|
American Psychological Association
Outside Witness Testimony FY2003
Senate Appropriations Committee
Subcommittee on Veterans, Housing and Urban Development
Fiscal Year 2003 Appropriations for the
National Science Foundation,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
And Department of Veterans Affairs
The American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and
professional organization of more than 155,000 psychologists and affiliates.
Because our behavioral scientists play vital roles within the National
Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), APA will address the
proposed Fiscal Year 2003 research budgets for each of these three agencies.
National Science Foundation
As a member of the larger science community and an active leader
in the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), APA strongly recommends
increasing NSF’s overall budget by $718 million (or 15%) above the Fiscal Year
2002 level of $4.79 billion, bringing the agency’s budget to $5.508 billion in
Fiscal Year 2003. We also would like to highlight the importance of fully
funding two new NSF priorities in 2003, the special research initiative in the
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, slated to receive $10 million in its
first year of support, and the Science of Learning Centers (SLCs), proposed at
$20 million.
Core Psychological Research at NSF
NSF is the only federal agency whose primary mission is to
support basic research and education in math, engineering and science –
including behavioral and social science. NSF’s investment in basic research
across these disciplines has allowed for extraordinary scientific and
technological progress, ensuring continued economic growth, improved prevention
of disease, and strengthened national security. NSF’s concern for education
from kindergarten through graduate school allows for what we know about
developmental processes, cognition, learning, and the environment to best
construct the schools in which our children learn and to well inform the
teachers who educate them, enabling our citizens to meet the intellectual and
social challenges of the Twenty-First Century.
The necessity to support basic research continues to be paramount. With the
increasing globalization of science, the U.S. faces greater-than-ever
competition for scientific innovation and discovery. At the same time that we
must work in international communities of researchers and scholars, we must find
new ways to make our country safe from threats not only to our physical
structures but to the American tradition of free and shared science and to the
many challenges we face at home. Our best defense is an offensive strategy in
which we continue to be the best producer of science, ideas, and technology. We
can do this only on the basis of a solid foundation of basic research.
APA and CNSF recommend that additional funds for NSF above the FY 2002
baseline be devoted to achieving the following objectives: 1) increase by $220
million the funding for core programs of research and education; 2) increase
funding by $220 million to continue supporting key initiatives, including
nanotechnology, biocomplexity, information technology research, workforce
development (including mathematics and science partnerships), mathematics
research, and a new priority area in social, behavioral and economic sciences;
3) provide an additional $130 million to increase grant size and duration; 4)
provide an additional $100 million for Major Research Equipment and Facilities
Construction and Major Research Instrumentation; 5) provide an increase of $25
million to assist with homeland security and anti-terrorism efforts; and 6)
provide $23 million to increase graduate student stipends.
[back to top]
Although psychologists receive funding from diverse programs within NSF, most
core psychological research is supported by the Social, Behavioral and
Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE), with its focus on the variables
that determine human behavior across all ages, affect interactions among
individuals and groups, and decide how social and economic systems develop and
change. A number of psychological scientists funded through SBE also lead
ongoing basic research efforts with direct relevance to the events of September
11 and their aftermath, and APA applauds SBE for moving quickly to provide
psychological researchers with emergency grants (through the agency’s Small
Grants for Exploratory Research program) to address time-critical issues such as
trauma prevention and intervention and large-scale risk management.
The Biological Sciences Directorate provides support for
psychologists who ask questions about the very principles and mechanisms that
govern life at the level of the genome and cell, or at the level of a whole
individual, family or species. Our increasing sophistication about the genetic
mechanisms of life allows us to ask increasingly complex questions about brain
functioning. It also can lead us to ask how the genome is translated into a
functioning, thriving organism – that is, what is the exchange of gene and
environment that decides whether the individual is more likely to learn than to
forget, to love than to hate? These kinds of question cannot be answered by
biology alone. An understanding of behavior requires analysis at all levels of
functioning, from the cell to the whole organism, and an appreciation of the
complex ways in which the environment impacts on the individual. It also
requires description of the manner in which such interactions are written into
the individual’s history, and then serve to shape its behavior in the future.
