Argonne Chief Robert Rosner Sees National Labs as an Engine of U.S. Innovation
By Michael Laff, AAAS; reprinted with permission from AAAS.
ARGONNE, Ill. (Jan. 23, 2006) — In the eyes of non-scientists, national laboratories
may symbolize a bygone era — secretive facilities in remote locations devoted
to projects such as atomic weapons. Many of the labs founded during the Cold
War era do exist today, but with a very different mission. They perform the
kind of long-term research that drives economic growth.
The importance of national labs as sites for unfettered research was the theme
of a Washington Science Policy Alliance lecture (download Rosner's
presentation – 16.4 MB PDF) delivered at AAAS by Robert Rosner,
director of the Argonne
National Laboratory in
Illinois. In the January 10 lecture, titled “The Role of the National Labs
Today,” Rosner sought to explain the need for continued support of national
labs in order to foster scientific innovation.
The impact of scientific and technological innovation upon economic growth
is often taken for granted. Yet research and development accounted for 50 percent
of growth in U.S. gross domestic product in the 20th century, according to
Rosner. In order for the United States to compete economically and counter
rising trade deficits, support for research and development is vital.
“If we can get ahead in technology by even a small amount, that can provide
a huge competitive advantage internationally,” Rosner said.
A prime example is the continued leadership of American corporations in developing
Internet technologies. Because the Internet was developed in the United States, the entire spectrum of products and services — such as servers, web browsers
and routers — is still dominated by American companies.
Prior to becoming director of
Argonne, Rosner had served as the institution's chief scientist since 2002.
Before that, he was chairman of astronomy and astrophysics at the University
of Chicago and still maintains a faculty appointment at the university.
To observers unfamiliar with recent scientific achievements, he told the AAAS
audience, national labs appear to be a “hammer looking for the nail,” survivors
of a bygone era without a concrete purpose. And he acknowledged that the overall
mission of national labs has changed substantially since their founding.
The earliest national labs such as Argonne, Ames, Los Alamos and Oak Ridge
grew out of the need to serve military interests, notably the Manhattan
Project. While the Department of Homeland Security is one of several current
federal co-sponsors, military and national security projects today represent
a much smaller portion of Argonne 's budget than was the case during the Cold
War. Today, the focus has shifted to serve national economic needs such as
energy consumption and efficiency, Rosner said.
Now in its 60th year with a $500 million budget and 3,000 employees on a 1,500-acre
campus southwest of Chicago, Argonne is a major scientific hub. Many of Argonne's
current initiatives follow Department of Energy protocols including producing
a more “environmentally benign” automobile, developing new energy technologies,
improving materials for industry through a better understanding of their basic
properties, probing the fundamental properties of matter on the atomic and
subatomic scales and developing computing technologies for large-scale simulations
of physical systems. On another front, lab researchers are collaborating with
the pharmaceutical industry to study disease prevention at the molecular level.
Without national labs, it is unlikely that any environment would exist to
promote free scientific inquiry, what Rosner termed “Jeffersonian science.” Unlike
academia and private enterprise, national labs can work on a five-to 10-year
research plan, manage large teams of interdisciplinary specialists and shift
focus in rapid response to suit current research trends.
“If national labs did not exist, they would have to be invented,” Rosner said.
While it may have lost its dominant position, in many ways Bell
Labs still serves as a model for the potential of large, independent
research labs, he explained.
When it was operated by AT&T, Bell Labs was the source of great research
innovations, foremost among them the transistor. Because AT&T used to operate
as a regulated monopoly, the lab could be operated without concerns about its
impact on the corporate balance sheet. As private industry abandoned pure research
facilities, independent labs devoted to long-term research began to fade. What
remains are federally supported national labs which provide a crucial jump-start
to the nation's economy.
Instead of competing with universities and industry as Bell Labs once did,
Rosner believes that national labs should work toward collaboration across
the continuum of research and industry. Universities provide the expertise
in the form of faculty scientists and students while industry provides the
demand for a particular innovation.
There are a number of obstacles to the continued viability of basic research,
according to Rosner. First is the historical suspicion of science in the United
States. Rosner mentioned the low scientific literacy rate as evidenced by
recent battles over intelligent design and the decreasing emphasis on science
in the grade school curriculum. American students are notoriously behind their
counterparts in the rest of the world in terms of scientific aptitude. In addition,
the community has to fight off the popular stereotype of its practitioners
as Dr. Strangelove-type doomsayers.
As long as the role of science remains misunderstood in the United States
national labs can provide a bridge between academia and industry, Rosner said.
Corporations are notoriously risk-averse and tend to shy away from high-risk,
costly investment projects that do not produce quick, profitable results. The
academic community presents its own roadblocks with a culture of “publish or
perish.” Grant funding decisions are typically made on a two- to three-year
timeframe that often stifles basic research.
“There is a need for large, unique facilities that conduct research in a directed
way,” Rosner said. “National labs can serve as the Bell Labs of the future.
The nation is in a global battle to remain 'healthy, wealthy and wise.' The
key to winning is strong and active collaboration between the national labs,
academia and industry.”
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology.
The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic
and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne
researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities,
and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific
problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for
a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed
by UChicago
Argonne, LLC for
the U.S.
Department of Energy's Office
of Science.
For more information, please
contact Steve McGregor (630/252-5580 or media@anl.gov)
at Argonne.
|