Exit interview with former chair of House Science Committee

Nature : For 16 years until his retirement before the last year’s midterm elections, Bart Gordon served on the House Committee on Science and Technology, first as an ordinary member and then as its chair. In a Q&A with Nature‘s Ivan Semeniuk, the 12-term Democratic representative from Tennessee’s 6th congressional district looks back at his experiences setting and influencing America’s scientific priorities. Asked about funding research during a recession and a budget deficit, Gordon replied:

It’s going to be a challenge. We’re seeing a little increase in the public-sector research dollars and we’re seeing a decrease in private-sector funding. In the rest of the world many are trying to do both: their private and public sectors are investing more. We’re going to have to rally the private sector, the universities and everyone who cares about this to show its importance.