CORRECTION APPENDED

Harvard may benefit from a plan unveiled by President Bush in last night’s State of the Union address to double research funding in the physical sciences over the next decade.

“This funding will support the work of America’s most creative minds as they explore promising areas such as nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources,” Bush told the nation last night.

Harvard has already established a foothold in the field of nanotechnology—the study and development of devices on the scale of a nanometer, which is one-millionth of a meter*. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW.]

For the sake of comparison, a human hair is approximately 80,000 nanometers in width, according to the federal National Nanotechnology Initiative’s website.

Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences created the predecessor to the Center for Nanoscale Systems in January 1999, when then-Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles sought to facilitate cutting-edge research in this field.

Since 2004, the Harvard center has been part of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, which receives federal aid.

While a potential boost in federal research funds for nanotechnology and other fields would be welcomed by Harvard, it certainly does not come as a surprise. The University’s lobbyists as well as other higher education advocates had expected that the Bush address would include a commitment to strengthening science research and education.

Both Bush and his chief of staff, Andrew H. Card, discussed reports last month that raised concern about the nation’s global competitiveness in science and engineering.

Bush received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1975, and Card is a 1980 graduate of the Kennedy School of Government.

Harvard’s senior director of federal and state relations, Kevin Casey, wrote in an e-mail earlier this week, “It is always a positive development when issues of priority to the higher-education community are mentioned” in the State of the Union.

In his address, Bush responded to worries that American scientific innovation—and the economic prosperity that accompanies it—may be eclipsed by that of other countries.

“We cannot afford to be complacent. In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors like China and India,” Bush said.

In addition to his proposal to increase federal funds for science research, Bush also advocated making the research and development tax credit permanent to spur innovation in the private sector.

And as a further component of his “American Competitiveness Initiative,” he proposed training 70,000 high school teachers to teach advanced-placement courses in math and science, as well as bringing 30,000 professional mathematicians and scientists to teach in schools.

Associate Professor of Government William G. Howell said that Bush’s domestic agenda “looks pretty fractured” compared with the president’s broad vision of American championing of the freedom overseas, especially in the Middle East.

Howell said that Bush’s domestic proposals, including the competitiveness initiatives, “don’t have the scope of past initiatives like reforming Medicare and Medicaid, like reforming social security.”

—Staff writer Lois E. Beckett can be reached at lbeckett@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

*Due to an editing error, the Feb. 1 news article, “Bush Promises Boost for Science,” misstated the size of a nanometer. It is a billionth of a meter, not a millionth.