"We feel our major needs are being met," said National
Science Foundation Director Rita Colwell at Monday's briefing on the
Bush Administration's $4.47 billion NSF request for FY 2002. Saying that
it was to credit of the administration that it was holding the line on
discretionary spending, Colwell characterized the foundation as being
"fortunate" in this budget cycle.
President Bush has requested a 1.3%, or $56 million increase in the
foundation's budget for FY 2002. Research and Related Activities funding
would decline 0.5%, which Colwell said would enable NSF to maintain its
current level of support. Education and Human Resources funding is the
"Highlight" in the request Colwell declared, which would increase 11.0%.
There would be no new starts under the foundation's Major Research
Equipment activity.
The budget submission to Congress identifies several Highlights and
Priorities. The first is a $200 million Math and Science Partnership
Initiative. NSF will lead this initiative that would, according to the
budget document, "provide funds for states and local school districts to
join with institutions of higher education, particularly with their
departments of mathematics, science, and engineering, to strengthen K-12
math and science education." NSF also requests $8 million to increase
from $18,000 to $20,500, for academic year 2002-2003, the stipends for
Graduate Research Fellowships, the Graduate Teaching Fellowships in K-12
Education, and the Integrative Graduate Education and Research
Traineeship programs. NSF hopes this will attract more students into
graduate education in science and engineering.
Interdisciplinary Mathematics will be a "centerpiece" of NSF's core
investments in FY 2002. "This emphasis on the mathematical sciences
recognizes its increasingly critical role in advancing interdisciplinary
science," states the budget document. This budget would increase by
16.5%. Four interdependent priority areas are identified. Each will
receive funding increases to maintain the momentum of previous
foundation investments, Colwell said. One of these is Nanoscale Science
and Engineering, which would increase 16.1%. Identified as an Additional
FY 2002 Highlight is the support NSF provides for the Large Hadron
Collider, Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation, and the
Terascale Computing System.
In responding to questions, Colwell said that the FY 2002 request
"lays the foundation for sustained increases over the long term." She
said that further work needs to be done in Washington and across America
to fully explain the importance of the research supported by NSF.
Colwell's response to a question about NIH's 13.5% requested increase
concentrated on the foundation's own initiatives. "I do think that
future looks bright," she declared, calling on the scientific community
to work together to present what she called a powerful message about the
importance of scientific research.
Forthcoming FYIs will detail physics-related programs in the FY 2002
NSF request.
