National Science Foundation

The Administration’s FY07 NSF budget request of $6.02 billion reflects an increase of $439 million or 7.9 percent from the FY06 appropriation.



Funding for fixed assets of the nation's research enterprise, such as instrumentation, research facilities, infrastructure and federally-funded R&D centers, receive $1.685 billion in the FY07 request, a 13.2 percent increase above the FY06 plan.



Monies available for grants in fundamental science and engineering, for the centers programs and for capability enhancement are proposed to increase by 6.1 percent to $2.915 billion in FY07.



FY07 budget requests for selected initiatives crossing several NSF directorates include:

• National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) - $373.2 million (8.56 percent increase), including $65 million to support approximately 50 new Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams. NSF is the lead for this multi-agency initiative. Total FY07 NNI funding across the 10 agencies involved drops 1.8 percent to $1.277 billion.
• Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) - $903.74 million (11.5 percent increase), including $35 million for Cyber Trust. This research program is designed to ensure that computers and networks underlying national infrastructures, homes and offices can be relied on during cyber attacks. Cyber Trust is part of a larger NSF Cybersecurity and Information Assurance research effort totaling $97 million, an increase of 26 percent in FY07.
• International Polar Year - $61.6 million for a new program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year 1957-58, in which unparalleled exploration of the Earth and space led to discoveries in many fields of science that have changed the way we view polar regions and their global significance. The funding request is the first of a two-year program to support U.S. polar research and education activities.
• Partnership for Innovation - $9.19 million (2.11 percent increase). The program stimulates the transformation of knowledge created by the national research and education enterprise into innovations that creates new wealth, build strong local, regional and national economies and improve the national well-being.
• Sensors for the Detection of Explosives - $20 million in new funding to support fundamental research and new technologies for sensors and sensor systems to improve the detection of explosives, including Improvised Explosive Devices.
• Science Metrics - $6.8 million for a new research effort to address policy-relevant science metrics. The goal is to develop the data, tools, and knowledge needed to establish the foundations for an evidence-based “science of science policy.”

Funding for NSF’s centers programs, supported by many state tech-based economic development initiatives as well as NSF, is mixed. While total centers funding would increase by 2.6 percent to $259.78 million, several individual center programs would experience cuts or virtually level funding.

• Science and Technology Centers - $67.5 million (8.2 percent increase) distributed across several NSF directorates to support partnerships involving academia, industry, government laboratories, and other public and private organizations to explore research problems that require interdisciplinary expertise and high-risk approaches. NSF plans to initiate four new centers in FY06 and no new centers in FY07.
• Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) - $62.8 million (1 percent decrease) within the Engineering Directorate to support partnerships involving academe, industry and NSF for development of next-generation advances in complex engineered systems important for the nation’s future. The reduction is to to be absorbed by all current ERC recipients.
• Materials Research Science & Engineering Centers - $55.7 million (3.8 percent increase) for grants to support multi-year interdisciplinary materials research in academic institutions across the country.
• Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers - $37.35 million (0.4 percent increase) across several directorates for multi-disciplinary research on the nanoscale.
• Science of Learning Centers - $27 million (18.9 percent increase) across several directorates to continue support for multidisciplinary, multi-institutional centers to advanced understanding of learning.
• Centers for Analysis and Synthesis - $6.46 million (1.1 percent increase) within the Biological Sciences Directorate to support two centers exploring ecological analysis and evolutionary biology.
• Chemical Bonding Centers - $3 million (102.7 percent increase) are designed to support long-term "big questions" in basic chemical research.
• Earthquake Engineering Research Centers - no funding ($6 million decrease) within the Engineering Directorate. Phaseout of the three existing centers is underway in FY06. The program was initiated in 1988.

The FY07 budget request for the Directorate for Engineering is $628.55 million, an increase of $47.63 million, or 8.2 percent, more than the FY06 total of $580.92 million. Highlights in addition to the ERCs described above include:

• A proposed Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) - $25 million (new program) to help NSF focus on emerging areas in a timely manner. Each year, beginning in FY07, EFRI will annually recommend, prioritize, and fund interdisciplinary initiatives at the emerging frontier of engineering research and education.
• SBIR / STTR programs - $108.9 million (8.5 percent increase) to support innovation research conducted by small technology firms.
• Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs) - $6.8 million (no change) to further develop long-term partnerships among industry, academe and government and to allow the 50 existing centers to compete for supplements for fundamental research that will enhance their capabilities.
• Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) - $4.4 million (29.4 percent increase) to enable partnerships between industry and academe where there is a common intellectual and educational agenda.

The FY07 budget request for the Education and Human Resources (EHR) Directorate is $816.2 million, an increase of $19.35 million, or 2.5 percent above FY06 appropriations. Highlights include:

• Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) - $100 million (1.3 percent increase) to promote the development of selected states’ science and technology resources through partnerships involving a state’s universities, industry, government and the federal R&D enterprise.
• Graduate Research Fellowships - $88 million (3.1 percent increase) to support the most promising graduate science, mathematics and engineering students in the U.S. for a broad range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary careers.
• Informal Science Education - $65.6 million (4.7 percent increase) to promote public interest understanding and engagement in science and technology through voluntary self-directed, and life-long learning opportunities for children and adults.
• Graduate Teaching Fellows in K -12 Education - $46.8 million (8.7 percent increase) to enable graduate students in NSF-supported Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines to acquire skills that will prepare them for professional and scientific careers.
• Advanced Technological Education - $45.9 million (2.2 percent increase) to improve technician education in science- and engineering-related fields that drive the nation’s economy, particularly at two-year colleges and secondary schools.
• STEM Talent Expansion Program - $26 million (2 percent increase) to increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving associate or baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging STEM fields.
• Center of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) - $24.9 million (39.3 percent increase). Two to four new CREST Centers will be initiated.
• Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training - $24.6 million (4.9 percent increase) to prepare U.S. doctoral students for advancing knowledge in emerging areas of research and to pursue successful careers in academia, industry or the public sector.

Several activities within the EHR Directorate are proposed for budget reductions instead:

• Course, Curriculum & Laboratory Improvement - $86.5 million (1.8 percent decrease) to support research on undergraduate STEM teaching and learning.
• Math and Science Partnership - $46 million (27.2 percent decrease) to improve student outcomes in math and science for all students in grades K-12 through partnerships with higher education.  Funding would support awards from previous years and new Teacher Institutes for the 21st Century with funds appropriated in FY06.

The FY07 budget request for the Biological Science Directorate is $607.9 million, 5.4 percent higher than the FY06 budget of $576.7 million. The Emerging Frontiers division, recipient of more than half of the directorate's increase, would see its budget grow 22.7 percent to $99.2 million in FY06 with approval of the Administration's request. The Emerging Frontiers increase would allow expansion of the Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research program, initiation of a new program in theoretical biology and expanded R&D in sensor development.