"The best thing we can do for the future of this country is increase our investment in basic science," Ernie Blazar, a spokesman of Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., said on Tuesday. Bond is a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.
Called the "Tech Talent Bill," the legislation would earmark $25 million for tech-education grants in 2002. Federal officials indicated that the pilot program created by the bill would competitively award three-year grants to universities, colleges and community colleges. Bill sponsors said funding could increase to $200 million per year depending on the results of the pilot program.
"Federal officials have been wringing their hands about the quality of undergraduate education and the inadequate numbers of scientists, mathematicians and engineers it produces, yet federal science funding slights undergraduate education," House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said in a written statement.
Boehlert and Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., are co-sponsoring the House bill along with a handful of other members.
Under the terms of the bill, the National Science Foundation would award the competitive grants to universities.
Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) President Rhett Dawson said he hadnt had time to review the bill, but strongly supported efforts to boost math and science funding.
"Well support virtually anything to get more mathematicians and scientists," Dawson said.
Even in the wake of the layoffs and dwindling profits that have plagued the high-tech industry in recent months, industry leaders remain concerned that U.S. universities do not produce enough engineers and computer scientists to meet the needs of technology companies.
Trade associations, such as the ITI and the Information Technology Association of America, have long lobbied Congress for increased funding of education in math and science and for increases in the number of high-tech-oriented H-1B visas doled out each year to foreign tech workers.
Dawson conceded that in light of recent layoffs, the push for more H-1Bs has moved to the back burner in the tech workforce debate.
David McGuire, Newsbytes
