The National Science Foundation (NSF) has committed almost $94 million over the next five years in matching funds for five new Science & Technology Centers (STC). The new centers join 23 existing centers that were selected in 1989 and 1991. (Two more original STCs cease to exist.)

The National Science Foundation's Directorate for Education and Human Resources has released A Report on the Evaluation of the National Science Foundation's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. The report (NSF 99-115) was prepared under contract by the COSMOS Corporation.

Among the report's findings are:

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of Materials Research has announced that approximately $22 million will be awarded in FY 2000 for grants to support 10-15 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs).

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology is seeking a new President and Chief Executive Officer. The CIT president's primary responsibility will be to assist the Secretary of Technology in implementing the Commonwealth's technology strategy by developing and directing CIT's key role in the strategy. Applications are due by June 22, 1999.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation have announced approximately $5 million will be awarded in FY 2000 for grants to support research toward "Technology for a Sustainable Environment."

Entities eligible to submit proposals include universities and not-for-profit institutions. The agencies anticipate making 20 grant awards for the solicitation in January 2000. Proposals are due July 26, 1999.

Robert Templin, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has resigned. Wolfgang Tolle, managing director, has been named acting president. Patsy Brown, CIT's director of public affairs, also has left CIT.

Kate Latta Hoffher, senior public affairs specialist with the National Science Foundation's Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, is on detail to NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) until the end of July.

Offering some good news for universities and companies looking for funding, the National Science Board (NSB) has recommended the elimination of any evidence of voluntary cost share from most grant proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF). However, the board recommended mandatory cost matching should be reinstated in a handful of initiatives, including its Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program, its Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) program, and its EPSCoR program.

Maria Haley, the executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission passed way Sept. 13 after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration announced Matthew Erskine will join the agency as the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of Commerce for Economic Development and chief operations officer.

The first $90 million has been awarded through NSF’s new program Information Technology Research (ITR) initiative. The goal of the program is to build US leadership in information technology (IT) through support of fundamental research and innovative applications of IT. The ITR program is designed to strengthen the nation’s IT knowledge base as well as the IT workforce.

During its six years in operation, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program has awarded more than $150 million in grants to strengthen the education of technicians for the high tech fields driving our economy. The ATE Program is managed jointly by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education and the Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education.

Since its inception in 1975, the Alan T. Waterman Award remains the highest honor awarded by the National Science Foundation. The award is conferred annually to the young researcher who has demonstrated exceptional individual achievement in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality to place them at the forefront of their peers. The awardee receives a $500,000 nonrestrictive grant over a three-year period for continued research.

The National Science Foundation’s Division of Educational System Reform is funding cooperative agreements with 13 urban school districts: Birmingham, Chattanooga, Chicago, Fresno, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Newport News, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia to improve K-12 mathematics and technology education. The awards are aimed at districts that already have improvement programs in place.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recommended awards for 24 projects in communities around the country to help translate knowledge gained from basic research into new products, businesses and services, as well as to provide workforce education and training opportunities focused on innovation. Totaling more than $14 million, each averaging about $600,000 over two or three years, the first-ever Partnerships For Innovation (PFI) awards cover projects in 20 states and Puerto Rico.

Research and development activity in the nonprofit sector share of total U.S. R&D held steady at 3 percent from 1973 to 1997, according to a February 15 Data Brief prepared by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Data Brief reports on the first survey of nonprofit R&D activity since 1973.

Partnerships for Innovation (PFI), a National Science Foundation (NSF) program started just last year, has released its Program Solicitation for FY 2001. The program will support 10-15 new government-university-industry partnerships that explore new approaches to support and sustain innovation. An academic institution must be the lead for the partnership 



The program was designed to: 

Research and development expenditures in 1997 are expected to reach $205.7 billion, a 6.5 percent increase over 1996's $193.2 billion in spending. Since 1994, R&D spending has been increasing at a rate of more than 5 percent a year, according to a recent National Science Foundation Data Brief.

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Office of Science and Technology Infrastructure (OSTI) has announced that funds will be available for additional Science and Technology Centers (STC). NSF is currently soliciting proposals from qualified candidates for the Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships Program.