In Washington, D.C., Rice sociologists Bridget Gorman (left) and Rachel Kimbro encouraged members of Congress not to cut federal research funding.
A week ago, I was part of a Texas delegation of demographers that met with staffers in the Washington, D.C., offices of Texas U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn, as well as the offices of Texas U.S. Reps. John Culberson, Lloyd Doggett, Bill Flores and Michael Burgess.
While meeting with legislative aides for the senators and representatives, the group sought to leave the message that despite the uncertain and tough federal budget process, funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics must remain steady or increase. Not only are these agencies central to funding research on population health and well-being, but Texas is a major recipient (fifth in the country) of NIH funding, and cuts to NIH will significantly impact the local economy, particularly via the Texas Medical Center and Rice University in Houston.
For example, in FY09, Rice received more than $58 million in federal research funds, which is used to support research and also to hire graduate students and staff.
In addition, we pressed for Congress to leave the well-established and rigorous peer review process at NIH and NSF alone. We also offered to assist the congressional offices with any population data needs that they might have in the future.
The delegation of demographers also included fellow Rice sociologist Bridget Gorman, Ph.D., and two demographers from The University of Texas at Austin, Robert Hummer, Ph.D., and Mark Hayward, Ph.D.
We were all in Washington, D.C., for the annual meetings of the Population Association of America, which brings together 2,500 population researchers.
Rachel Kimbro, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sociology at Rice University and a Rice scholar at the Baker Institute.