Economic Growth and the Harmful Effects of Student Loan Debt on Biomedical Research

Modern theories of economic growth emphasize the role of research and development (R&D) activities in determining a society's standard of living. In some advanced economies, however, higher education costs and the level of indebtedness among graduates have increased dramatically during recent years. Student loans are evident throughout the Western world, particularly in the United States, and within the bio-medical sciences. In this paper the authors develop a basic model of economic growth in order to investi-gate the effects of biomedical graduates indebtedness on the allocation of human re-source in the R&D activities, and thus on the process of economic growth. Using this modified model to understand the consequences of the rising cost in biomedical educa-tion, we derive a 'science-growth curve' (a relation between the share of pure researcher and the economy rate of growth), and we find two possible effects of biomedical stu-dent indebtedness on economic growth: specifically, a composition effect and a productivity effect. First, we outline the Romer's classical growth model, and we apply it to a 'biomedical' knowledge-based economy, and second, the model is developed by factoring the difference between pure and applied biomedical research. The 'biomedical science sector' is one of the key pillars of modern knowledge-based economy. The costs of higher education in biomedical sciences and the graduates level of indebtedness represent, not only a great problem of equality of opportunity, but also a serious threat to future prosperity of the advanced economies

Foreign language educators’ exposure to research: reported experiences, exposure via citations, and a proposal for action

This article reports on 2 connected studies that provide data about the flow of research to foreign language (FL) educators in majority Anglophone contexts. The first study investigated exposure to research among FL educators in the United Kingdom using 2 surveys (n = 391; n = 183). The data showed (a) some limited exposure to research via professional association publications and events, (b) negligible direct exposure to publications in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), (c) barriers to exposure caused by poor physical and conceptual access, despite generally positive perceptions of research, and (d) the importance of university‐based teacher educators for research–practice interfaces. The second study investigated the potential for indirect exposure to research from 7 professional publications over 5 years in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We systematically reviewed the extent to which these professional publications referenced 29 SSCI journals that aim to publish pedagogy‐relevant research. In our corpus of 8,516 references in 284 articles in professional journals, the mean proportion of references to all 29 SSCI journals, combined, was 12.43% per professional article. The overall mean number of references to each SSCI journal was 0.17 per professional article. The emerging picture is rather bleak, and we propose action from academic journals and researchers to promote a more international, systematic, and sustainable flow of research

Long-Lived Digital Data Collections: Enabling Research and Education in the 21st Century: Report of the National Science Board (Pre-publication draft, Approved by the National Science Board May 26, 2005, subject to final editorial changes.)

From the Executive Summary of the 67 page Report: The National Science Board (NSB, the Board) recognizes the growing importance of these digital data collections for research and education, their potential for broadening participation in research at all levels, the ever increasing National Science Foundation (NSF, the Foundation) investment in creating and maintaining the collections, and the rapid multiplication of collections with a potential for decades of curation. In response the Board formed the Long-lived Data Collections Task Force. The Board and the task force undertook an analysis of the policy issues relevant to long-lived digital data collections. This report provides the findings and recommendations arising from that analysis. The primary purpose of this report is to frame the issues and to begin a broad discourse. Specifically, the NSB and NSF working together â with each fulfilling its respective responsibilities â need to take stock of the current NSF policies that lead to Foundation funding of a large number of data collections with an indeterminate lifetime and to ask what deliberate strategies will best serve the multiple research and education communities. The analysis of policy issues in Chapter IV and the specific recommendations in Chapter V of this report provide a framework within which that shared goal can be pursued over the coming months. The broader discourse would be better served by interaction, cooperation, and coordination among the relevant agencies and communities at the national and international levels. Chapters II and III of this report, describing the fundamental elements of data collections and curation, provide a useful reference upon which interagency and international discussions can be undertaken. The Board recommends that the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) take the lead in initiating and coordinating these interagency and international discussions

Communicating science

Communication is essential to the STEM professions. It is about explaining the importance of your work to colleagues, grant panels, funding agencies, the media, and project reviewers; publishing your research; and informing and educating citizens, and sometimes policy makers and industry leaders. It is also involved in building collaborative relationships, bringing and keeping teams together (e.g., in your laboratory, your institution, or across the world), and becoming recognized for your professional expertise. The ability to communicate effectively is not just an innate quality that one either does or does not possess. It is a set of skills that can and should be learned and developed, regardless of your starting point. Indeed, some people seem more naturally adept than others, and STEM women do tend to communicate differently than their male counterparts. It is also important to note that, regardless of how important a topic or issue may be to us, we cannot assume that our audience will share our motivation and perspective and/or have the knowledge and background to be able to understand the information that we are trying to convey, which creates another challenge for effective communication. However, through conscious effort, practice, and constructive feedback, everyone can and should aim to improve. This can be achieved by becoming familiar with and by practicing using different modes of communication when interacting with STEM professionals, the public, and the media, by learning from role models and exemplars, and by committing to continuously developing your skills