News release: The presidents of six leading research universities and two higher-education associations joined Vice President Joe Biden and White House science advisor Dr. John Holdren to discuss the scientific research and related activities that have been made possible by the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Participating in the event held in the Roosevelt Room of the White House were France Córdova, president, Purdue University; Ron Daniels, president, The Johns Hopkins University; Elson Floyd, president,
Washington State University; Amy Gutmann, president, University of Pennsylvania; J. Bernard Machen, president, University of Florida; Mark Yudoff, president, University of California; Robert Berdahl, president, Association of American Universities; and M. Peter McPherson, president, Association of Public and Landgrant Universities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus, contained $21.5 billion for scientific research, the purchase of capital equipment and science-related construction projects. While thousands of jobs have been created directly or retained as a result of this funding, the focus of this {September 21, 2010] discussion was on the basic research and discovery that would not have been possible if not for the ARRA. Although the investment was less than 3 percent of the $787 billion stimulus measure, the money represented an historic infusion of funding for research. It was also an affirmation of the essential role scientific inquiry and discovery play in both short-term recovery and long-term economic growth…university laboratories in every state in the nation, supported by the National Institutes of
Health with an infusion of ARRA funds, are conducting cutting-edge biomedical research [please check the links that reference specific research, that are included].”