Richard L. Garwin: "R&D Opportunities and Needs for the Economic Transition"

With the United States struggling to recover from an historic recession, policymakers should work to strengthen the nation's economic foundation by enhancing the climate for innovation, physicist and inventor Richard L. Garwin told a AAAS audience.

Garwin, one of the most influential figures in science during the last half-century, said in the 2009 William D. Carey Lecture that the nation must use new approaches and new tools to innovate answers to a range of challenges now facing the planet. Research and development will be important in addressing energy, public health, education and other critical issues, Garwin said, but policymakers also must make more effective use of sophisticated analysis and computer-modeling in the search for solutions.

Failure to make the transition to a more productive, innovation-driven economy could undermine the nation's strength and threaten its standing as a global leader, Garwin said.

The late William Carey, for whom the annual lecture is named, served as executive officer of AAAS from 1975 to 1987; he played a pivotal role in shaping the environment in which U.S. science and technology grew and prospered. The lectureship, started in 1989, recognizes individuals who exemplify Carey's leadership in articulating public policy issues that arise from S&T fields.

To learn more about Garwin's wide-ranging address at AAAS, read the full story.