NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

OVERVIEW OF FY 1997 REQUEST

The National Science Foundation requests $3.3 billion for FY 1997 to invest in almost 20,000 research and education projects in science and engineering. Today's investments in people, in ideas, and in the exploration of the unknown will help determine the course of the United States in the 21st century. Based on history, it can be said with confidence that the return on these investments will be instrumental in propelling the nation into a future of progress and prosperity.

FY 1997 REQUEST: $3.325 BILLION

Research Project Support (56%)
Research Facilities (20%)
Education&Training (20%)
Administration & Management (4%)

Embedded in this request are some of the most forward-looking activities sponsored by the Federal government. They explore the unknown, open new frontiers, and emphasize innovation in fulfilling a mission that is as appropriate today as it was when the Foundation was created in 1950. That mission, to promote progress in science and engineering in the service of the nation, gives NSF broad license to invest in research and education in science and engineering that will make a difference to the nation's future. NSF is committed to being a catalyst for progress, to addressing today's difficult questions, and to seeing that the American people get the best possible return on their investment.

NSF's FY 1997 request emphasizes:

• Developing a balanced portfolio of investments that spans the frontiers of knowledge. This requires assessing both tradeoffs and supporting connections across fields, between people and equipment and infrastructure, and between research and education. In FY 1997, certain activities, notably investments in research facilities, have been held constant in order to strike the balance necessary to extend the frontiers of science and engineering.

• Linking the processes of learning and discovery. Fundamental science and engineering research is enriched by the educational environment in which much of it is conducted. Likewise, experimentation, inquiry, and discovery enhances and reinforces the learning process. NSF's FY 1997 request assigns high priority to activities that link the processes of learning and discovery, including new approaches in the systemic reform of precollege education, at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and in the preparation and enhancement of teachers, researchers and faculty.

• Working in partnership. America's success in science and technology depends on the continued viability of a long-standing team effort. NSF investments, including those made in tandem with other agencies, state and local governments and the private sector, directly involve over 200,000 researchers, teachers and students, over 2,000 colleges, universities, and research institutions, including almost 600 businesses. Indirectly, they involve literally millions more. NSF's FY 1997 request enhances the agency's ability to mobilize this vast resource of individuals and institutions, thereby enabling the United States to uphold a position of world leadership in science and engineering.

FY 1997 Request by Account

                          (Millions of Dollars)

NSF WORKING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Extending the Frontiers

Being a pioneer is both exciting and risky. It engages the imagination and demands a high level of skill and perseverance to meet the challenges of the frontier. NSF invests in today's pioneers who work on the frontiers of science and engineering, exploring an unprecedented wealth of opportunities for advancement. Sometimes their successes are small, almost imperceptible; sometimes they are spectacular and all of humankind advances.

NSF-supported science and engineering projects range from opening new windows on the universe through astronomy and gravitational physics, to exploring the world of subatomic particles. They unlock the secrets of life and living systems through breakthroughs in molecular biology and biophysics. From the cold climes of the Arctic and Antarctic to the tropical oceans, NSF-supported researchers explore the dynamic processes of the Earth and the influence of local conditions on global climate. Using nanoscale technologies that can trace the path of a virus and see eye to eye with an atom, scientists and engineers are developing medical devices, industrial tools, probes and detectors that will help the nation move ever farther out on the frontiers.

NSF invests in tomorrow's pioneers through programs in science and engineering education that seek to improve the education available to all Americans. Excellent education in science, mathematics and engineering opens new dimensions for the students, giving them new territory to explore, new ways of thinking about the world around them, and skills that prepare them to face unknown and uncertain frontiers.

To remain a world leader in science and engineering, the United States must be willing and able to reach frontiers wherever they are. NSF serves as a vehicle to provide the capacity to respond when pioneering research and education are poised to offer benefits to the nation.

Delivering the Benefits

By enabling leadership across the frontiers of science and engineering, NSF's investments bolster the nation's quality of life and standard of living. As noted economist Paul Romer said in a recent comment on the roots of economic growth, "If we didn't keep finding new ideas, there really would be limits to growth. It's ideas -- the whole process of discovery -- that cause growth."

NSF is alert to opportunities that might advance growth. Recent advances from NSF investments bear witness to this. Researchers using the NSF-adopted model plant Arabadopsis have found the genetic switch that triggers flowering in plants, creating the potential for more rapid crop development and other benefits. Investigation of the most basic properties of composite materials bridges the fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, and modeling and simulation. Results are already familiar to us in recreational applications such as tennis racquets, golf clubs, and sailboats; at higher performance levels, the success of our satellite program, earth-orbiting systems, and stealth aircraft depend on fundamental research in composite materials.

NSF has focused its education programs on delivering benefits to the American people. Already, teachers in schools across America are discarding outdated textbooks and methods and are engaging students through hands-on, dynamic approaches to mathematics and science education. We are now moving toward unleashing the power of advanced technologies in improving the teaching of mathematics and science in the nation's schools.

