Recovery Act Scores Trifecta by Stimulating Science

To most people, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is about creating jobs. So, why should it include more than $327 million in new funding announced early this month go toward scientific research, instrumentation, and laboratory infrastructure projects?

The answer is that job creation, while the primary concern, is not the only consideration the Obama Administration has when deciding where to put our tax dollars. If possible, they like to see projects that provide long-lasting benefits that keep on giving long after the jobs are created.

In addition to immediate job creation, dollars spent on scientific research stimulate advances in the technology our society depends on, and generate business for high technology companies. That's a trifecta that few infrastructure projects - and no make-work projects - can equal.

An example is the approximately $60 million provided to Fermilab in Batavia, IL that, combined with over $40 million provided earlier this year, is providing dividends in all three areas.

On the jobs front, science projects funded by the Act require expansions of facilities built by construction workers, electricians, and all the other trades needed to put up new buildings. Of course, jobs are also created for the scientists, engineers, and support people who do the science. And, don't forget the jobs for teachers, policemen, grocery store clerks, bank managers, and everyone else in the local communities where those scientists, engineers, and support people - and their families - work and live. One of the things they taught us in MBA school was that for every job you create directly, several additional jobs are created indirectly.

In addition, advanced-science projects generally require developments of new technology along the way. For example, research at Fermilab aimed at making more advanced particle accelerators, also funded by the Act, is developing new superconducting materials that can be used in a wide range of applications from medical imaging to more efficient electricity distribution.

Finally, researchers developing those magnets will purchase the bismuth-based material from US vendors to conduct cabling and coil studies, and will partner with businesses to encourage industrial fabrication of high-field magnets, an effort that could result in cutting edge technologies for other applications.

Similar results accrue from other science projects being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While some observers may question the value of earmarking tens of millions of dollars of recovery funds to make jobs for a few scientists, better informed people recognize that spending on scientific research provides big tangible returns even before gaining the intangible returns of expanding our understanding of the Universe.