A new government report – co-led by Patrick Reed, the Joseph C. Ford Professor in Cornell’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering – will help the U.S. realize emerging scientific opportunities over the next decade by providing strategies for upholding international research leadership in biological and environmental science.
The report, “U.S. Scientific Leadership: Addressing Energy, Ecosystems, Climate, and Sustainable Prosperity,” was published in December by the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee’s Subcommittee on International Benchmarking. Reed co-chairs the subcommittee, which produced the report at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“As technology, economies, and environmental threats evolve, so too must our national strategy when it comes to investing in science,” said Reed, who worked with 40 researchers over the past two years to produce the report. “This report provides comprehensive benchmarks for the program’s research investments from 2010 to 2021 and highlights emerging opportunities for maintaining research excellence in fields that study life – from the molecular scale, such as genomic biosciences, all the way to the global scale, such as climate science.”
Reed added that the report will help the Office of Biological and Environmental Research better understand future scientific opportunities, workforce concerns and strategies for addressing critical global challenges. The office supports thousands of scientists and students at more than 140 organizations, and has evolved to become an international leader in fields relevant to bioenergy and environmental microbiomes, biosystems design, environmental system science, and climate science.
“I hope our time and efforts prove impactful,” Reed said. “I am very grateful for the tremendous contributions from everyone who helped shape the unique scope and depth of insights this report offers.”
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