Statement by the President Announcing Grants to Four Universities Under the Science Development Program.

THE STRENGTH of our Nation and the quality of its life depend on many things, but none of them are more important than our universities. They furnish the leaders for most of our enterprises and through the research conducted by their faculties, they build the foundations for new advances.

In the past a relatively small number of universities have provided the most advanced training for students and have led the way in research. A great and growing nation needs centers which set standards of excellence and educate teachers and researchers for other colleges and universities, as well as industry.

Since too few of our people and too few areas of our country are served by such institutions of the highest quality, it is of the greatest importance that new centers be encouraged to grow where the will, imagination, and the need to do so exist. The goal of the science development program of the National Science Foundation is to bring about a significant improvement in science and science education programs of a number of educational institutions which have sound plans and which already have a sound base upon which to build.

It is my great pleasure to announce the first grants to be made by the National Science Foundation under the science development program. Four universities will receive grants ranging from $3.5 to $4 million each to support their long-range plans to develop into top quality centers of science and engineering.

They are:

Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.

The University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.

Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, Ohio.

Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

These first four science development grants will go to institutions of varying character in three widely separated parts of the country.

The University of Oregon is a State university with expanding educational responsibilities in the Northwest. Assistance from the National Science Foundation grant, added to its own expanding resources, should help the University of Oregon develop into a great regional science center.

Washington University in St. Louis is a private university that has long had a medical school with an international reputation, and has produced five Nobel laureates. The university plans to achieve the same excellence in the arts and, with the help of the National Science Foundation grant, in the sciences.

Case Institute and Western Reserve have worked out coordinated plans providing for close cooperation between the two schools, whose campuses are adjoining. Case has as its goal that of becoming equal in quality to any technological institute in the Nation. Western Reserve plans to become a first rank center of scholarship and education. Its medical school has already developed into a major center. The efforts of Case and Western Reserve will be complementary and together they should serve as a great scientific resource of the State of Ohio and the entire Midwest.

These grants are only a beginning. About 60 proposals have been received by the National Science Foundation to date, most of which are still under review. It is expected that from four to six more awards will be made this year from the remainder of the $28 million available. The program will be a continuing one. My budget, submitted to the Congress in January, contains a request for $40 million to continue this program.

Education is an urgent matter for all our people, in all parts of the country and at all levels. This new program will build the apex on the educational pyramid while our other programs broaden and strengthen the base. These are important steps in maintaining the scientific leadership which this country has achieved.