARY ANALYSES entitled “Food, Nutrition, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences in the FY 2011 Budget” (Chapter 27). I was invited to join the writing team for this chapter and was responsible for drafting the section on “Environment.”

This is a positive step for the support of agency research in many disciplines of the Society.

If you wish to review the entire publication, it can be found online at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/rdreport2011/.