WITH his second term secured, President Barack Obama can now turn his full attention to advancing the priorities that will help define his legacy. On the stump, Obama championed science and technology. Under his administration, those fields, particularly renewable energy and medical research, should continue to enjoy significant federal support over the next four years.
John Holdren, Obama's science and technology adviser, told Popular Science: “We are committed to continuing our focus on ensuring that science, technology, innovation, and education have the support they deserve in order to fuel America's economy, prepare the tech-savvy workforce and science-savvy citizenry of tomorrow, and meet the manifold challenges of health and biomedicine, energy, environment, and national security.”
Although the lion's share of federal research dollars still goes to defense—56 percent in fiscal year…