Though the Obama Administration’s 2011 budget proposal bolsters funding for NIH and NSF by 3.2 and 8 percent respectively, other agencies—including NASA—are unlikely to see a budget increase, Grindlay says.

As Grindlay, who currently employs about six people working part time in his lab, was not sure whether astrophysics research will be covered by the budget increases, he is seeking private donors to support the project’s completion.

“It seems domestic basic research is [a priority] and for that were pleasantly surprised,” Casey says after arriving in Washington Monday night to seek lawmakers’ support for Obama’s budget proposal. “We look forward to defending that on the Hill.”

He adds that research funding has had bipartisan support in the past.

For now, Mitchison has secured enough funding to continue his project for another five years—and hire an additional technician.

But he says he suspects that the current spike in federal investment in research and development is only temporary.

“At some point [research spending] can’t keep growing more than the economy,” he says. “I certainly would have other priorities, as well as science, as to how my tax dollars get spent.”

—Staff writer William N. White can be reached at wwhite@fas.harvard.edu.