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* U N I V E R S I T Y F U S I O N A S S O C I A T I O N
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* News and Information
| MAR 27, 2000
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. UFA WEB SITE LISTS PROGRAMS OF STUDY IN PLASMAS AND FUSION SCIENCE

2. SUPPORT URGED FOR CONGRESSIONAL SCIENCE FUNDING LETTER

3. FUSION COMMUNITY REQUESTS FULL FUNDING FOR RESTRUCTURED PROGRAM

4. SUPPORT URGED FOR BILL ON ADVANCED COMPUTING

5. MSNBC WEB ARTICLE ON FUSION RESEARCH AT PPPL

 

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1. UFA Web Site Lists Programs of Study for
Plasma and Fusion Sciences
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In an effort to provide prospective students who are interested in courses
of study in plasma and fusion science and technology, we have constructed a
simple web page which provides links to almost all of the university and
college programs pursuing research in plasmas and fusion. It is included
in the UFA web site at:

http://plasma.ep.wisc.edu/ufa/

It would be very helpful for representatives from each program to check our
listing and send us any corrections as needed. Also, we would be
interested in finding out about programs missed altogether.

A single listing such as this shows the breadth and depth of educational
opportunities for students interested in plasma and fusion science and
technology. We urge all of our members to let interested students at their
institutions know of opportunities for advanced study in our field.

 

 

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2. Support Needed for Science Funding Letter
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(to UFA members:
The following note has come from the American Institute of Physics Bulletin
of Science Policy News, and we bring it to your attention due to its
importance for funding of all DOE programs. We urge you to express support
for the letter to the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee)

 

 

 

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 11:32:56 -0500 (EST)
From: AIP listserver <fyi@aip.org>
To: fyi-mailing@aip.org
Subject: FYI #33 - Important Letter on Science Funding

FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 33: March 23, 2000

Signatures Sought For Letter to Appropriators on FY 2001 Science Funding

Congress is now working on the bills that will fund basic
scientific research in FY 2001. As part of that process,
decisions have to be made about how much money each
appropriations subcommittee will have to spend. This money is
known as the 302(b) allocation, and is vital to what kind of bill
a subcommittee can produce. The higher the 302(b), the better.
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has often remarked that the
subcommittee funding NSF and NASA lives or dies by its 302(b)
allocation.

Although the economy is booming, the federal budget is tight.
Last week, the chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee
with jurisdiction over the Department of Energy predicted that
his allocation would probably be flat, although there could be a
minor increase or decrease.

Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) is heading up an effort to get his fellow
representatives to sign a letter to the chairman and senior
Democratic member of the full House Appropriations Committee
urging that they "assign a high priority to basic scientific
research in the FY 2001 appropriations process." Earlier this
week, Ehlers sent a "Dear Colleague" letter asking fellow
representatives to sign this letter to the House appropriators.

Representatives receive many Dear Colleague letters every week.
They are more likely to respond to such a letter if they hear
from their constituents. The text of the letter to be sent to
Chairman C.W. Bill Young (R-FL) and Ranking Minority Member David
R. Obey (D-WI), with a copy to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert
(R-IL), follows. This letter will be sent Monday, March 27.

The main telephone number for the House of Representatives is
202-224-3121. Reference can be made to the Dear Colleague from
Rep. Ehlers regarding the letter to Young and Obey on funding for
basic scientific research.

***************
The Honorable C. W. Bill Young
Chairman, House Appropriations Committee
United States House of Representatives

The Honorable David R. Obey
Ranking Minority Member, House Appropriations Committee
United States House of Representatives

Dear Sirs:

We ask you, in the strongest words possible, to assign a high
priority to basic scientific research in the FY 2001
appropriations process. In particular, we ask you to ensure that
the appropriations subcommittees funding key agencies are
provided with sufficient 302b allocations to allow adequate
funding for both national priorities and science. We are
particularly concerned that the research conducted by the
National Science Foundation, NASA, NOAA, NIST, the Department of
Energy, and the National Institutes of Health is adequately
supported.

As you know, within the appropriations subcommittees, science
competes with other high priority items such as veteran's health
care, housing, and education programs such as headstart. If
faced with limited budget allocations, we are concerned that
funding for science may take a back seat to these other important
congressional priorities. As stated in "Unlocking Our Future:
Toward a New National Science Policy," a report adopted by the
full House, "To maintain our nation's economic strength and
international competitiveness, Congress should make stable and
substantial federal funding for fundamental scientific research a
high priority."

Shortchanging science in this year's appropriations process would
be particularly worrisome given that much of our current economic
success results from past federal investment made in basic
research. In June of last year, Alan Greenspan noted that:
"Something special is happening in the U.S. Economy's remarkable
run of economic growth that appears to have its roots in ongoing
advances in technology." Just last month, Alfred R. Berkeley,
III, President of the NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc., stated that
"Historically, we have seen that discoveries made in science and
engineering arenas have propelled our economy forward by paving
the way for breakthroughs in technology that in turn spawn
entirely new industries."

We must also work to ensure balanced growth in research support
across all scientific disciplines. This is particularly important
because breakthroughs in one area of science often lead to
unexpected breakthroughs in other areas. For example, many
recent advances in biomedical research would not have possible
were it not for knowledge obtained first through advances in the
physical sciences and engineering.

