The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2002, a collection of 54 statistical tables presenting the distribution of graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) across population segments, fields of science or engineering, and by college and state. Overall long-term trends for S&E graduate students from 1975 to 2002 and short-term trends from 1995 to 2002 by detailed fields are presented as well.

The National Science Foundation has released its report on Federal Science and Engineering (S&E) Support to Universities, Colleges and Nonprofit Institutions for Fiscal Year 2002, revealing the government distributed nearly $24.4 billion to the nation's research institutions during the year. The figure is 8.5 percent higher higher than the FY 2001 total of $22.5 billion.

The perennial or biennial efforts to secure funding from state legislatures to support tech-based economic development (TBED) programs can create significant limitations on the design and execution of programs targeting research or early-stage, seed capital investments. Fixed endowments such as the one created by Wyoming and the Permanent Big Sky Economic Development Fund proposed in Montana (see both stories above) are ideal, but getting the initial payment approved by a legislature can be difficult.

On Friday, President Bush announced his intention to nominate Michael D. Griffin, of Virginia, to be administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Griffin currently serves as Space Department Head at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Prior to that, he was president and chief operating officer of In-Q-Tel, Inc.

Kathie Olsen, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, is the new deputy director of the National Science Foundation.

The average budgets for local and regional economic development organizations fell nearly 3 percent between 2004 and 2005, according to the second annual survey by ACCRA.

University R&D is considered a fundamental element of innovation and technological competitiveness. If R&D spending equates to more R&D, then the 10 percent increase between 2002 and 2003 as reported by the nation's academic community to the National Science Foundation (NSF) would be a rosy sign for America's future.

Last month, voters in Arkansas narrowly rejected a major bond proposal targeting technology and capital upgrades in higher education and actively supported by Gov. Mike Huckabee, leaving many to wonder what went wrong.

Virginia Gov.-elect Tim Kaine named Aneesh Chopra as his administration's secretary of technology.

Following the 1998 Master Tobacco Settlement Agreement, states across the country set out to dedicate significant amounts of funding from their share of the settlement to support research and other TBED programs.

A complete description of this opportunity and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm.

Browsing the business section of a bookstore may yield dozens of titles purporting to explain the process of innovation. This newsletter and most others serving the nation’s policymakers and science and technology communities have covered reports calling for a national innovation strategy. Unfortunately, most meetings on the subject have to begin by developing a working definition of the term innovation that most can accept.

"How we view -- and treat -- the environment is a critical question for the 21st century," begins the letter from Eamon Kelly, chair of the National Science Board, that accompanies Environmental Science and Engineering for the 21st Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation. The study outlines the scope of the $600 million in current NSF environmental activities and conveys policy guidance for NSF to design a future $1.6 billion portfolio of programs and initiatives.

Two-thirds of all U.S. research and development (R&D) expenditures in 1997 were concentrated in just ten states according to a July 10, 2000 Data Brief from the National Science Foundation. In contrast the 20 lowest ranking states in R&D expenditures accounted for only four percent of the $199 billion total. 

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and its sponsors have more than $1 million available through several programs to support and recognize science students and teachers. Applications are currently available for the following programs: 

Increasing globalization of research and development (R&D) and the prolific growth of information technology (IT) are major elements in a "science and engineering enterprise that is in transition," the National Science Board (NSB) reports in Science and Engineering Indicators 2000.

Women and minorities continue to take fewer high-level mathematics and science courses in high school; earn fewer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in science and engineering (S&E); and remain less likely to be employed in S&E jobs than white males.

Criteria used by one of the largest funders of basic research to evaluate research proposals is slated to change in 1997. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is revising the criteria used to evaluate approximately 30,000 proposals per year and is seeking comments on the proposed criteria.

A panel of external evaluators has concluded that the National Science Foundation's State/Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (S/I/UCRC) Program supports NSF's strategic goals. The panel also found that "the development of cooperative research centers involving states, industries and NSF can be an important contributing element to maintaining and developing a competitive US industry."

President Clinton recently announced his intention to nominate Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University, to the National Science Board, an advisory body to the National Science Foundation. The National Science Board recommends overall national policies for promoting basic research and education in the sciences.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected 13 new Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers, bringing the total number of centers to 24. NSF support for the new centers is expected to amount to $105 million over the next five year years. The centers are university-based programs that support interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary materials research and education.

The new centers are located at the following universities:

Dr. Elbert L. Marsh has been named to head the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering. Dr. Marsh will now assume responsibility for all engineering funding at the federal agency--in excess of $300 million in 1995.

The Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) has completed a review of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Science and Technology Centers (STC) program. COSEPUP recently released its conclusions which call for the continuation of the STC program, with some modifications.

Increased company support of R&D offset reduced Federal funding in 1994 and contributed to an overall increase in U.S. industrial R&D, to $119.6 billion, according to the National Science Foundation's Survey of Industrial Research and Development for 1994.

Science and Engineering Indicators - 1996 is available from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board. The report is both a reference document and a policy document that provides an extensive array of data. The 1996 report has expanded to include output as well as input indicators as well as some indicators of the impact and outcome of science and engineering in the U.S.