Chap. 8 - National Science Foundation in the FY 2000 Budget

8

National Science Foundation in the FY 2000 Budget

George Leventhal and Kathy Bailey Mathae, AAU

HIGHLIGHTS

The President's FY 2000 request for the National Science Foundation (NSF) is $4.0 billion. This represents a 5.8 percent increase over the estimated FY 1999 level of $3.7 billion.

The largest program increase in the proposed NSF budget is for the Information Technology for the Twenty-First Century (IT²) initiative$146 million of the total $217 million NSF increase is devoted to this program. NSF is designated as the lead federal agency for IT², which comprises a total of $366 million in FY 2000 for six federal agencies.

The second major initiative in the NSF request is a $670 million Biocomplexity in the Environment initiative, which includes coordinated agency-wide initiatives in environmental science, engineering and education. This initiative is intended to foster research on the complex interdependencies among elements of the environment and the interactions of different types of systems.

The third major NSF initiative for FY 2000 is titled "Educating for the Future: A 21^st Century Workforce," totaling nearly $475 million in the agency's request. This initiative addresses workforce development through a variety of agency programs, including a new $7.5 million initiative through which undergraduate and graduate students will be placed in K-12 schools to assist in science and mathematics teaching.

Research project support would receive 58 percent, or $2.3 billion, of NSF's FY 2000 budget. This would include $2.0 billion for support of individuals and small groups and $284 million for support of centers. Nearly 19 percent, or $744 million, of its budget would go toward research facilities; and nearly 18 percent, or $704 million, would go to education and training.

