A delegation of UC chancellors will descend upon Capitol Hill April 20-21, calling federal officials' attention to such issues of importance to UC as support for basic research, academic medicine, agricultural research, and K-12 outreach. The chancellors, accompanied by President Richard Atkinson and Regent Meredith Khachigian, will meet with California elected officials, federal agency representatives, national news media and D.C.-based correspondents of their local newspapers. "UC represents the single largest academic research enterprise in the country, and there's great impact when its chancellors speak in a collective voice," said Marj Dickinson, UC Davis' director of government and community relations. "While each campus has issues of special interest, this visit is focused on issues of common interest, with an opportunity to bring life to those overarching issues through campus examples of their import and impact." Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, who conservatively estimates he makes 10 trips to D.C. each year on university business, said the visit would strengthen ties, provide an additional forum for exchange of views and call greater attention to matters of special significance to UC. UC's delegates will make the case early and often for sustained, substantial funding of basic research. "This group of legislators, in general, understands the value of basic research," Vanderhoef said. "But it wasn't but four years ago that we got the strong message that research support would be cut dramatically. Balancing the budget today isn't as ominous a task as it was then, so people supportive of basic research are better able to do so. But we need to keep watchful that that understanding is there." Agricultural research support is of particular importance to the Davis, Riverside, Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses. Vanderhoef may share preliminary recommendations of a national task force he is chairing for the National Association of State Universities and Land-grant Colleges, aimed at reversing two decades of stagnant federal funding for ag research. Proposed cuts in Medicare-and the impact of those cuts on academic medical centers-will also be broached. And UC's K-12 outreach programs will also be high on the list of discussion topics.