APR 19 1973

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109

DIVISION OF BICLOGY April 11 > 1973

To the Members of the National Academy of Sciences:

The actions of the present administration in regard to support of
students have created a crisis for biomedical science. Training grants
and fellowship support are being totally eliminated. This will ultimately
mean the termination of all federal support for graduate students and post-
doctoral fellows, as well as some faculty who have been partially supported
by the training grants. This will be the first time since 1948 that some
federal support for biomedical postdoctoral fellows is not available.

The result of the abolition of the NIH training grant program will be
a sharp reduction in the number of graduate students. For example, at
Caltech, the current plan is to taper the number of Biology Division
graduate students to less than half the present number (the same level
as that in 1957). Students without support will have to obtain other
sources of income which may, of course, reduce the quality of their training.
The effect will not be to improve the quality of the students--probably
the reverse.

Private sources of funds capable of supporting the cost of graduate
education do not exist. The clear result of the administration policy will
be to very seriously reduce our basic research potential and slow the rate
of advance of biomedical knowledge for many years.

The elimination of support for postdoctoral students will have an
even greater effect--this may indeed by the most critical aspect of the
fund reductions. These extra years of training and experience are now very
necessary. A significant fraction of the active front-line research in
the United States is now actually carried out by fellowship-supported
postdoctoral personnel.

The expenditure in support of postdoctoral students is actually
relatively small and the budgetary reduction obtained by its elimination
is minor in comparison with the very grave damage to biomedical science which
will follow if this policy is implemented.

I suppose we all feel that it is not desirable to reduce the future
number of trained scientists. Even if it were desirable, as the administra-
tion argues, the proposed policy is both brutal and wasteful. It is wasteful
because qualified students are being turned aside near the completion of
their training. It is brutal because students with every expectation of
completing their training with support through their postdoctoral years
are suddenly forced to stop in order to find immediate employment. Only a
To Members of the
National Academy of Sciences 2 April 11, 1973

fraction will survive and remain in basic research. The argument (applicable
to medical students) that advanced training leads to high future income
obviously does not hold for research scientists.

I feel that the academy must act in the strongest possible way to
protest the present situation and bring about public recognition of the
certain effects of the administration's reduction of support for graduate
and postdoctoral education. The situation is sufficiently serious to require
strong action! Certainly the academy should pass a resolution (such as that
appended) directly aimed at these questions at the spring meeting, and bring
it strongly to the attention of the administration in its classical role as
advisor to the Government. Beyond that, individual members should apply as
much pressure as they can to their individual congressmen. And a very broad
and general attempt should be made to inform Congress of the seriousness of
this issue, not only in biomedical areas, but in other areas of research.

If the academy permits this occasion to pass by without making an
effective protest and a real effort to reverse government policies and
recover the previous status of support of science, then its role as advisor
will be very seriously weakened and diminished in the future.

Yours,
9. eRe
Roy J. Britten

RJB: ek
RESOLUTION ON THE SUPPORT OF SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION

Preamble:

Actions and statements of the administration indicate that federal
support of predoctoral and postdoctoral students in basic biomedical science
will be totally eliminated. Private sources of funds capable of supporting
predoctoral and postdoctoral education do not exist. The effect of this
policy would be to reduce strongly the number of students and terminate
the education of many students. This will reduce future basic research
potential and slow the rate of advance of biomedical knowledge for many
years.

Therefore, be it resolved that all possible pressure be applied to the
Congress and the administration to reverse this policy and to continue at
the previous level the support of predoctoral and postdoctoral students,
including the funding of training grants and predoctoral and postdoctoral
fellowships.

This resolution, and an explanatory document, to be individually cir-
culated by the National Academy of Sciences, to all members of the House of
Representatives and the United States Senate, and the upper ranks of the
Administration.