AGENCY OVERVIEW
NSF's Mission: Since its creation 49 years ago, NSF has had an extraordinary impact on American scientific discovery. Despite its small size, it is the only federal agency with responsibility for research and education in all major scientific and engineering fields.
NSF accomplishes its mission with remarkable efficiency. Approximately 96 percent of the agency's total budget goes directly to support the actual conduct of research and education, while less than four percent is spent on administration and management.
NSF Support: NSF plays a crucial role in the support of university research. Although NSF represents only about 4 percent of the total federal budget for research and development, it accounts for approximately 20 percent of all federal support for basic research at academic institutions. In several fields, it is the lead federal source.
The agency funds almost 20,000 research and education projects through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, and other research and/or education organizations in all parts of the United States. More than 215,000 people are involved directly in NSF research and education programs and activities. These include more than 42,000 researchers, nearly 50,000 graduate and undergraduate students, and 88,000 precollege teachers.
The agency does not operate its own laboratories but does support national research centers, user facilities, oceanographic vessels, and Antarctic research stations. NSF also supports university-industry research partnerships, U.S. participation in international scientific efforts, and efforts to improve K-12 education as well as education in universities and colleges.
Agency Structure: NSF is an independent federal agency run by a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed director and deputy director. The agency's policy direction is established by the National Science Board, which consists of 24 scientists, mathematicians, engineers, top university officials, and industry leaders.
NSF has a staff of roughly 1,200 people and is divided into seven directorates. Six of the directorates are directly responsible for funding discipline-oriented basic and applied research: Biological Sciences (BIO); Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE); Engineering (ENG); Geosciences (GEO); Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS); and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). The remaining directorate is responsible for overseeing the Foundation's Education and Human Resources (EHR) activity.
Congressional Support: NSF has traditionally enjoyed broad congressional support. While the agency's appropriation dipped slightly between FY 1995 and FY 1996, NSF's total appropriation has increased each year since then, even when other agencies under the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations bill were cut. In FY 1998, the appropriation for NSF actually exceeded the Administration's budget request by $159 million. In FY 1999, Congress provided the agency with an increase of 7.1 percent over the previous year, which was considered a significant show of support, and was greater than the increases received by any other scientific research agency with the exception of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, it remains to be seen whether the Administration's strategy of concentrating increases for FY 2000 in just a few key areas, especially in the IT²initiative, will win the support of Congress.
ACTIVITY SUMMARIES
Research and Related Activities
Research and Related Activities (R&RA) would receive $3.0 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent over the FY 1999 plan of $2.8 billion (see Table II-7 for details of the NSF budget and a detailed listing of subactivities within each directorate).
Biological Sciences (BIO): $408.6 million (up 4.5 percent). More than 80 percent of BIO funding goes toward investigator-initiated, fundamental research, primarily at colleges and universities. NSF estimates that the average new research award within the BIO activity in FY 2000 will total $360,600 over three years of support, a 6 percent increase over FY 1999.
The BIO Activity supports five Science and Technology Centers, which are projected to receive a combined total of $5.2 million in FY 2000, a decrease of 41.9 percent below FY 1999. The BIO Activity also supports the Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, projected to receive $2 million in FY 2000 (the same amount as in the FY 1999 plan), and 19 Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites in a variety of different climatic locations around the world, plus two additional sites in Antarctica under the U.S. Polar Research Programs Activity. All 21 LTER sites are projected to receive a combined total of $13 million in FY 2000, an increase of 2.4 percent. Finally, NSF plans to devote $24.9 million to Plant Genome Centers in FY 2000, an increase of 8.7 percent.
Education and training activities would receive $16.4 million, an increase of 7.2 percent above FY 1999. Multidisciplinary training in all areas of NSF-sponsored research will be emphasized.
Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE): $422.5 million (up 41.5 percent). CISE is proposed to receive the largest increase of any NSF directorate in FY 2000, as the agency prepares to take the lead role in the Administration's IT²initiative. This initiative results from the recommendations of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), which called for significant increases in federal funding for research, infrastructure, education, and training to maintain the present U.S. leadership position in information technology. (See Chapter 23 for a more detailed discussion of IT².) In FY 2000, CISE is projected to provide $110 million to support the IT²initiative, within which $80 million will support increased individual and team research projects, and $30 million will be used to establish IT research centers.
In FY 2000, CISE expects to make 1,520 awards with an average annualized award size of $165,000 and an average duration of 3.5 years. Total CISE Research Project Support is projected at $288.7 million, an increase of 65.3 percent. Research Facilities would receive a 6.7 percent increase, to $122.4 million. Education and Training support within CISE would increase by 16.8 percent in FY 2000 to $7.0 million.
Engineering (ENG): $378.5 million (up 2.7 percent). NSF provides about 33 percent of the total federal support for academic engineering research. In FY 2000, research project support would increase 4.5 percent to $345.5 million. Approximately 2,850 awards would be made with an average annualized award size of $88,000 and an average duration of 2.9 years. Research Facilities would receive $2.8 million, the same as in the FY 1999 plan. Education and Training support within ENG would decrease by 16.8 percent in FY 2000 to $25.2 million.
