Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site pur-phy.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!ihnp1!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H:pur-phy!piner From: piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: APS "What's New" Message-ID: <1824@pur-phy.UUCP> Date: Thu, 1-Aug-85 01:19:47 EDT Article-I.D.: pur-phy.1824 Posted: Thu Aug 1 01:19:47 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 2-Aug-85 06:12:13 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., IN Lines: 65 Posted: Fri Jul 19, 1985 12:51 PM EDT Msg: OGIF-2036-3540 From: RPARK To: WHATSNEW CC: RPark Subj: What's New WHAT'S NEW, Friday, July 19, 1985 Washington, D.C. 1. THE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FACILITIES REVITALIZATION ACT of 1985 (H.R. 2823) introduced by Representative Don Fuqua (D-FL), chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, would authorize the creation of university and college research laboratory modernization programs in the major federal R&D agencies. The federal share of the 10 year program would be about $5 billion, which is expected to leverage another $5 billion in non-federal funds, but would be indexed to the annual level of federally supported R&D performed at univer- sities and colleges. The bill contains a critical provision to protect the base of university R&D funding so that laboratory modernization would not be an undue tax on funding for research grants. This provision prevents the facility programs, once established, from growing any faster than the R&D base during years of increased R&D funding. It also provides that in a year in which R&D funding is cut 10% or more, the program would drop to zero. Modernization funds will go to smaller institu- tions at least in proportion to their share of other research funds. Much of the stimulation for the current legislation results from the controversy over pork barrel funding of science facilities which in recent years has threatened the entire system of merit-based support for science. 2. THE CUBAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY invited three Americans to speak at their third symposium in Santiago June 27-29. The symposium attracted more than 100 papers by Cuban authors. The Cuban economy is in serious difficulty as a result of the economic blockade by the United States and the low price of sugar on the world market. These economic difficulties are clearly hampering their attempts to improve science and move into high technology. The government urges an emphasis on experimental physics to benefit their technological development, but in view of the extreme shortage of research facilities and equipment, they could perhaps make a greater contribution in theory. In addition to research equipment, they have serious deficiencies in their libraries and they are anxious to have American physicists, particularly in areas related to solid state electronics, visit Cuba and lecture on recent developments. They would also like to send some of their better physics students to the United States for further study. According to Congressman George Brown (D-CA), who traveled to Cuba with Representative Don Ritter (R-PA) at about the same time, even the Russians would welcome a normalization of Cuban-U.S. relations. The Soviets are awash with sugar obtained from Cuba as payment on their debt, but are seriously short of hard currency. A current joke in Moscow is of a Russian who returns from a visit to the United States. When asked what things were like he replies, "It is just like here, you can buy nothing with rubles and anything you want with dollars." Robert L. Park American Physical Society THAT'S ALL 7/19/85