Despite expectations of a budget surplus and new proposals to increase funding, great uncertainty still surrounds the fate of federal spending on science and technology. Although science and technology have fared relatively well in recent years, caps on discretionary spending and other pressures raise concern over the place of R&D funding in the federal budget. At the same time, the congressional agenda is increasingly dominated by issues involving science and technology.

Our regional science and technology studies help both lawmakers and the research community better understand the current state of federal support for R&D and the impacts of federal R&D spending. They provide oft-requested information to Congress and the public about the role of science and technology, including federal, state, and industrial R&D, in the economies of key regions. They also provide information to the scientific and engineering communities, both industrial and academic, about the effects of trends in public and private sector R&D spending.

Each regional science and technology study is usually presented at a meeting in the region being examined. The Center works with local and regional planning groups to organize these meetings. Our studies provide background information on the region's R&D activity and its role in the regional and national economy, the distribution of federal R&D funding in the region, major state or industrial R&D initiatives and government-industry-university partnerships, and the potential future impacts of trends in federal, state, and private sector R&D spending. We invite high-profile local speakers to discuss their perspectives on the regional implications of national science and technology policies. These speakers include local, state, and federal officials (including Members of Congress), local industrial and financial leaders, prominent local researchers, university officials, and scholars knowledgeable about the region's economic, political, and social dimensions.

The Center provides copies of the studies to members of the relevant congressional delegation prior to the meetings and hosts a staff briefing on the Hill afterward. We work actively to ensure press coverage of both the studies and the meetings and provide copies of resulting articles to Members of Congress and staff.

Studies on the future of science and technology in Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, the Gulf States, the Midwest, New England, the Pacific Northwest, Pennsylvania, and the South Atlantic  have been completed. They are available on-line in their entirety. Note: Georgia is covered in two separate reports, one which is specifically on Georgia, and also in the more recent report on the South Atlantic.

Hard copies of the reports are available from the AAAS Center for Science, Technology, and Congress, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005, 202/289-4950 (fax), congress_center@aaas.org, $8.95 plus $2.50 shipping and handling.

For more information
on federal science and technology, visit the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Project web site.