OU PROFESSOR STORMS CAPITOL HILL

NORMAN – Educators know that financial funding can be very important in continuing research endeavors, allowing for a better educational environment for students and teachers alike. Any researcher, scientist or teacher would like to receive special funding for a project, but how many people actively lobby to keep the money flowing?

Charles Rice, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma, recently traveled to Washington, D.C., as a representative of the American Chemical Society, lobbying Congress for increased funding of the National Science Foundation.

“As a nation, we have always been on the cutting edge of scientific discovery, from the polio vaccine to space exploration. We risk losing that edge,” Rice said. “The NSF provides scientists all over the country the funds needed to complete important research and maintain our place in the scientific world.”

Rice was one of two chemists selected by the ACS to attend the event on Sept. 12 and 13, and joined more than 100 other scientists, engineers and technicians from more than 30 scientific associations and societies nationwide.

“It was an honor to represent the university, the state of Oklahoma and the scientific community in this very important endeavor,” Rice said.

On Capitol Hill, Rice met with the staff of Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, Sen. Tom Coburn and Rep. Tom Cole to urge support of President Bush’s budget request for increased federal investment at the NSF, which would double the budget within 10 years.

“I was very encouraged by their interest in the science we are doing here at OU,” Rice said. “They asked very pertinent questions and seemed genuinely interested. One expressed interest in visiting my lab to see first-hand how the funding is utilized.”

As of Oct. 16, a preliminary appropriations bill has come out of the House of Representatives and the Senate, pertaining to the funding for the NSF. The next step will be for all funding and spending, including the budget for the NSF and any other organizations, to be lumped together into one giant omnibus, or appropriations bill. Scientists will not learn if their efforts have been fruitful until after the bill is voted on in November or December, after elections have been held.