Basic research generates jobs and competitiveness

Trained as a mechanical engineer in India, Subra Suresh researched the interfaces between engineering, biology and materials science before becoming dean of engineering at MIT and, as of October, director of the U.S. National Science Foundation. In February in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Suresh laid out his vision for the agency he now leads, which has a $7 billion portfolio for funding basic research.