President David Skorton is one of 19 university presidents who signed a letter along with 49 Nobel laureates and other scientific experts to President-elect Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress. The letter, dated Jan. 9, urges Obama and Congressional leaders to increase funding for scientific research and innovation as part of Obama's proposed economic stimulus package.

Another letter signatory is Cornell physics professor Robert C. Richardson, a Nobel laureate and the director of Cornell's Kavli Institute for Nanotechnology.

The signatories state that investment in science "is an ideal economic stimulus." It creates well-paid jobs throughout the economy, and the money can immediately be spent on a significant backlog of unfunded research projects. In addition, the investment will bolster the infrastructure that is vital to America's future global and scientific leadership, they wrote.

"While some might argue that the current economic crisis should push such plans into the future," the letter reads, "we believe, to the contrary, that the stimulus package provides a vital opportunity to begin rebuilding American science" for both short-term needs, such as spending on infrastructure, as well as long-term initiatives in basic science research.

"We know it is your goal to restore funding for science to the levels needed to maintain the vigor and leadership of American scientific research," the letter states. "We believe that the forthcoming economic stimulus package provides a remarkable opportunity to initiate this effort immediately, forcefully, and productively."

Other endorsers include the presidents of Brown University, Dartmouth College, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University and the University of Chicago.