February  • March 2006 • Vol. XXIV No. 3 • An Arnold Publication

From the Editor—

 Rising Above the Gathering Storm. . .

No, that’s not the title of a poem, but the title of a report published jointly and recently by the National Academy of Science, National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine. So what’s it all about?
The committees involved were charged with finding an answer to the following questions:

What are the top 10 actions, in priority order, that federal policy-makers could take to enhance the science and technology enterprise so that the United States can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st Century? What strategy, with several concrete steps, could be used to implement each of those actions?

During their research they found among other things and stated the following:

“Having reviewed trends in the United States and abroad, the committee is deeply concerned that the scientific and technical building locks of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength. We strongly believe that a worldwide strengthening will benefit the world’s economy—particularly in the creation of jobs in countries that are far less well-off than the United States. But we are worried about the future prosperity of the United States. Although many people assume that United States will always be a world leader in science and technology, this may not continue to be the case inasmuch as great minds and ideas exist throughout the world. We fear the abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost—and the difficulty of recovering a lead once lost, if indeed it can be regained at all.”

Did they come up with their 10 sets of recommendations and strategies? They did Among them was to “Annually recruit 10,000 science and mathematics teachers and thereby educating 10 million minds.”

I strongly recommend that, if you care about America, you find a copy of Rising Above the Gathering Storm and read it.

Right now the report is just words, but this editor thinks we need action to go with them.

                                                                                         C. H. Bush, editor