Special Federal Budget Issue: National Science Foundation

The Administration's FY 2006 budget request for the National Science Foundation (NSF) is $5.605 billion, a 2.4 percent increase above the FY05 appropriation level, but is still lower than the agency's FY04 appropriation of $5.652 billion.

Demand for NSF funding has increased dramatically over the past few years, based on the funding rate for research grants dropping from 30 percent in the late 1990s to only 20 percent in 2005 (estimated). The budget brief states, "In FY06, NSF will increase the funding rate to the FY04 level of 21 percent, while striving to maintain recent gains in award size and duration." This may be difficult given funds available would barely keep pace with inflation and the agency would add 25 employees under the Administration's request.

While NSF hopes to turn around the funding rate for proposals, the number of students able to participate in NSF educational programs is expected to drop by 6,140 students, a 27 percent drop from FY05, according to a Feb. 8 article on the Chronicle of Higher Education website. This is due in large part because most of the agency's overall net increase of $132.18 million in FY06 is accomplished by significant budget shifts across the four major accounts:

• Research and related activities ­ $4.33 billion (2.7 percent increase)
• Education and human resources ­ $737 million (12.4 percent decrease)
• Major research equipment and facilities construction ­ $250.1 million (44 percent increase)
• Salaries and expenses ­ $269 million (20.5 percent increase)

The Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) would shoulder $18.67 million (12 percent) of the cuts to the education and human resources account. DUE serves as NSF's focal point for improving undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Some key programs under DUE or the Education and Human Resources directorate that would be affected include:

• Course, Curriculum & Lab Improvement ­ $80 million ($14.4 million decrease) to support research on undergraduate STEM teaching and learning.
• Math & Science Partnerships - $60 million ($19.36 million 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 made in previous years.
• STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP) ­ $25 million ($280,000 decrease) to increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving associate or baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging STEM fields.
• Advanced Technological Education ­ $45 million ($140,000 decrease) to improve technician education in science- and engineering-related fields that drive the nation’s economy, particularly at two-year colleges and secondary schools.
• Informal Science Education ­ $63 million ($60,000 decrease) to promote public interest understanding and engagement in science and technology through voluntary self-directed, and life-long learning opportunities for children and adults.

A few education-related programs that would experience increases, albeit modest, include:

• Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) ­ $94 million ($320,000 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.
• Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) ­ $24.6 million ($100,000 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.
• Graduate Research Fellowships ­ $88.57 million ($100,000 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.
• Graduate Teaching Fellowships in K-12 Education ­ $41.83 million ($100,000 increase) to enable graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines to acquire skills that will prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the 21st century.

The National Nanotechnology Initiative remains a priority area as the FY06 request for NSF's investment in nanoscale science and engineering would grow by 1.6 percent to $343.77 million.

NSF's centers programs, favorites of many state and local tech-based economic development initiatives, are highlighted for additional funds for new and expanded centers. Selected programs include:

• Science and Technology Centers ­ $53.89 million (3.8 percent increase), with $2 million dedicated to supporting up to four new centers across the range of NSF disciplines.
• Engineering Research Centers ­ $61.8 million (0.4 percent increase) to support partnerships involving academe, industry and NSF for development of next-generation advances in complex engineered systems important for the nation's future.
• Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers - $58 million (1.75 percent increase) to support the existing 27 centers established through open competitions to address major interdisciplinary problems in materials and condensed matter science.
• Nanoscale Science & Engineering Centers ­ $9.71 million (no change) from the Engineering Directorate to fund eight nanotechnology centers with multidisciplinary capabilities.
• Plant Genome Virtual Centers ­ $36 million in the Biological Sciences Directorate (no change) to support collaborative labs, or "collaboratories" in which coordinated, multi-investigator teams pursue comprehensive plant genome research programs relevant to economically important plants or plant processes.
• Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Sites ­ $17.53 million (no change) to support collaborative interdisciplinary research at LTER sites.
• Science of Learning Centers - $23 million (15.9 percent increase) to continue support for multidisciplinary, multi-institutional centers to advanced understanding of learning.
• Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs) ­ $7.25 million (20.8 percent increase) 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.

Partnerships for Innovation would receive $9.5 million, $420,000 less than the FY05 level. The program stimulates the transformation of knowledge created by the national research and education enterprise into innovations that create new wealth, build strong local, regional and national economies and improve the national well-being.

Funding for SBIR/STTR within the Engineering Directorate is $105.33 million, a 2.5 percent increase over FY05, to support innovation research conducted by small technology firms.