Research Funding and the Centennial - IEEE Xplore

REFLECTIONS AND REVIEWS OF PAST PREDICTIONS

Research Funding and the PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE Centennial By ROBERT J. TREW

Editor-in-Chief Electrical and Computer Engineering Department North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7911 USA

I. INTRODUCTION As we celebrate our centennial year of publishing the Proceedings of the IEEE, it is interesting to reflect upon how we have arrived at our present position. The Proceedings has grown from its humble origin as the Proceedings of the IRE, first published in 1913, to the largest, most prestigious, and highest rated general interest publication that serves the electrical, electronics, and computer engineering community. The growth in the Proceedings over the past 100 years parallels the growth in the funding for research and development activities. This parallel growth is reviewed in this article. As R&D activities have grown and expanded into new areas of science and engineering, the Proceedings has also expanded in scope to reach its current status. Although the early years of the Proceedings were heavily weighted with papers on radio engineering and wireless communications, which were Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/JPROC.2012.2190682

0018-9219/$31.00 Ó 2012 IEEE

the important topics of that era, today the Proceedings has an expanding area of content that covers the entire spectrum of subject areas and disciplines generally considered to be in the field of electrical and computer engineering. The natural community for the Proceedings now covers the entire IEEE and papers of interest come from contributors who are involved in all IEEE member societies and councils, as well as on occasion, from contributors outside the IEEE. The list is continually expanding as new areas evolve and develop. The goal of the Proceedings is to be inclusive and provide a forum for presentation and overview of state-of-the-art developments and results. The circulation of the Proceedings is in a dynamic state, shifting from a primarily print publication format to an electronic format and it is available through the Internet-based IEEE Xplore, and Xplore downloads represent the greatest source of revenue for the Proceedings.

II . BACKGROUND The IEEE was preceded by two professional societies: the American Institute of Electrical Engineering (AIEE), which was founded in 1884; and the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), which began on May 13, 1912.

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Reflections and Reviews of Past Predictions

At that time, the technology for Bwireless[ communications was rapidly developing, following the work in the late 1880s of Heinrich Hertz, James Clerk Maxwell, Nikola Tesla, Guglielmo Marconi, and many others. The AIEE was primarily concerned with power engineering and lighting, and many of the engineers working in the rapidly growing field of wireless did not feel that they fit in well within the AIEE. This led to the formation of two new societies dedicated to the wireless field. The Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers (SWTE) was established in Boston, MA, in 1907, and the Wireless Institute was begun in 1909 and headquartered in New York. Both organizations struggled with small membership and limited finances. They officially merged in 1912 to form the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE). Initially, membership was low (somewhere between 26 and 50 members) and grew slowly during the first few years. However, growth quickly accelerated as new areas emerged and developed and were incorporated into the IRE. An international flavor was incorporated from the beginning of the IRE and global membership expanded, and continues to expand to this day at the IEEE. The IRE officially became the IEEE in 1963. Publication of technical reports was a major undertaking from the start of the IRE and the Proceedings of the IRE was first published in 1913 with three papers (these papers, along with a more in-depth history, are described by Gordon Day, President of the IEEE, in an accompanying article in this issue). A total of 15 papers were published in the first year. It is interesting that the Proceedings of the IRE also contained Bdiscussions[ where multiple exchanges between authors and readers were published. For example, some very interesting exchanges between Lee De Forest and Edwin Armstrong regarding their observations with working with radio transmitters and electron tubes (they called them Bbulbs[) are presented. 1274

The Proceedings of the IRE officially became the Proceedings of the IEEE with the merger of the IRE with the AIEE in 1963. The Proceedings of the IEEE maintained the same volume numbering system as the Proceedings of the IRE, with the first volume of the Proceedings of the IEEE, numbered as 51, following volume 50 of the final publication of the Proceedings of the IRE. The Editorial Board of the Proceedings has also grown over time as the Proceedings has expanded into new coverage areas. Today, the Proceedings content is the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) and Managing Editor, and advised by an Editorial Board. The EIC is selected from the professional community and can serve for up to two three-year terms, and the Managing Editor is an IEEE staff member. Currently, the Editorial Board consists of 40 members who are globally diverse, each selected for their expertise, knowledge, and technical area. Editorial Board members are usually identified and nominated by the EIC and elected to the Editorial Board by the IEEE Products, Services, and Publications Board (PSPB) and can serve for up to three three-year terms. All Editorial Board members are either IEEE Fellows or Senior Members who have served as invited Guest Editors of special issues for the journal. An effort is made to maintain the Editorial Board with a comprehensive and diverse knowledge base that covers the majority of technical areas within the IEEE. One of the main duties of the Editorial Board is to participate in the strategic planning process for special issues and invited papers of the Proceedings, including identifying topics, potential Guest Editors, and potential authors. Potential Guest Editors also can propose unsolicited special issues and these unsolicited proposals are also accepted for consideration and review. All proposals should be submitted to the Managing Editor. The Editorial Board reviews the proposals and makes recommendations to the EIC for a decision. Once the special issue topic is

