This is a significant moment in Penn history. Today's groundbreaking signals our renewed commitment to the spirit of discovery and experiment that has distinguished this University since Benjamin Franklin, America's first scientist, called it into being here. Research universities are small in number, enormous in influence. Of the more than 3,000 institutions of higher learning in the United States, only 170 universities produce most of the nation's doctorates in science and engineering and perform most of the research. Penn is proudly among this highly select group of research-intensive universities.
Research universities are one of America's greatest resources and truly the envy of the world.
We serve the national interest at many levels. The new knowledge and the new talent that we produce touches every sector of American life, from the well-being of our people to the strength of our national economy and our global competitiveness. And this brings me to some very serious concerns in academic research today. To understand one aspect of these concerns, we need to go back to 1944. Ten months before the end of World War II, President Roosevelt asked his chief science adviser, Vannevar Bush, how science might be used in peacetime to improve the national health, create new enterprises and new jobs, and better the standard of living.