GOALS AND PRINCIPLES FOR FY 1997

The goals and core strategies of NSF's strategic plan, NSF in a Changing World, guided the development of the FY 1997 Budget Request. Another influence was the second phase of the National Performance Review (NPR). NPR required NSF to reexamine its mission and functions, and whether this mission was appropriate for the Federal government. From this process, the need for NSF's mission was strongly reaffirmed. As a result, we have combined NSF's stated goals and strategies with an understanding of the rapid change experienced by other components of the science and technology enterprise, and established a small number of principles for developing this Request.

Balanced Portfolio

NSF is the only Federal agency with responsibilities that cover research and education in all science and engineering fields. Through its activities, NSF invests in specific research and education projects, facilities and instrumentation, not only for the immediate results they produce, but for the groundwork they lay for the future. Maintaining a balanced investment that enables the agency to move rapidly to address the most compelling opportunities is a key principle in budget development.

Balance Across Major Fields of Science. NSF's leadership role in support of research and education in colleges and universities requires both sustained, balanced support and the flexibility to move quickly into new and emerging areas.

In FY 1997, NSF's Research and Related Activities Account increases by 8.7% to $2.5 billion. The major disciplinary science and engineering activities funded through that account experience comparable percentage increases. Within the activities, priorities shaped by emerging scientific opportunities result in significant variation at the sub-activity and program levels.

Balance Across Key Program Functions. The second phase of NPR led to the organization of NSF's modes of support into a few key program functions (research project support, research facilities, education and training, and administration and management) through which NSF carries out its work.

Budget by Key Program Function

                         (Dollars in Millions)

NSF supports multi-user research facilities that are characteristically large, complicated, and expensive, requiring long-term commitments of support. In FY 1997, NSF devotes particular attention to this function.

• NSF will maintain funding for research facilities at approximately 20-25 percent of the total NSF program budget. In FY 1997, facilities will account for 21 percent of the program budget.

• In order to accommodate other priorities, NSF has eliminated support for research facilities under the Academic Research Infrastructure program. This is consistent with recommendations presented in the NPR September 1995 report, Common Sense Government: Works Better and Costs Less, that this activity might reasonably be accommodated by academic institutions, states, and the private sector.

Action to Bridge across Boundaries

Nature and excellence know no boundaries, yet there are many boundaries, either real or perceived, in the funding of research and education in science and engineering. NSF is undertaking positive action to eliminate organizational and other barriers to interdisciplinary research, to reinvigorate the interaction between research and education, and to draw upon the full range of perspectives and approaches for promoting progress in science and engineering.

• NSF continues to sponsor cross-cutting research and education activities that relate directly to such national priorities as promoting economic prosperity, protecting the environment, rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, and strengthening the nation's schools.

• In a set of activities ranging from research experiences for undergraduates through comprehensive undergraduate education reform, graduate traineeships, and awards to new investigators with both research and education objectives, NSF emphasizes the ties between research and education and moves to reinforce them.

• In FY 1995, congressional appropriators provided NSF the flexibility to pursue unusually promising cross-cutting activities through creation of an Opportunity Fund. NSF has used this flexibility to accelerate investment in emerging areas and will continue to do so in FY 1997.

Reformulating and Promoting Partnerships

Partnerships bring together the best minds in our society as they help to share the fiscal responsibilities for research and education. Promoting partnerships is a core strategy from NSF's strategic plan that is particularly relevant to today's rapidly shifting environment for science and engineering. Whether it is the transformation in roles and priorities caused by the end of the Cold War or changes in scale or scope as a result of attempts to balance the Federal budget, there are substantive policy questions about how the academic, private sector, and government members of partnerships can and should interact. Difficult issues that require attention as partnerships are reformulated include: what is the role of the Federal government in support of research and education? what is an appropriate role for the private sector? what does world leadership mean? and how can we assure the American public reaps the benefit of these investments? For NSF, there is the additional question of NSF's role and the impact on NSF programs and functions of changes in activity or funding levels at other agencies.

NSF's principal partners are the institutions and individuals of academia who conduct the research and education projects in which NSF invests. Together, academia and NSF are developing new approaches to research and education activities, involving in the process the private sector, other agencies, and others with a stake in the science and engineering enterprise.

Even as NSF works to address the difficult policy issues described above, this strategy has been successfully incorporated into activities across the Foundation. Examples include: the GOALI program (Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry); Alliances for Minority Participation; memoranda of understanding and joint program activities with approximately 20 other Federal agencies; and international partnerships that provide opportunities for collaborative research, research visits to laboratories and academic institutions in other countries, coordinated international research programs, and joint funding of major research equipment.

FY 1997 HIGHLIGHTS

PREPARING FOR THE CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY

LEARNING

While America's system of higher education is the best and most inclusive in the world, the educational system overall traditionally does not prepare the vast majority of students for dealing with the rapidly changing, scientifically and technically challenging situations predicted for the 21st century. Through education programs, research activities that aim at better understanding the learning process, and activities that link learning and education, NSF is working to position the nation to meet the learning needs of the 21st century.

