Innovation in Science Needed

According to a report from the National Science Board, declines in the funding of public research universities, such as the University of New Hampshire, might decrease the ability to get a quality science education.

The report explains that enrollment at public research universities is rising, but funding is declining. This will not only affect universities; it will affect this country’s science jobs if no one is well-educated enough to do those jobs.

There will be a rising need for innovation. The science board report explains that “the public university is a contributor to and competitor in an increasingly intertwined global market­place of knowledge production and innovation. A primary way they make this contribution is through the education and training of our nation’s scientists and engineers and performing research that will generate new knowledge, a vital building block to innovation.”

UNH is the only public research university in the Granite State.

Jan Nisbet, senior vice provost for research at UNH, says in an article for Foster’s Daily Democrat, “New Hampshire needs an innovation ecosystem to maintain its high-quality standard of living.”

My question is: how will this affect science writing in this country? We need to think of new ideas that will encourage our students, professors, and general public to learn and to engage with science. We need to generate knowledge. This is my goal, to make science interesting and understandable for everyone.

* Read the science board’s press release from the National Science Foundation.