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selected, the Guest Editors, working with the Managing Editor, then assume editorial control and logistics for preparation of the special issue. The process is efficient, effective, and quality special issues of timely importance are produced. The efforts of the Editorial Board are fundamental to the process and their participation is highly appreciated and valued. The high rating stature of the Proceedings would not be possible without their efforts.

III . RESEARCH AND DE VE LOPME NT FUNDING The IEEE membership has grown significantly from the early days with less than 100 members, and today has over 400 000 members in 160 countries. The IEEE is now composed of 38 technical societies and seven technical councils and each organization offers technical publications, with many societies offering more than one, and a wide variety of transactions, letters, journals, and magazines are published. Conferences and workshops are also used to disseminate new information and the IEEE sponsors and operates over 1300 conferences that serve over 100 000 atendees annually. New technical journals, letters, and magazines are continually being generated, and currently there are 154 professional publications offered. The society and council publications are devoted to in-depth technical details, while the Proceedings is directed toward comprehensive overviews of subjects from all societies and councils. The number of papers published in the Proceedings has grown from the first issue with three papers, and a total of 15 papers published in the first year in 1913, to a little over 150 papers published in 2011. The order of magnitude increase in the number of papers published over the past century parallels the increase in the number of engineers and scientists working in the field. The Proceedings presents a forum for publication of overviews of developing areas to a


wide spectrum audience of readers. The increase in the number of scientists and engineers working in research and development parallels a corresponding increase in funding, which is necessary to support the scientists’ and engineers’ research efforts. In many ways, the funding support dictates the areas where R&D develops, and how the future unfolds. This close relationship between the number and subject matter of the papers published in the Proceedings and the R&D funding support made available to the research community has evolved over time. Funding for research and development has historically been limited, significantly increasing only since the end of World War II. Governments have traditionally invested in technology projects, but before World War II, overall U.S. Government spending for research and development activities was small. In the predepression years in the United States (in the 1920s), there was very little U.S. Government support provided for research in U.S. academic institutions. An interesting story concerning prewar research funding relates to Robert Goddard, the father of modern rocketry. Goddard was a professor of physics at Clark University in Massachusetts. In 1930, he established a laboratory in the New Mexico desert, primarily with his own funding, to research and develop liquid fuel rockets. He picked the New Mexico desert for his rocket work since he could test his rockets far away from any buildings or people that could be hurt in case of accidents. Although he did secure small grants from the Smithsonian Institution and the Carnegie Foundation, and later in the 1930s larger grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, he had little luck in obtaining grants from the U.S. Government and most of his funding came from his own financial resources. The U.S. Government declined to provide him any research support in the time period between the two World Wars. However, German engineers, working on the V-2 and other rockets for the

German military during World War II, studied Goddard’s publications and patents and applied his ideas in their development efforts with good success. Later in the 1950s, and after declining to fund his research, the U.S. Government infringed a number of Goddard’s patents on liquid fuel propulsion and gyroscopic stabilization. After a lengthy nine-year court battle Goddard’s widow (Goddard died in 1945) and the Guggenheim Foundation, which had an equity stake in his intellectual property (IP) due to the funding they provided, prevailed in court and the U.S. Government settled with a sizeable monetary settlement. At the time, it was the largest monetary settlement made by the U.S. Government for patent infringement. Funding for research activities was very limited throughout the 1800s and into the early 1900s [1]. Universities expected faculty to engage in research as part of their duties, but there was no clear means of obtaining funding to support the research. Herbert Hoover noted this situation, and while serving as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1926 to 1930, he campaigned to establish a National Research Endowment. Hoover warned that the United States had up to this point B. . .depended upon three sources for all the support of pure science research over the years: 1) that the rest of the world would bear this burden of fundamental discovery for us; 2) that universities would carry it as a by-product of education; and 3) that men of great benevolence would occasionally endow a Smithsonian or a Carnegie or a Rockefeller Institute.[ He felt that the future welfare of the country depended upon scientific discovery, which required a stable source of funding provided by the federal government. However, there was opposition to federal support of academic research from an unexpected quarter. In 1934, physicist Karl Compton, who was President of MIT and Head of the Science Advisory Board, which in the wake of the depression resulting from

