Institutions of higher education, the major source of the nation's scientists and engineers, perform about one-half of the nation's basic research. Therefore, the level, distribution, and characteristics of federal academic support are of much interest to officials at federal, state, and local levels and in nongovernmental sectors. The National…

Discusses some of the federal and state engineering research initiatives that have been launched in recent years, including the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Centers. Proposes that the status of the United States' competitiveness may depend on how well we manage this process as much as on the resulting technologies themselves.…