Linden Rhoads: If there was ever a time for the state to increase, rather than cut, support for its research universities, it’s right now. Why? Because this investment will produce significant return — in the form of boosting the state of Washington’s economy and tax revenue — during the next two years.
At the least, the state should encourage economic development by giving University of Washington regents authority over tuition. Regents have this authority at nearly every other flagship state university in the country, and at all of UW’s true competitors.
Research at the UW is a $1 billion a year business. Typically, research grants run on a five-year cycle. Because the federal stimulus package is intended to speed economic recovery in addition to funding projects that benefit the public, the cycle is compressed. The funds must be spent, and results delivered, within just two years.
Here’s the problem. To apply for and win research grants, you need researchers.
But here at the UW, actual and anticipated state budget cuts have led many departments to let temporary research appointments lapse and to postpone hiring researchers.
Sound economic development strategy for our state requires reversing the cuts and investing more, so that UW and other research institutions can increase their capacity to carry out research funded by the stimulus package —research whose dollar value vastly exceeds the salaries in question.
Once a researcher gets a grant, it immediately leads to more hiring, using the federal grant funds. That’s because the pressure to produce results within two years cannot be met solely by relying on the normal graduate-student development cycle. Universities will scoop up available scientists and postdocs (researchers with doctorates).
Again, this could not happen at a better time. As a result of the recession, private industry has cut research and development budgets and laid off researchers. By hiring them, universities and other nonprofit research centers help retain professional workers in our state, contributing to consumer demand and helping to turn around the housing market.
The state of Washington also will benefit by having this research deployed and commercialized in this region.
The Internet provides a wonderful example. UW brought ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network) to the Pacific Northwest in 1980, when there were fewer than 200 computers on what was eventually to become the Internet. Working with Boeing and other partners, UW established NorthWestNet as one of 11 National Science Foundation regional networks a few years later.
This was the direct precursor of the commercial Internet. UW led the design of the state K-20 Educational Telecommunications Network, which a decade ago brought higher ed-style Internet services to all of the K-12 school districts in the state, as well as to all of the community and technical colleges and all four-year institutions.
The Pacific Northwest GigaPOP, which grew out of UW, provides connectivity across the Northern Tier to partners in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, and Hawaii, as well as across the state of Washington.
With this history, no one will be surprised that UW again plays a central role in supplying broadband statewide. Our researchers are mindful of new technologies, of the existing infrastructure, and of the commercial milieu, yet they are independent. They are uniquely positioned to develop the best forward-looking plans for the benefit of the citizens.
The same is true of other technologies. By having the expertise here, the work gets done here. We develop infrastructure and an experienced work force from prototype to commercial deployment. As a region we gain a shared knowledge about the possibilities, the challenges, and the tradeoffs.
As one of the nation’s top research institutions, UW is a magnet for highly educated, talented people who make breakthroughs that lead to the new ideas, new products, and startup companies that are vital to the economic development of our state.
Strengthening funding for university researchers now will pay off in the form of jobs, demand for goods and services, tax revenue, and scientific breakthroughs that lead to a better quality of life.
Linden Rhoads is vice provost for UW TechTransfer at the University of Washington.
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