the stock market collapse in 1929, was established by executive order to address: 1) the ills of unemployed scientists and 2) unmet social problems. Compton argued in an article in Science, BIf government financial support should carry with it government control of research programs or research workers, or if it should lead to political influence or lobbying for the distribution of funds, or if any consideration should dictate the administration of funds other than the inherent worth of a project or the capabilities of a scientist, or if the funds should fluctuate considerably in amount with the political fortunes of an administration or varying ideas of Congress, then government support would probably do more harm than good. . .[ These arguments were overcome by the events taking place in Europe in the middle to late 1930s, and the formal involvement of the United States in World War II on December 8, 1941. During the war years, a very successful collaboration between government and academic researchers and engineers was established. The contribution of academic scientists and engineers to national security, as evidenced in the nuclear work performed during the Manhattan Project and the radar development performed at the MIT Radiation Laboratory, demonstrated the benefit to the country of government and university collaboration and the advantages of government support of academic research. After the war, the U.S. Government sought to define, for the postwar era, the role of university scientists for peacetime and national security purposes. U.S. President Roosevelt asked his Science Advisor, Vannevar Bush, to study the issue, and in 1945, Bush delivered his seminal work Science: The Endless Frontier to then U.S. President Truman. In this work, and in response to the prewar arguments against federal support of academic research, Bush argued for federal support of Bunfettered[ basic research where scientists were permitted to pursue their own ideas, and the


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creation of a self-governing National Research Foundation (NRF) with divisions of medical research, natural sciences, and national defense. He also proposed a linear model for research, consisting of basic research, applied research, and advanced development. The self-governing aspect of his proposal caused significant controversy, and President Truman felt that the Constitution did not permit delegation of control over any portion of the federal budget. The NRF was never established. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) independently determined to support academic research, and in 1946, Vice Admiral Harold Bowen led the establishment of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to support Badvanced research in nuclear physics and other topics of interest to the Navy.[ The prewar concerns voiced by Karl Compton were recognized and ONR was organized to counter the fears that government sponsorship would be restrictive, burdened with bureaucratic rules, or subject to political pressures. Scientists were encouraged to propose their own projects. No progress reports were required and refereed publication in the open literature was sufficient evidence of progress. Support funds were made available for graduate assistants and summer faculty support. Awards were multiyear and renewable. The linear model proposed by Bush was adopted and, for the most part, is still in effect today. Funds were generally provided to academic institutions through a grant mechanism, which does not generally carry Bdeliverable[ requirements. This model is still used today, although progress and final reports and program reviews are generally requirements for demonstration of project progress and results. Publication in refereed journals is still expected. The Bunfettered[ characteristic of basic research has changed considerably over the years, and now, many funding opportunities tend to be more Bdirected[ than Bunfettered.[ There have been many studies and much written over this issue, and the ba1276

lance between the two approaches is continually shifting. The other armed services soon established their own research offices, and the Army Research Office (ARO) was established in 1951, and the predecessor of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) was established in 1952. In order to maintain a close relationship with the academic community, ARO was originally located on the Duke University campus in Durham, NC. It later moved to an office in Research Triangle Park, NC, where it still resides. The other triservice research offices, ONR and AFOSR, reside in the Washington, DC, area in Arlington, VA. In response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was established in 1958 to focus research development activity upon high payoff projects of interest to national security. Following the nuclear work conducted during the Manhattan Project during World War II, there was a need to continue nuclear oversight and this effort was managed by a series of government agencies, starting with the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) from 1947 to 1959; the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), from 1959 to 1971; and the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA), from 1971 to 1997. All of the previous efforts were moved into the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), which was created by the 1997 Defense Reform Initiative. The charter of DTRA was expanded to include chemical and biological research, as well as nuclear activities. DTRA extended its research efforts to include a basic research program in 2006. The DOD, for the most part, follows the linear funding model outlined by Vannevar Bush, and provides funding for research and development in three major categories: 1) basic research (indicated as 6.1 after the budget line in the DOD budget); 2) applied research (indicated as 6.2); and 3) advanced development (indicated as 6.3). The budget for science