Mr. Speaker, we understand the limitations facing you in this
year's appropriations process. However, we have a responsibility
to ensure our nation's continued prosperity and the most sensible
way to do this is by investment in basic scientific research.
Failure to do so is the equivalent of eating the seed corn
necessary for our future economic success. With this in mind,
we urge your consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

 

 

CC: The Honorable Dennis Hastert, Speaker

 

###############
Richard M. Jones
Public Information Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301) 209-3095
##END##########

 

 

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3. Community Urges Congress to Support Fusion Energy Science
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Testimony is being submitted to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Water
Development to urge the Congress to support fusion energy science research
at the level of $300M/yr. This level is consistent with recommendations
from the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) review of teh fusion
program in 1999, the 1995 and 1997 reviews by the President's Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and plans for the next 5 to 15
years of resaerch in fusion energy science as developed by the Fusion
Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) in their Opportunites and
Priorities Study performed last year.

As stated in the letter:
"In light of these Reports, the fusion energy science community requests
that Congress fund the DOE/SC Office of Fusion Energy Science at $275M for
FY2001, as authorized by the House Science Committee, and that related
laser research be funded at $25M, to be allocated between DOE/DP Office of
Inertial Confinement Fusion and the DOE/SC Office of Fusion Energy Sciences
as deemed appropriate by the Subcommittee."

The letter notes that the Administrations proposed budget ($247M) would
result in a decrease in research activity from the 1999 level. It requests
a restoration of funds to the 1999 level plus additions to pursue the
balanced program recommended by SEAB. Examples of specific activities which
could be funded at the increased budget level are identified.

The letter has been signed by a range of representatives from the US
fusion community, including national lab directors, UFA Executive
committee members, and representatives from many universities and colleges engaged
in fusion science research.

The full text of the letter can be obtained at the UFA web site, in the
download section.

 

 

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4. Support Urged for Bill on Advanced Scientific Computing
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Subject: DRAFT Bingaman Bill on Advanced Scientific Computing

As some of you may know, the authorized funding level for the Advanced Scientific Computing Program--the DOE-IT initiative-- in the House National Information Technology R&D (NITRD ) bill was cut in half. Senator Bingaman is proposing a bill which in fact increases funding for DOE-IT, and hopefully will bring some balance to the funding debate when this program is scrutinized by the Appropriators.

The potential impact on DOE-related computing and netwrok resources are severe, and we encourage UFA
Members to contact their Senators urging them to sign onto the Bingaman bill as original cosponsors.

A list of talking pints concerning this issue is given below, and if you need any additional information or background, please see the UFA website (download area) for a table comparison of the budgets under the House bill (HR2086) and the draft Senate bill. For more detail, contact
L. David Cherington
Associate Director, Office of Government Affairs, Princeton University
202-639-8420
LDCHER@Princeton.edu

Talking points -------
Request for original cosponsors for a bill to correct deficiencies in H.R. 2086, the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act and thus support the Department of Energy (DOE) non-defense computing programs.
_________________________________

H.R. 2086, which passed the House on February 15, 2000, cuts funding to the DOE's non-defense computing programs by over _ from its current level of $119,071,000 down to $54,300,000 in FY 2001.

The potential impacts of this bill on the Nation's computing and network resources are severe and would be devastating to DOE laboratories and facilities and their users. The choices DOE would be faced with include:
1) the possible closure of the largest unclassified computing facility in the Nation, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC);
2) the possible termination of the Energy Science Network (ESNET), the network that serves the non-defense DOE laboratories and partners with DOE defense laboratories in purchasing and maintaining cost-effective networking services;
3) the possible termination of a number of graduate fellowships and research programs at several national laboratories; and,
4) the possible termination of a number of partnerships with industry including long-term contracts with IBM and QWEST Communications.

Senator Bingaman will introduce a bill during the week of March 20, 2000 to help rectify this situation. The draft bill (attached) will feature:
1) an open competition for funding;
2) a collaborative program to encourage partnerships between DOE program offices, universities and industry to develop solutions to networking and information technology problems that are critical to the achieving DOE missions; and,
3) management of funding provided to laboratories administered by the DOE/National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) by the sponsoring program of the Department and not the NNSA; and,
4) approximate parity in budget increases for DOE non-defense computing to what is proposed for the National Science Foundation in H.R. 2086.

A comparison of the budgets provided by current appropriations, the Administration budget request, the draft bill, and H.R. 2086 is also attached.

We seek original cosponsors to join us in introducing this legislation during the week of March 20, 2000.

Points of contact: Tim Fitzsimmons, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, minority staff x4-7934 (tim_fitzsimmons@energy.senate.gov) or Bob Simon, Director of the minority staff at x4-4103.

 

 

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5. Fusion Article on the Web: Join the MSNBC Poll!
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An article on the future of fusion research at PPPL, centered on the NSTX device, has been picked up on the MSNBC technology web site. In it, there is speculation that the recent rise in fuel costs will rekindle an interest in fusion. In addition, there is an on-line reader survey where you can express your opinion on when fusion power will be available. To see the article and the poll results, go to:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/381628.asp

 

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