Special Research Priority in the Social, Behavioral and
Economic Sciences
Given the pace and demands of our increasingly technological
society, APA strongly supports NSF’s proposed $10 million initial investment
in Fiscal Year 2003 for a new priority area in Social, Behavioral and Economic
Sciences to further explore the complex interactions among society, its
institutions, and technology. This priority area will examine human issues in
the design and development of technological advances along with human adaptation
to these dramatic changes, enabling us to develop technologies which enhance
human capabilities while giving us tools to take greater advantage of technology
and better anticipate and prepare for its consequences. The rapidly changing
societal capabilities associated with technological development provide us with
new opportunities to interact with the natural environment as well as with
social and economic systems, and the new SBE priority area also will seek to
address questions about these human-ecosystem interactions in support of the
Administration’s climate change research program. APA expects that the
initial level of support for the special SBE research priority area will be a
“down payment” on more significant investments in future years.
New Science of Learning Centers
Investment in research on the learning process, the context of
learning and learning technologies is crucial to both successful educational
reform and effective workforce development, and the new NSF Science of Learning
Centers (SLCs) will serve as the foundation-wide centerpiece of the Learning for
the 21st Century Workforce priority area in Fiscal Year 2003. These
multidisciplinary, multi-institutional centers will build collaborative research
communities of scientists, educators, community groups and industries capable of
addressing fundamental questions in learning and applying that knowledge to
schools and workforce contexts.
APA strongly recommends that Congress support the new SLCs, with the
longer-term goal of making strides in math and science education analogous to
the tremendous leaps forward we currently are making by applying research on
reading. These improvements in our understanding of how children learn to read
and how teachers can better help them are due in large part to research
sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the
National Institutes of Health. NSF is uniquely poised to support similar
breakthroughs in the critical areas of math and science learning, skills which
are particularly critical in our technologically-sophisticated world. NSF
scientists can engage investigators from the range of disciplines it supports,
from cognitive psychology and neuroscience to geography, engineering and
robotics, and examine learning in adult and child populations to support both
workforce and formal education needs.
[back to top]
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Humans perform critical functions throughout all aspects of
every NASA mission from concept development, system design and acquisition
through operations. People are critical elements of complex aerospace systems.
The ability to measure and predict human performance through all mission phases
enhances mission safety and mission success. NASA Human Factors research and
technology enhance the national capability to explore the stars and understand
our own planet while contributing to the safety, affordability and efficiency of
aerospace operations.
Office of Biological and Physical Research
In order to continue advancing our understanding of human
adaptation to space, APA joins the Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology (FASEB) in recommending an annual increase of $100 million
for investigator–initiated, peer reviewed research in Fiscal Year 2003 for the
Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR).
NASA is demonstrating an unprecedented interest in psychological and
behavioral research. That interest stems from historical observations of
astronauts and cosmonauts living aboard Mir and the recognition that a
multicultural workforce is building and occupying the International Space
Station. Psychologists are involved at many levels within NASA, studying
everything from basic neuroscience in rats to optimization of the habitability
of next-generation space suits. Much of this research has been funded OBPR.
The Biomedical Research and Countermeasures and Advanced Human Support
Technologies Programs are both involved in reducing threats to humans exposed to
physiological and psychological health risks during space flight. NASA has
focused considerable energy on sleep and circadian rhythms, performance related
to neurovestibular function, psychophysiological monitoring, and cognitive
performance on short- duration missions. There is increasing recognition,
however, that NASA needs to devote greater attention to behavioral health and
psychosocial adaptation as these factors could significantly impact the success
of long-duration missions.
Human factors considerations for long-duration spaceflight extend far beyond
physical crew interfaces into considerations of behavioral, psychological,
physiological, and operational factors’ influence on human performance and
safety. The use of isolation chambers such as the Bioplex facility at Johnson
Space Center offer the potential, and have been used successfully, to study
behavior and performance under conditions of extended isolation and confinement.
As such, it represents a high fidelity simulation facility for the development
of advanced technologies and methodologies for monitoring individual and
interpersonal behavior, as well as for studies of countermeasure testing and
evaluation.
[back to top]
Office of Aero-Space Technology
This arm of NASA makes good use of psychological science closer
to Earth. APA applauds NASA for its attention to human factors research and
recommends at least the $220.1 million requested for the Office of Aeronautics
and Space Technology (OAST) to allow for critical Aviation Systems Safety and
Airspace Systems programs to continue as planned.
