Stimulus may mean more research dollars for Penn scientists

If President Barack Obama's stimulus plan passes the Senate this week, large research-based institutions like Penn will receive funding toward scientific research, in addition to financial aid and study abroad initiatives.

The increased research funding will impact the entire University, said School of Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis, but the focal point will be the sciences. For Penn, she said, this means improvements in health care information technology and informatics.

"In this electronic age, we need to prepare our students well for the health care field with improved technology," she said.

Funding from the stimulus will go to the National Institutes of Health, Penn's primary grantor of research money for the School of Medicine and science programs. The amount Penn projects receive will depend on which other institutions apply.

However, Deputy Dean of Engineering George Pappas predicted that a large amount will go to Penn.

University President Amy Gutmann agreed. "We expect to get significant research dollars to the NIH, which is awarded on a competitive basis," she said. "Penn is the second largest recipient in the nation of the NIH."

According to College Dean Dennis DeTurck, "Everyone from professors [and] graduate students to undergraduate students in all the schools will feel the impact of an increase in funding to the University." He added that the bill will assist students wishing to do research over the summer.

The University regains more than half the money spent on research, Physics professor Evelyn Thomson said, because it leads to improved technological infrastructure like electricity and Internet.

Because of the current state of the economy, many research projects were cancelled or postponed due to insufficient financial support, she added. Increased research funding would allow for more experimentation, better support for graduate students and a variety of summer research opportunities for undergraduate students.

Thomson, who conducts research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, said the lab had to cut engineers and scientists due to budget constraints last year.

"More funding would mean that Fermi Lab can continue to run" her experiment after July this year, she said.

Pappas said if the stimulus bill passes, the National Science Foundation will receive between $1 and 3 billion, which must be spent within a very short time - around 120 days.

As a result, he said, universities will lack sufficient time to launch new programs or projects.

"I suspect that research proposals submitted some time ago and currently under review may be the major beneficiaries of the stimulus package," he said.

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