June 4, 2008

Universities Should Spend More of Their Own Money on Young Researchers, American Academy Says

By Jeffrey Brainard

Washington

Universities need to cut back on faculty positions solely supported by outside grants because grant-dependent scientists are reluctant to embark on risky—but potentially groundbreaking—research, according to a blue-ribbon panel of university presidents and Nobel laureates.

That's the most startling conclusion of a report released on Tuesday by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The report also repeats a now widely shared diagnosis of what ails American science: a