SPIE Thanks Retiring Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert for FY2008 Funding Recommendations

BELLINGHAM, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 18, 2006 -- Retiring Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert outlined a fiscal 2008 science funding path for the Administration in a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman. In the letter, Boehlert said that the Appropriations Committee in the Senate and the House had voted for American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) requests this year and urged the Administration to "press forward" with the appropriate level of funding for the second year of the Initiative. Boehlert said, "I hope your fiscal 2008 requests for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be at levels appropriate for a second year of ACI implementation. We can't slow the rate of increase for these vital agencies even though Congress did not complete its work on appropriation."

In a letter to Boehlert, SPIE President, Dr. Paul F. McManamon, and SPIE Executive Director, Dr. Eugene G. Arthurs, thanked him for his support and his parting recommendations: "We appreciate your December 7th letter to the Office of Management and Budget highlighting the need for national investment in science funding and requesting continued support of the American Competitiveness Initiative. SPIE deeply appreciates your unstinting service in an era of difficult decisions and constrained resources. Yours was a very difficult job and you performed it admirably."

SPIE is a not-for-profit professional society that has become the largest international force for the exchange, collection and dissemination of knowledge in optics, photonics and imaging.

Contact Information: For More Information Stacey Crockett Email Contact http://spie.org (360) 676-3290 ext 402