President Mary Sue Coleman helped lead a delegation of higher education leaders and researchers to Washington, D.C., last week, urging senators to find the resources to fund critical health and other scientific research despite a tight federal budget.
At a meeting of the Democratic Steering Committee chaired by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Coleman and others urged action to approve increased funding for the National Institutes of Health and other key agencies. She was joined by Johns Hopkins University President William Brody and 2006 Nobel Laureate Roger Kornberg, of Stanford, among others.
“Research is the key to improving the quality of life for Americans,” Coleman said. “It is the fuel that drives discovery that leads to innovation — innovation that creates new technologies, new industries, new jobs and, in the case of health research, saves lives.”
Coleman pointed to the state of Michigan, which is going through a major transformation of its economy. She said U-M is partnering with other universities to create new technologies and jobs for the future of the state.
“It is efforts like these — at Michigan and at universities and research facilities around the country — that will unleash the people and ideas of the next 50 years that will create new technologies, new industries and new jobs,” Coleman said.
The meeting was organized by The Science Coalition, a group of 50 research universities including U-M that works to advance the cause for federally funded basic research. A similar meeting is planned with Senate Republicans in the near future.
