NSB-98-83 (revised) |
RICHARD N. ZARE |
CHAIRMAN, NSB MAY 1996- MAY 1998 |
REPORT TO THE NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD MAY 7, 1998 |
Winston Churchill said, "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." In that spirit let me describe to you what
progress I think the National Science Board has made during the time I was its chairman. To me, the most significant change has been a reaching out by the Board to address issues bigger than the immediate concerns of the National Science Foundation. As you know, the Board has by statute a dual role, namely, to set policy for the National Science Foundation and to report to the President and to Congress on the state of health of the nation's science and engineering enterprise. It is in that second realm, I believe, that the Board has assumed a much larger presence. NSB Oversight of the National Science Foundation I will not recite a litany of standard though important activities, such as approval of the NSF budget, work on long-range planning, approval of various large NSF awards and programs, supervision of the Inspector General, approval of the Vannevar Bush and Waterman Award winners, etc. Instead, let me highlight some specific items from NSB's special responsibility to oversee NSF. The Board has taken its responsibilities most seriously, approving several actions of consequence. It has: |
|
Reform of NSB Operations:
We began, under the most able leadership of our Vice-Chair, Diana Natalicio, by significantly revising Board operations, particularly its calendar. |
|
NSB National Policy Role: I turn to activities "external" to NSF. To provide a quick summary, we: |
|
A good measure of our desire to reach out can be found in the attached
Appendix,
which lists the invited visitors and speakers we have had at NSB meetings
or functions during the past two years. I think that this collection of people
is very revealing of our intentions.
We know that it is easy for people to stumble and fall when they seek to follow a new path. In particular, we have become aware that it is awkward for the NSF Director, as a member of the Board, to vote on the clearance and approval of NSB reports on national research and education policy that may affect Federal agencies other than NSF. These considerations have led us to urge the Director to abstain as a matter of principle from such votes. In this regard, we are also developing a separate Board logo (not yet approved) to help distinguish ourselves from NSF in this new policy role. To me, these are clear signs that we are breaking new ground, but we have much more to do and to learn before we become really effective. It is my belief that the Board's appetite has been whetted for this new role and that there is now no turning back. Reflections and Comments: Let me add a more personal note on what being Chair of the Board has meant to me. These past years have been my most rewarding experience of public service of any type. The more I gave, the more I received from others. During this period I authored seven editorials (two in Chemical and Engineering News, two in the Journal of Chemical Education, one in Science, one in The Scientist, and one in the New York Times Op Ed page). I appeared five times at Congressional hearings and I twice had the misfortune of traveling across the country to attend hearings that were cancelled at the last moment -- something I call painful loss of hearing! I also made official visits to New Zealand (where I had the pleasure of dedicating a C-130 transport), to Antarctica, to Mexico, and to China. This "burst of activity" by the Board would not have occurred without strong support from others, especially the NSF Director, Neal Lane, who let it happen, and Dr. Marta Cehelsky, NSB Executive Officer, who provided the Board and me with huge assistance in spite of being quite understaffed to handle an activist Board trying to blaze new trails. What advice might I offer future members of the National Science Board? When I reflect on what needs to be done to sustain our progress, I recall a powerful statement whose source is unknown to me: "To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles." When I first heard these words, I thought them strange. They are quite different from what Groucho Marx said: "Those are my principles, and if you do not like them, ... ... well, I have others." The statement about the need to rise above principles, I have come to realize, contains special wisdom. I suggest that future Board members must be guided by their principles in carrying out all the tasks of the National Science Board, but once the Board has decided on a course of action, its members must learn to pull together in support of one another provided that our decision is not offensive to our most deeply held principles. Too often consensus is equated with near unanimity. We must learn how to reach consensus and then move on to do other business. The National Science Board is not a faculty senate meeting in which those who do not get their way remain free to object indefinitely, a behavior pattern not limited to those in universities. It has been a true pleasure and a high privilege for me to have had this opportunity to serve on the National Science Board for six years and as your Chair for the past two years. I will miss the good companionship it has provided me, and the opportunity for my own personal growth. In following along these new paths, the National Science Board can make an even more positive contribution to the nation. |
Richard N. Zare Chairman, 1996-1998 ADDENDUM, May 8, 1998 To complete the record for this term, after this report was written, during its May 6-8 meeting, the Board: |
|
Appendix to NSB-98-83 |
A PARTIAL LIST OF INVITED VISITORS AND SPEAKERS AT NSB MEETINGS OR FUNCTIONS MAY 1996 - MAY 1998 Arthur I. Bienenstock, Associate Director for Science, OSTP William F. Brinkman, Vice President for Physical Sciences, Lucent Technologies, Inc. Lewis M. Branscomb, former Director, National Bureau of Standards, former Chairman, NSB, and currently Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management, JFK School of Government, Harvard University Robert Curl, Jr., Rice University (Chemistry Nobelist) Edward David, Jr., President, EED Inc. and former Science Advisor to the President James J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus, University of Michigan, and former Chairman, NSB Vernon J. Ehlers, member of U.S. House of Representatives Craig Fields, Chair, Defense Science Board Jacques Gansler, Vice Chair, Defense Science Board John H. Gibbons, Director, OSTP and Science Advisor to the President Thomas J. Glauthier, Associate Director, Natural Resoruces, Energy and Science, OMB Ralph Gomory, Executive Director, Sloan Foundation Thomas Kalil, Senior Director, National Economic Council Martha Krebs, Director, Office of Energy Research, DOE David Lee, Cornell University (Physics Nobelist) Robert Lichter, Executive Director, Dreyfus Foundation W. Carl Lineberger, Department of Chemistry and JILA, University of Colorado Chris Llewellyn-Smith, Director General, CERN Douglas Osheroff, Stanford University (Physics Nobelist) Kathleen Peroff, Deputy Associate Director, Energy and Science Division, OMB Frank Press, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Institution of Washington, President Emeritus of the National Academy of Sciences, and former Science Advisor to the President Ken Prewitt, Executive Director, Social Science Research Council Frank Raines, Director, OMB Robert Richardson, Cornell University (Physics Nobelist) Steve Schiff, members of U.S. House of Representatives James Sensenbrenner, member of U.S. House of Representatives George Singley, Acting Director, DDR&E, DOD Richard Smalley, Rice University (Chemistry Nobelist) Harold Varmus, Director, NIH In addition, we had as our guests at our off-site meeting in Houston, Texas, the following individuals: John Alderete, University of Texas Health Science Center Thomas Applequist, Dean, Graduate School, Yale University Marvin Cassman, Director, Institute of General Medicine, NIH Paul Cuneo, Director of Technology, Shell Oil Products Co., Houston, Texas James Decker, Deputy Director, Office of Energy Research, DOE Marye Anne Fox, Vice President for Research, University of Texas at Austin Malcolm Gillis, President, Rice University Stuart Rice, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago David Sanchez, Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M Brian Schwartz, Senior Assistant to the Executive Director, American Physical Society Roy Schwitters, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin Michael Smailey, Texas Instruments, Inc. and adjunct professor, Rice University Arthur Smith, Chancellor/President, University of Houston Robert Trew, Director of Research, DDR&E, DOD Karan Watson, Associate Dean, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University Henry Yang, Chancellor, University of California at Santa Barbara |