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and technology (S&T) consists of the basic research (6.1) and applied research (6.2) budget categories. Essentially all of the research funds that are provided to academic researchers originate from the S&T budget, and DOD has a budget for S&T of $14.1 billion for fiscal year 2012, including $2.1 billion for basic research and $4.6 billion for applied research. Although the NRF was never established, the debate that followed resulted in a civilian agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF), being authorized as an independent federal agency by U.S. Congress in the NSF Act of 1950. The act was signed into law by President Truman on May 10, 1950, and NSF became operational in 1951, with the first grants awarded in 1952. The stated goals of NSF were Bto promote the progress of science,[ to Badvance national health, prosperity, and welfare,[ and to Bsecure the national defense.[ NSF was established to support fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering and to help build research infrastructure and to build the nation’s scientific and engineering workforce. A unique aspect of NSF was the focus upon education, particularly science, engineering, and mathematics education, with a goal toward training the next generation of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. The NSF budget and number of grants has risen over time, with 28 grants valued at $3.5 million awarded in 1952, the first year of operation, to the present time with almost 10 000 grants worth about $5.5 billion awarded in 2012. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created on July 29, 1958, by President Eisenhower, and NASA has provided funds to support basic and applied research in electrical and computer engineering fields from the very start. NASA originated from the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), which had been researching flight technology for over 40 years. Along with the space program that resulted in the moon landing under


Project Apollo, NASA also conducted scientific and engineering research and worked on developing applications for space technology, particularly in weather and communications satellites. After the moon landing, NASA developed and launched the space shuttle as a reusable space vehicle. The space shuttle flew over 130 flights before being retired in 2011. Another large space project was established in 2000 with a major effort led by the United States and Russia to build a permanent human presence in space by means of the International Space Station. This project involved the work of 16 nations. Planetary work has continued with the Mars Rover and other projects. In addition to the space work, NASA also funds research on improved safety aircraft travel, as well as improved efficiency aircraft designs and more environmentally friendly technology. The relationship between NASA and academic researchers has historically been very strong. The NASA budget for 2012 is around $9.8 billion, with $3.2 billion for science and $524 million for aeronautics research. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also provides support for research and development in the field of electrical engineering. This support originates back to 1946 with the Manhattan Project and the development of nuclear technology. The Manhattan Project was conducted under management of the U.S. Department of War and the Army Corps

of Engineers. The laboratories that were established were the origin of the current U.S. National Labs. After World War II, there was a strategic need to continue and manage the nation’s scientific capabilities and, in particular, the nuclear technology that had been successfully developed. In 1946, the Atomic Energy Act was passed and responsibility for nuclear research and development was moved from the U.S. Department of War to a new independent civilian agency, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The AEC was directed by five Commissioners appointed by the President. In response to the oil shortage problems in the late 1960s and concerns over rising petroleum imports, U.S. Congress and President Nixon expanded the AEC research charter to include nonnuclear forms of energy and related technologies. In 1974, the AEC was terminated and the research portfolio was transferred to a newly created Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). The research portfolio of ERDA was broad and consisted of nuclear technology and what we now call Balternate[ energy, including solar, fossil, geothermal, as well as conservation, synthetic fuels, and power transmission. Three years later, ERDA was absorbed, along with about 30 other energy related functions, with the establishment of the U.S. Department of Energy, which gathered government energy related research, policy, and regulatory functions into one

agency. The Energy Organization Act of 1977 created the Office of Energy Research, and in 1998, this office was renamed the Office of Science. Following the DOD success with DARPA, a new office for energy research projects, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), was created in the America COMPETES Act in 2007, although no funding was provided. ARPA-E officially became functional in 2009 and in its first year provided $151 million for 37 research grants.

IV. SUMMARY The relationship between government supported research and development that has evolved since World War II has established a very strong environment for generation of new scientific and engineering results. This, in turn, has created a rich base that requires a vibrant and diverse array of scientific and engineering publications. The IEEE has evolved over the past century to meet this market demand, both through the numerous technical journals now published by the IEEE technical societies and councils, and by the Proceedings, which serves as a forum for presentation of overviews, in-depth reviews, and special issues devoted to selected and timely topics. As we move into our next century, the Proceedings will build upon this success and will adapt new technologies to maintain its status as the premier publication in its field. h

REFERENCES [1]

R. J. Trew, J. W. Mink, and U. Varshney, BThe role of Government Support for Research in U.S. Academic Institutions,[ IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 1028–1033, Mar. 2002.


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