Washington

The main scientific advisory panel to the White House has joined a chorus of calls for more research funding for the physical sciences in the United States.

In a letter soon to be sent to President George W. Bush, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will call for a funding increase in fields such as physics and engineering, to match the five-year doubling of biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, which will be completed next year.

“All evidence points to a need to improve funding levels for physical sciences and certain areas of engineering,” says a draft of the letter, which was discussed by PCAST on 29 August and is expected to be formally agreed and sent within a few days.

Because Bush appointed PCAST only last year, and it comprises scientists and engineers friendly to the administration, lobbyists are optimistic that Bush will heed its advice. “I think this letter is a breath of fresh air,” says Michael Lubell, director of public affairs at the American Physical Society in Washington DC, which has advocated an increase for the past few years.

Lubell believes that the proposal will influence Bush and the Office of Management and Budget, which sets the president's annual budget — although he is not sure if it will influence the president's budget request for 2004, which is being drawn up now for release in February. “The 2004 presidential budget will be extraordinarily tight,” he says.

Some scientific societies were less happy that the letter failed to mention other disciplines, such as space science and mathematics, whose funding has languished in recent years. “I'm a little concerned about the way they worded this letter,” says Samuel Rankin, director of the American Mathematical Society in Washington DC.

But Lubell says he doesn't think that these fields are being left out. “I think they are implicitly included,” he says.