UNIVERSITY RESEARCH: Heyday of science seen as over

This week about 300 experts meet in a national town meeting of sorts at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., to ponder the key issue facing U.S. research universities: their future. Because of the many financial, political, and social pressures bearing down on these institutions today, most believe more than ever that the salad days of science in academia are over, and that upheavals are certain for the future. Focus of the two-day meeting, sponsored by NAS's Government-University-Industry Roundtable, will be an urgently worded discussion paper entitled "Fateful Choices." It outlines the vast changes affecting academic research and describes future scenarios. The paper was prepared by a panel headed by former National Science Foundation director Erich Bloch. The meeting and its final report are expected to set in motion a whole series of roundtable dialogues. The panel says four basic phenomena are affecting the academic profile—the changing nature of research, ...