Doubling the NSF budget
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Letter from the President
Doubling the NSF Budget On May 7 in Washington D.C., the House Science Committee introduced a bill titled “Investing in America’s Future Act—NSF Authorization Act of 2002” (H.R. 4664) that would provide an increase in the budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF) by 15% in fiscal year 2003 (starting October 2002) and set the course for a doubling of the agency’s budget in five years. This mirrors an effort to double the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that is now in its fifth year. The NIH doubling effort has aroused feelings of pride in the science community broadly, mixed with considerable envy among physical scientists. Co-sponsors of the NSF doubling bill come from both political parties in the House of Representatives and include Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and Ranking Minority Member Ralph Hall (D-Texas); Research Subcommittee Chair Nick Smith (R-Mich.) and Ranking Minority Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas); Environment, Technology, and Standards Subcommittee Chair Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.) and Ranking Minority Member James Barcia (R-Mich.); and Science Committee members Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Bob Ethridge (D-N.C.), Connie Morella (R-Md.), Brian Baird (D-Wash.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Joe Baca (D-Calif.), George Nethercutt (R-Wash.), Michael Honda (D-Calif.), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), and Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.). The sponsors of this bill have recognized that while doubling the NIH budget has been very positive for the health of the nation—both literally and metaphorically— health science research is now, more than ever, rooted in the basic biological, mathematical, and physical sciences, in addition to engineering and the social sciences. Balancing the United States’ governmentally funded research portfolio is essential if the full benefits of the NIH doubling are to be realized. Despite its relatively small budget (only 13% of NIH’s), NSF has supported a large fraction of the fundamental discoveries that have led to Nobel Prizes and almost all of the work that has underlain the advances made by NIH and the other “mission-oriented” science agencies in the U.S. research portfolio. NSF’s hallmark is cutting-edge research, selected through
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MRS enthusiastically supports the goal of doubling the NSF budget.
rigorous peer review (yes, I know, it is often annoying, but it is also usually right!). The NSF scientific staff has provided quiet and effective leadership in setting the research agenda, allowing for the most effective use of the limited funds under the agency’s control. NSF is recognized as the most efficient of the government agencies, operating with exceptionally low overhead and an exceptionally high level of peer review. It is the very antithesis of the caricature of a bumbling and inefficient governmental agency. Under Director Rita Colwell’s leadership, the agency is moving to make the research enterprise even more efficient by increasing the average length and value of the typical award so that researchers can spend mo
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