Systemic Reform: NSF's focus is on treating whole systems as the most effective way to make improvements in science and mathematics education. Building the capacity for change through the commitment and involvement of broad partnerships in the development of goals, solutions and actions can result in significant, long-lasting impact. Total system reform is based on the underlying belief that all students can learn and achieve in science and mathematics at much higher levels than presently attained. Investment in the systemic reform of K-12 education continues to increase in FY 1997. Funding for the Urban Systemic Initiatives increases by 20 percent to $67 million. The Rural Systemic Initiatives increase four-fold to more than $10 million. These increases will be offset by a $13 million decrease in the Statewide Systemic Initiatives, as part of the phase-out of awards planned at the program's inception.

Learning and Intelligent Systems: We are in the midst of a revolution in the interaction between human learning and technology, similar in potential impact to the revolution created by the invention of movable type and the printing press. Research is now beginning to yield tantalizing insights into how both living organisms and artificial systems process information to achieve remarkable levels of performance across a wide range of activities. Research in various fields bearing on learning and intelligent systems is at a juncture where seminal, concerted action will result in significant, even revolutionary, intellectual advances. NSF has used the Opportunity Fund to provide seed funding for this emerging area. Investments across the Foundation for these activities in FY 1997 are estimated at $23 million.

Technology for Education: The dramatic breakthroughs in information technology and communications have the potential to revolutionize the future of education. Instructional methods and curricula will need to change as schools provide computers for their students and are linked to national and international information resources. Building the effective use of technology into education programs, including the systemic reform programs, will be a key component of NSF's activities aimed at preparing students for the challenges of the next century.

Integration of Research and Education: This core strategy from NSF's strategic plan is a key component of the Foundation's vision for establishing a linkage between learning and discovery. Educating today's students in a discovery-rich environment will better prepare them to meet tomorrow's challenges. Likewise, history has shown that research in an education-rich environment yields an exceptionally dynamic and diverse enterprise.

• The CAREER program (Faculty Early Career Development) enables scientists and engineers to develop their skills in both research and education. The awards provide a framework for junior-level faculty to link their research activities with their teaching and mentoring responsibilities. In FY 1997, this program will almost double, to total $73 million.

• A new activity will focus on the identification and recognition of universities with significant research capabilities that have shown bold leadership, exceptional innovation, and tangible accomplishment in linking research and education. This program, which will total approximately $5 million, will be one of the activities supported through the Foundation's Opportunity Fund in FY 1997.

ENVIRONMENT

NSF has had a strong presence in research on the environment for many years. The focus of NSF programs has been on enhancing the understanding of complex dynamics among natural systems and humans and developing the knowledge important to preserving, managing and improving the environment.

• FY 1997 sees increased emphasis on environmental research in areas such as natural hazard reduction; water, coastal and marine studies; biodiversity and its role in ecological systems; environmental technologies; and bioremediation.

• Several activities will combine to establish an urban long term ecological research site, the first that focuses on a human-based ecology.

• Polar research makes significant contributions to NSF's portfolio of environmental activities. The general infrastructure of the research station at the South Pole has deteriorated, and a code inspection in 1993 identified over 300 deficiencies. It is increasingly costly to maintain activities within acceptable risk bounds. To address safety and environmental concerns, specific improvements totaling $25 million in FY 1997 are proposed to address critical shortcomings.

NSF also participates in the interagency Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) initiative.

INFORMATION FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

NSF provides state-of-the-art computing and communications capabilities essential for advanced work in all fields of science and engineering through its supercomputer centers and networking activities. Over the past decade, access to such capabilities has driven a sea change in many fields of science and engineering, providing new means for testing theories and for running different kinds of experiments. Information, always the lifeblood of science and engineering, is now being collected and analyzed in new and different ways, providing valuable tools for predicting the behavior of diverse phenomena.

• Computational biology, climate modeling, rapid prototyping for manufacturing, and digital libraries are a few among the many areas of emphasis on developing information-based resources across the Foundation.

• The Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure program builds on and replaces the current NSF Supercomputer Centers program established in 1985. It will take advantage of newly emerging opportunities in high performance computing and communications. The first awards in the program will be made in FY 1997.

• A pilot program designed to re-engineer business interactions will improve efficiency and productivity and reduce administrative burden on the research community. Over 100 institutions are participants and may conduct business with NSF electronically, including submitting proposals, performing merit reviews, requesting cash and managing awards.

CONCLUSION

America has entered an exciting, even revolutionary era for research and education in science and engineering. In just the last few months, American scientists and engineers have detected planets with the potential for sustaining life trillions of miles from earth, have accomplished genetic breakthroughs with implications for health and food supply, and observed a new state of matter at temperatures near absolute zero. Progress in computing and telecommunications has continued to accelerate. More and more schools have begun injecting the thrill of discovery into the teaching of mathematics and science.

The National Science Foundation has been at the center of these and countless other discoveries and advances that excite our imagination and secure our future. For FY 1997, NSF has established priorities for research and education investments that directly reflect this commitment to advancing learning and discovery in the nation's interest.

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