Two of NASA’s long-term interests have been to reduce the aircraft accident
rate and increase the aviation throughput. The vast majority of accidents are
attributed to human error. Recent increases in air traffic volume and airport
delays make these challenges especially daunting. NASA will need to make an
extraordinary investment in human factors research to achieve these ambitious
milestones. Fortunately, several NASA programs support these important goals –
most notably the Aviation Safety Program but also Aerospace Operations Systems,
Engineering for Complex Systems, Advanced Air Transportation Technologies and
Virtual Airspace Modeling Systems. Critical research focuses on data mining,
modeling and visualization for the proactive management of aerospace system
risk, allowing for the monitoring of incidents and normal operations to identify
precursors of error and mitigate risk before accidents happen.
However, in order to do this, enormous volumes of qualitative and
quantitative data must be transformed into useful information for expert
analysts through the application of new information technology tools. For
example, the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) is a national aviation
safety resource consisting of first-hand verbal reports of accidents and mishaps
from a broad spectrum of aviation professionals (e.g., pilots, controllers,
mechanics, dispatchers, flight attendants). These reports provide critical data
for expert trend analyses and queries that are then made available to the public
and private sector. Further, the Aviation Performance Measuring System (APMS)
provides a set of information technology tools to support content analysis of
the hundreds of flight data recorder parameters (even thousands in the case of
the Boeing 777) that are collected on every commercial airline flight. These
tools allow the reconstruction of problems and entire flights from the collected
data set and can identify common problems across flights. Finally, from the
control tower, the Performance Data Analysis and Reporting System (PDARS)
routinely collects, processes and disseminates Air Traffic Control radar track
data for use in identifying normal operations and anomalous flightpaths.
Collectively, such data tracking systems will become part of a model to
assess the impact of perturbations in the National Airspace System.
Perturbations could include proposed technical innovations (such as advanced
automation-assisted decision support) and changes in organizational structure or
procedures, as well as accidents or terrorist attacks. Such a model will require
a distributed simulation capability that can represent the full range of system
behaviors at multiple levels of analysis, including people – the current
backbone of the aviation system.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Investment in investigator-initiated research projects at the VA have led to an
explosion of knowledge that promises to advance our understanding of disease and
unlock new strategies for prevention, treatment and cures. Psychological
researchers play crucial roles in addressing the many health challenges still
confronting the veteran community. APA joins the Friends of VA Medical Care and
Health Research (FOVA), a coalition of over 50 organizations concerned about
veterans’ health, in recommending $460 million for the VA Medical and
Prosthetic Research Account in Fiscal Year 2003. We also strongly support the
Subcommittee’s recommendation to expand the VA’s Mental Illness Research,
Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) program.
[back to top]
Psychological Research in the VA
Through its Medical and Prosthetic Research Account, the VA funds intramural
research that supports its clinical mission to care for our nation’s veterans.
VA psychologists play a dual role in providing care for veterans and conducting
research in all areas of health, including high-priority areas such as mental
health, aging-related disorders and substance abuse. Psychological researchers
continue to make great strides in: improving the diagnosis and treatment of Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder; developing more sensitive diagnostic tools to detect
the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (problems
increasingly seen both in our veterans and our aging population in society at
large); and developing and implementing important substance abuse prevention
programs. Because research has such a positive impact on the quality of care,
APA strongly encourages the VA to ensure that neither research nor care suffers
by developing mechanisms to designate time for clinicians to conduct research.
Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers
APA supports the important work being conducted by the eight VA Mental Illness
Research, Education and Clinical Centers (MIRECCs) currently in existence
throughout the country, but is disappointed that the VA did not increase the
number of MIRECCs in Fiscal Year 2002 as directed by the Senate in last year’s
report. These MIRECCs sponsor important basic and applied research as well as
educational outreach to the VA community, and have been particularly effective
in translating the findings of basic research into improved treatment protocols.
The MIRECCs substantially support and upgrade the provision of mental illness
services in their areas, but they exist in only eight of 22 networks and are
clustered on the East and West coasts. We recommend that the Subcommittee
provide funds for the establishment of three additional MIRECCs in Fiscal Year
2003.
Summary
APA appreciates this opportunity to provide written testimony in support of
psychological research sponsored by NSF, NASA and the VA, and strongly
encourages the Subcommittee to reaffirm its commitment to basic behavioral
science at all three agencies. We recognize that this year there is a special
need to strengthen research programs and operations related to national
security, and we hope that Congress also will reinvest in the longer-term basic
research which enables us to meet the full range of social, economic, health,
and security challenges ahead.
Back to Top^
|