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This document has been archived.
NSF PR 00-05 - February 7, 2000
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President Seeks More Than $4.5 Billion for NSF in
2001
A 21st century budget
for 21st century science and engineering,
says NSF director
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced today
the largest budget request in foundation history --
a record $4.57 billion for fiscal 2001. The total
2001 request is 17.3 percent higher than the current
year's budget, and the planned $675-million increase
for 2001 is double the largest increase proposed in
NSF history. The increase represents a broad-based
effort to strengthen NSF's core research and education
programs and give impetus to major new and ongoing
initiatives.
"President Clinton's request meets the challenge to
invest in the innovative ideas, outstanding people
and the cutting-edge tools that will extend the frontiers
of science, technology and learning in many directions,"
Rita Colwell, NSF director, said. "Industry CEOs,
economists, academic and scientific leaders, the Council
on Competitiveness, and many others are in agreement
on the importance of federally supported fundamental
research to the growth and strength of the American
economy."
Nearly half of the increase -- about $320 million --
will go toward "core" research and education activities:
- to sustain the flow of new discoveries and fuel
development of new technologies; and
- to fund emphasis areas such
as fundamental mathematics, functional genomics,
physical, chemical and geologic cycles as well as psychological, cognitive
and linguistic sciences.
"These core activities aren't tied to focused initiatives,
so it gives us some of the flexibility we've been
seeking for years," Colwell noted.
In addition to core activities, the $675 million increase
will go toward funding four focused areas, all building
on existing NSF activities. Two are part of a broader
federal effort. They are:
- Information Technology Research (ITR) -
NSF will lead a multi-agency effort in ITR, investing
$327 million in broad areas of research and education,
focused on computer system architecture, information
storage and retrieval, scalable networks, and
connectivity, as well as studies of the impact
of information technology on society. The ITR
initiative planned for 2001 builds on current
NSF investments and increases NSF's total ITR
commitment by 160 percent above year 2000.
- Biocomplexity in the
Environment (BE) -
Totaling $136 million, investment for BE in 2001
is more than two-and-a-half times the commitment
in year 2000. The enhanced BE initiative
will bring together interdisciplinary teams of
scientists in an intensified effort to understand
dynamic interactions within biological systems and
the physical environment. About $12 million
will be used to support initial construction
of a National Ecological Observatory Network
(NEON). This facility will explore the biology of the planet (pole-to-pole)
with state-of-the-art research tools and
infrastructure.
- 21st Century Workforce - The
almost $157 million NSF plans in 2001 is more
than double its year 2000 investment. Programs
such as Centers for Learning and Teaching will
address the needs of the American workforce and
its transition into a more technology-based,
information and knowledge-based workplace. Increased
emphasis on Graduate Teaching Fellowships will
place many more graduate and undergraduate students into
K-12 classrooms as teaching resources. A $10-million
initiative for tribal colleges will encourage
Native Americans to pursue fields of study in
information technology and other scientific areas.
It will also allow tribal colleges to offer relevant
courses and to enhance K-12 education in feeder
school systems.
- Nanoscale science and engineering - NSF
will invest more than $216 million in the multi-agency
National Nanotechnology Initiative as the lead
agency. NSF's research will include work in
nanoscale biosystems, structures and quantum control, device
and system architecture, processes in the environment
and simulations. Interdisciplinary research and
education teams will also initiate long-term
work in nanostructured materials, manufacturing,
electronics, magnetics and health care. The
money will support new centers and networks of excellence, research
instrumentation and facilities and student
felllowships, traineeships and curriculum development.
Overall, NSF is seeking a nearly 20-percent increase
in funding for research and related activities. Earthscope:
U.S. Array and San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth
(SAFOD), an array of instruments that will allow high-resolution
observations of earthquake and other earth processes,
highlights (along with NEON) a jump of 48.2 percent
in major research equipment. Another $45 million will
be invested in terascale computing systems.
Colwell emphasized that the new budget also allows
for larger and longer duration of grants, and -- just
as important -- allows funding of more first-time,
young investigators, which will help to maintain and
invigorate the research base.
See also:
Return to Budget page.
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