家:大学应该加大对科研的投入

Experts: Colleges Should Invest More in Research

Vaccines¹. Popular sports drinks. Computers.

Each one of these subjects is different from the others. But all three have something in common: they were all invented by researchers working at a college or university.

Scientific invention and cultural exploration have been connected with higher education institutions for hundreds of years.

Victoria McGovern says this is because colleges and universities would be limiting themselves if they only taught existing knowledge. McGovern is a senior program officer with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, an organization that supports medical research in the United States and Canada.

McGovern argues that the search for new knowledge is what leads to greater discoveries and better education.

“It’s a very good idea to connect the discovery of new things to the teaching of new students,” she told VOA, “because you don’t want people who come out of their education thinking that the world around them is full of solved problems. You want people to come out of an education excited about solving problems themselves.”

But she notes that research costs money and most colleges and universities do not have a lot of extra money for that purpose. Most schools have limited budgets and many competing goals and needs.

So a big part of being a researcher at a college or university is asking for financial support from other places, McGovern says. Such places include private companies and organizations like hers, as well as local and national governments.

The National Institutes of Health, or NIH, is one example. The NIH is the main government agency in the U.S. that supports medical and public health research. The NIH provides about $32 billion a year for health research.

Researchers must apply for this financial support by writing a grant proposal explaining the goals and processes involved in their work. McGovern says the application process for grant money is highly competitive². It can be very difficult for some researchers, especially those who are not skilled at expressing themselves in writing.

“In day to day life, you get too busy…to think about the big picture,” McGovern said. “How often do you, in your personal life, say ‘Here’s what I want to be doing exactly one year from now?’ When you write a grant, that’s what you’re talking about.”

McGovern added: “It’s hard for individuals, sometimes, to tell whether what they’ve written down is the best writing that they could have done.”

Kristine Kulage argues that it is now more difficult than ever for university researchers to get funding. Kulage is the director of research and scholarly development at the Columbia University School of Nursing in New York City.

She has been working in university research for 20 years. She says that the grant application process has only gotten longer and more complex.

Kulage told VOA, “Researchers don’t have time to conduct their research, write their grants and learn how to use all of these new systems through which they have to submit their grants.”

She said in addition to all those responsibilities, researchers must make sure they are compliant³ with regulations.

“There are so many rules now…It takes individuals who are now trained as research administrators⁴ to know what those rules are…And know whether or not the rules are being followed,” she said.

Kulage suggests that schools now must do more to support their researchers if they want to successfully earn grant money. Last November, she published a study of what happened when Columbia’s School of Nursing chose to better support its researchers.

The report studied how, between 2012 and 2016, the school chose to invest $127,000 in the creation⁵ of a support system. This system includes employing administrators to complete necessary application documents, freeing researchers to spend more time on their research.

The system also provides a review process in which researchers go through several steps before they submit a grant proposal. First, researchers must write a short, clear description of the aims of their project. Researchers often have difficulty explaining their work to people with no special knowledge of the subject matter, Kulage said. So, Columbia administrators with no involvement in the research read the description and offer criticism.

Other researchers also review the description to offer their ideas about whether or not the goals of the research can be reached.

Finally, after changes are made to the proposal, administrators and other researchers meet with the grant writers. They then hold a review meeting similar to what the grant-writers will face once they have submitted their proposal.

Normally, the group offering the grant will meet with the proposal writers and ask them questions. They expect the writers to defend their proposal.

In this practice meeting, the grant writers get a chance to think about their project more and better prepare their defense⁶ of it.

Kulage says the efforts of Columbia’s Schools of Nursing had clear results. Over the five years studied, the proposals that went through the review process were about twice as likely to be accepted as those that did not. The Columbia School of Nursing’s investment of $127,000 led to $3 million in grant funding.

McGovern and Kulage both agree that applying for research funding alone is very difficult. So, even having one other person read a proposal and give their opinions can be very important to its success.

Kulage admits that large companies carry out a lot of research and development. But their research usually relates to success in their industry. University researchers are different. They have the freedom to take risks on possibly unpopular ideas.

Those risks can often lead to important discoveries that colleges and universities have a responsibility to share with the world, she says.

I’m Pete Musto. And I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

institution(s) – n. an established organization

apply – v. to ask formally for something, such as a job, admission to a school or a loan, usually in writing

grant – n. an amount of money that is given to someone by a government or a company to be used for a particular purpose, such as scientific research

funding – n. an amount of money that is used for a special purpose

conduct – v. to plan and do something, such as an activity

submit – v. to give a document, proposal, or piece of writing to someone so that it can be considered or approved

compliant – adj. agreeing with a set of rules, standards, or requirements

regulation(s) – n. an official rule or law that says how something should be done

review – n. an act of carefully looking at or examining the quality or condition of something or someone

practice – n. a regular occasion at which you do something again and again in order to become better at it

1 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

2 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

3 compliant   

adj.服从的，顺从的

参考例句：

• I don't respect people who are too compliant.我看不起那种唯命是从，唯唯诺诺的人。
• For years I had tried to be a compliant and dutiful wife.几年来，我努力做一名顺从和尽职尽职的妻子。

4 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

5 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。