President Obama Announces Unprecedented Support for Science Research and Education

In an address to the National Academy of Science's annual meeting this week, President Obama outlined several new federal initiatives related to scientific research and education.  Highlights of the speech included:

• A goal to dedicate more than 3% of the country's GDP to scientific research, a level higher than that during the space race
• A plan to provide funding for ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy) for the first time, with the mandate to perform high-risk, high-reward research in clean energy sources
• Tripling the number of National Science Foundation graduate fellowships
• Grants and programs to enable college educations for more Americans, with the stated goal to restore America to being the country with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
• A public awareness and outreach campaign to encourage students to consider careers in science, mathematics and engineering

The full text of the speech can be found here:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-the-National-Academy-of-Sciences-Annual-Meeting/

The federal government is investing in scientific research and education at unprecedented levels.  Education in science and technology is going to be more important than ever in the global 21st century economy, and computer science will enable advances in all of these fields in the coming years.  There's never been a better time to consider a career in computer science than right now.