Chapter 3. National Science Foundation

 

The mission of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense." It carries out this mission by providing grants for almost 20,000 research and education projects in science and engineering. Grants are awarded through a competitive peer review process in which scholars submit proposals in response to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) announced by NSF. RFPs define broad areas of interest to the Foundation.

NSF is organized hierarchically: disciplinary Directorates are the broadest categories, and each contains a number of more specialized Divisions. The NSF supports environmental research through all of its disciplinary Directorates, the Office of Polar Programs, and a variety of integrative mechanisms. Some entire programs and Divisions fall within the environmental research category. Summaries of these programs, along with examples of significant projects, are provided in the descriptions of the relevant NSF Directorates. Occasionally a program that encompassas a broad scientific field supports particular environmental research projects, and in these instances example projects are noted in the descriptions of the relevant NSF Directorates. An increasing number of NSF programs are collaborations between Divisions within and across Directorates, across NSF as a whole (e.g., Biocomplexity and the Environment, Global Change), and between parts of NSF and other federal agencies (e.g., EPA, NOAA) and other entities within the U.S. and internationally. Every effort has been made to identify these partnership throughout the chapter. Additional information is available at the NSF Environmental Research and Education Page.

NSF seeks to draw on the participation of relevant science and engineering disciplines to promote interdisciplinary research necessary for improved understanding of complex environmental and global change processes. To accomplish these goals, NSF activities related to Environmental Research and Education (ERE) involve support of basic disciplinary research, focused interdisciplinary research, and a broad range of educational, international, and outreach functions that cut across the entire spectrum of environment and natural resources scientific interests. In FY 2004, NSF funding in ERE areas totaled approximately $934 million. Included in the ERE portfolio is Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE), one of NSF's Priority Areas (see below).

All NSF R&D is classified as research and 91% as "basic" research. Approximately 81% of NSF funding goes to colleges and universities, accounting for approximately half of all federally funded "basic," non-biomedical research conducted at the nation's colleges and universities. In addition, NSF accounts for almost one-third of the total federal support for science and mathematics education.

Organization of environmental R & D within NSF: (Internal links)

National Science Board Task Force on the Environment

The National Science Board, the governing body of the NSF, established a Task Force on the Environment in August 1998 to assist the Foundation in defining the scope of its role with respect to environmental research, education, and assessment, and in determining the best means of implementing activities related to this area. On February 2, 2000, the National Science Board approved twelve recommendations contained in the report Environmental Science and Engineering for the 21st Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation. These recommendations call for NSF to expand its environmental activities from approximately $600 million/year to $1.6 billion/year over five years (beginning in FY 2002). These activities would include research, education, and scientific assessment, as well as the requisite physical, technological, and information infrastructure. The report also recommends that NSF establish a high-visibility, NSF-wide organizational focal point with budgetary authority to encourage integration across research, education, and scientific assessment, and across areas of inquiry. The activities contained in this initiative include nearly all of the activities proposed for a new National Institute for the Environment throughout the 1990's.  On March 4, 2000, the Task Force was discharged.

"In 2000, NSF chartered the Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. This committee occupies a unique position among NSF's various advisory bodies in that it provides an important means of contact with the expanding and changing scientific community represented by the many pursuits in the Foundation's environmental and education activities."

2010 NSF

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