Issue Position: Science and Innovation
Issue Position
Issue Position: Science and Innovation
"Our nation is in an amazing race - the race for discovery and new knowledge, the race to remain competitive. I will continue my fight to invest in innovations that will create the new ideas that will lead to new breakthroughs, new products and new jobs."
Protecting America's Competitive Edge (PACE)
Senator Mikulski is working on a national, bipartisan effort with Senate colleagues to implement recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences' "Gathering Storm" report.
Senator Mikulski is a lead cosponsor of the PACE Act, which:
Improves K-12 science and math education
o By strengthening the skills of 250,000 teachers with training to renew and refresh practices
Increases students earning science/engineering/math degrees
o By recruiting 10,000 teachers to educate 10 million minds with $20,000 merit-based scholarships for students training to be math and science educators
Strengthens the federal investment in research and development
o By increasing funding for federal labs and facilities like the National Science Foundation, NASA, NIH and FDA
Creates a more innovation-friendly government
o By promoting an innovation-friendly tax code that rewards research and development, and protects intellectual property
Fighting for Innovation at Federal Agencies in Maryland
Helping Maryland Remain Competitive
As the senior Democrat on the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Mikulski fights every year to make sure Maryland remains a leader in innovation and development by supporting:
NASA (9,000 jobs in Maryland)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (2,600 jobs in Maryland)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (3,200 jobs in Maryland)
National Institutes of Health (18,000 jobs in Maryland)
Senator Mikulski fights for critical funding to help Maryland's universities continue to lead the nation in science and technology research by:
Providing funding for nursing scholarships and loan forgiveness programs to combat America's nursing shortage
Securing a federal investment to assist Villa Julie College in expanding its Nursing Distance Education Program
Working to provide funds for the University of Maryland to increase graduate study opportunities in emerging areas of national need, including math, science and engineering
Securing funds to expand science education programs at the Science Center at Baltimore's Inner Harbor
Helping John Hopkins University expand the Hopkins Institute for Nanobiotechnology, which conducts research, develops new medical technologies, and trains new scientists and students
Fighting for ongoing funding for the Chesapeake Based Aeronautics Consortium which teams Morgan State University, Bowie State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore with NASA scientists and researchers to develop aeronautics research focusing on aviation safety and training.
Bringing broadband network capability to the Eastern Shore by connecting NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility to Salisbury University, medical centers, businesses and consumers
Working for federal investment in Blue Crab Advanced Research Consortium at University of Maryland's Biotechnology Institute
July 2006
Source