Geosciences (GEO): $485.5 million (up 2.6 percent). GEO is the principal source of federal support for academic research in atmospheric, geological, and oceanographic sciences. In FY 2000, research project support would increase 1.8 percent to $298.1 million. Approximately 2,800 awards would be made with an average annualized award size of $93,300 and an average duration of 2.8 years.
Total GEO facilities support is projected at $178.1 million, an increase of 3.7 percent. Funding for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) would increase by 2.7 percent to $68.2 million.
The Academic Research Fleet would receive $44 million in FY 2000, an increase of 4.1 percent. Approximately 2,500 scientists and students use the fleet's 28 ships annually, accounting for about 75 percent of its total use. GEO Education and Training efforts would receive $6.9 million, an increase of 3.3 percent.
Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS): $754.0 million (up 2.7 percent). NSF provides about two-thirds of government support for ground-based astronomy, including almost all federal support for radio astronomy, and over half for core mathematics. In other MPS subfields, NSF support accounts for between 25 and 100 percent of federal funding of basic research. International connections are strong and critical.
Research project support accounts for about two-thirds of MPS activity, with $541.7 million projected for FY 2000, an increase of 3 percent. Approximately 4,230 awards would be made with an average annualized award size of $96,000 and an average duration of three years.
Facilities would receive $169.8 million in FY 2000, an increase of 0.6 percent. Support would continue for the Gemini Observatories, three major astronomical facilities, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), Cornell Electron Storage Ring, Michigan State University's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and several other facilities.
Total center funding would increase 4.7 percent, to $77.3 million. A decrease of 65.7 percent, to a total of $6.5 million, is planned for Science and Technology Centers in accordance with a planned phase-out of centers established in FY 1989. MPS supports ten Science and Technology Centers and 29 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers, as well as three Environmental Molecular Science Institutes and three Mathematical Sciences Research Institutes.
Funding for Education and Training would increase 6.6 percent, to $38.9 million. Of these funds, graduate education programs would receive the largest share-$22.8 million, a decrease of 2.1 percent.
Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE): $143.0 million (up 4.2 percent). SBE is one of the primary sources of support of basic research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. For fields such as anthropology, archaeology, and political science, NSF is the sole source of federal research support. In other fields, such as sociology and social psychology, NSF provides more than half of all federal support. NSF provides more than one-third of federal support for basic research in economics.
Research project support accounts for 86 percent of SBE activity, with $123.2 million projected for FY 2000, an increase of 4.3 percent. Approximately 1,925 awards would be made with an average annualized award size of $67,820 and an average duration of 2.3 years.
Funding for centers would decrease 9.4 percent to $4.0 million. SBE Education and Training activities would increase by 2.5 percent, to $17.6 million.
U.S. Polar Programs: $250.6 million (up 2.3 percent). The FY 2000 request for U.S. Polar Programs includes $188.0 million for U.S. Polar Research Programs and $62.6 million for U.S. Antarctic Logistical Support. The extreme environments and geographically unique characteristics enable research to be performed in both the Arctic and Antarctic that is not feasible elsewhere.
Arctic programs conducted by NSF include Arctic and sub-Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites in Alaska; field stations and large instrument facilities in Alaska, Greenland, and Arctic Canada; and research ships, submarines, planes, helicopters, and other field support.
Each year, about 650 science personnel from institutions in 30 states travel to Antarctica for research purposes. NSF facilities there include the Center for Astrophysical Research at the South Pole and two Antarctic LTER sites, one near Palmer Station that focuses on marine research, and another in the Dry Valleys near McMurdo Station that studies polar desert oases and permanently ice-covered lakes.
Integrative Activities: $161.2 million (down 0.1 percent). Integrative Activities is a new budget activity, created in FY 1999 within the Research and Related Activities appropriation to support cross-disciplinary research efforts and major research instrumentation. The Integrative Activities program also supports the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) established in 1992 that provides analytical support to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) for the development and implementation of science and technology policy.
In FY 2000, $50 million is proposed for a Biocomplexity initiative within Integrative Activities. The Opportunity Fund, which supports innovative, cross-disciplinary research and education, is projected to receive $32 million through Integrative Activities, and an additional $8 million through Education and Human Resources, for a total appropriation of $40 million. The Major Research Instrumentation program is projected to receive $50 million in FY 2000, the same amount as in the FY 1999 plan. A new Science and Technology Centers program is scheduled to be started in FY 2000, with $25 million projected to be available through the planned phase-out of funding for mature centers supported through the disciplinary programs. Finally, the Science and Technology Policy Institute is projected to receive $4.2 million, the same as in the FY 1999 plan.
Education and Human Resources (EHR)
Education and Human Resources would receive $711 million, an increase of 3.2 percent. Of these funds, $678 million are requested to be appropriated, and $33 million is anticipated from H-1B Nonimmigrant Petitioner Fees authorized by the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998.
Elementary, Secondary and Informal Education activities would receive $193.7 million; undergraduate education would receive $116.6 million; and graduate education would receive $69.7 million. The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program would receive $48.4 million.
Major Research Equipment
The agency's request includes $85 million for Major Research Equipment, for development of terascale computing systems as part of the IT²initiative, initial investments in the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, completion of the design and development phase of the Millimeter Array for radio astronomy, construction of detectors for the Large Hadron Collider, ongoing modernization of South Pole Station, and upgrades to polar support aircraft.