INTEGRATIVE ACTIVITIES $161,230,000
The
FY 2000 Budget Request for Integrative Activities (IA) is $161.23 million, a
decrease of $200,000 from the FY 1999 Current Plan of $161.43 million.
(Millions of Dollars)
In FY 1999, NSF created a new budget activity within the Research and Related Activities Appropriation, Integrative Activities. IA supports emerging cross-disciplinary research efforts and major research instrumentation, as well as provides support for the Science and Technology Policy Institute. IA also included funding which was made available through the Intellectual Infrastructure fund.
This restructuring facilitates improved management and coordination of these activities across the Foundation, and explicitly recognizes the importance of these types of integrative efforts to the future of science and engineering.
Integrative
Activities includes support for the following programs:
(Millions of Dollars)
Biocomplexity
In FY 2000, NSF will sponsor a $50.0
million focused initiative on biocomplexity that facilitates interdisciplinary
efforts that span temporal and spatial scales, consider multiple levels of
biological organization, cross conceptual boundaries, use contemporary and
emerging technologies, and link research to environmental decision making. In FY 1999, NSF also recognized this need
for focused research on biocomplexity, and is supporting research in this area
through the Opportunity Fund.
The dynamics of biological complexity
and its role in environmental systems are critical to a full understanding of
living organisms and of the vital natural resources such as food and fiber that
biological systems provide, and upon which humans depend. Advancing our understanding of the nature
and role of biological complexity demands increased attention and new
collaborations of scientists from a broad spectrum of fields — including
biology, physics, chemistry, geology, hydrology, mathematics, statistics,
engineering, computation, and social sciences.
Such collaborations can capitalize on the advent of powerful new and
emerging technologies, including genome sequencing, new computational
algorithms and mathematical methods, sensors and monitoring devices, and remote
sensing, that have greatly enhanced our ability to understand ecosystem
complexity and dynamics. The
multidisciplinary biocomplexity initiative will apply the latest tools and
insights developed across all fields of science and engineering to the study of
environmental systems.
The FY 2000 competition will emphasize
enhancing our analytical and predictive capabilities by integrating knowledge
across disciplines. Observational
capabilities will be expanded and upgraded to support such integrated efforts.
Opportunity Fund
NSF’s Opportunity Fund was created in FY 1995 to support innovative, cross-disciplinary research and education through small, focused competitions, and to assist the Foundation in responding quickly to emerging or unique opportunities in science and engineering. The Fund has been used to stimulate interest and participation in a number of targeted research and education efforts. These efforts have ranged from research in optical science and engineering, to awards for Collaborative Research on Learning Technologies, to Recognition Awards for Integration of Research and Education, to awards to support research on Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence. All NSF activities have participated in efforts supported through the Opportunity Fund.
Some
of the efforts initially funded through the Opportunity Fund were later
incorporated into ongoing NSF programs; others are one-year pilot efforts or
experiments. For example, an FY 1995
effort on Water & Watersheds
which supported research on the natural and anthropogenic processes that govern
the quantity, quality, and availability of water resources, and an
understanding of ecosystems that comprise watersheds, has become incorporated
in an interagency announcement of opportunity with EPA. An FY 1997 effort on Life in Extreme Environments which enabled interdisciplinary
research on living systems in extreme environments, such as the polar regions
and around deep sea vents, was one of the activities leading to the current
research effort on biocomplexity. On the other hand, in FY 1998, Collaboratives to Integrate Research and
Education (CIRE) was a pilot effort to explore ways of linking
minority-serving institutions with NSF-funded centers and facilities to focus
efforts on diversity of the science and
engineering workforce in all NSF programs.
NSF is exploring how to extend the lessons learned through CIRE into
future programming.
In
FY 1999, the Opportunity Fund totals $30.0 million, $24.0 million in R&RA
through Integrative Activities and $6.0 million through the Education and Human
Resources Appropriation. NSF has
identified a number of promising areas which will receive support through the
Opportunity Fund in FY 1999 through small, focused competitions, including:
data and scientific visualization; wireless technology and information
networks; biocomplexity; Arctic contaminants; urban communities education and
research; and graduate and undergraduate student participation in K-12
education.
In
FY 2000, $32.0 million will be provided
for the Opportunity Fund within R&RA through Integrative
Activities. An additional $8.0 million
for the Opportunity Fund will be provided through the Education and Human
Resources appropriation, for a total FY 2000 Opportunity Fund of $40.0
million.
Major Research Instrumentation
The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) is designed to improve the condition of scientific and engineering equipment for research and research training in our nation’s academic institutions. This program seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering, and to foster the integration of research and education by providing instrumentation for research-intensive learning environments. In FY 2000, NSF will provide $50.0 million for this ongoing program to support the acquisition and development of research instrumentation for academic institutions.
Science and Technology Centers
NSF created the Science and Technology Centers (STC) program in 1989. STCs support university-based multidisciplinary research, encouraging knowledge transfer to non-academic sectors of society, and establishing innovative education activities. The centers have become focal points for their respective communities by providing facilities, instruments, and venues for interactions. Education and research have become tightly interwoven at the centers and a large cohort of students has graduated with special capabilities gained through the centers. Collaborations with industrial scientists and engineers at national labs have become commonplace, resulting in new technologies, products, and jobs. Most importantly, the centers have successfully attacked complex, major research problems that require sustained high levels of research support.
In FY 2000 NSF will provide $25.0 million to support a new class of Science and Technology Centers, in topics across the range of disciplines supported by NSF. Funds for this new class of centers will be made available through the planned phase-out of funding for mature centers, which were supported through the disciplinary programs.
Science and Technology Policy Institute
The
Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) is a Federally-Funded Research
and Development Center established in 1992 by Congress to support the complex
task of devising and implementing science and technology policy. Originally named the Critical Technologies
Institute, the Institute was renamed by Congress in FY 1998.
The Institute provides analytical support to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to identify near-term and long-term objectives for research and development and identify options for achieving those objectives. The analytical work of STPI is focused on informing policy decisions within three overlapping themes: (1) the conduct of fundamental science and the development and use of technology; (2) the contributions of science and technology to achieving major societal goals; and (3) policies that influence the support, conduct, and use of science and technology. NSF provides budgetary support, as well as financial and management oversight, for STPI. The RAND Corporation, the present contractor, operates the Institute as a separate entity.
The FY 2000 Request
includes $4.23 million for STPI, the same level as FY 1999, for analytic
activities in support of OSTP and the National Science and Technology Council
(NSTC) initiatives in key areas where policy decisions are anticipated, such
as:
·
Analysis to support the fifth National Critical Technologies Review.
·
Analysis of technologies that may help elderly citizens to maintain
independent living.
·
Analytical support to OSTP during the policy formulation process for U.S.
space policy on such critical matters as the use by foreign governments of U.S.
built and operated space systems.
·
Continuing exploration of security issues related to critical
infrastructure by examining new security, public safety, and privacy issues
emerging from the information revolution,
such as gauging the impact of
the Y2K computer 'bug' on the digital economy.
The Institute also operates the RaDiUS data
system, described in a report issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office
(GAO) as "the first comprehensive,
real-time accounting of federal R&D activities and spending.” In
FY 2000, $1.5 million of the STPI request will be used to provide continuing
access to the RaDiUS system to users in the federal R&D community. During FY 1999, RAND will work with NSF and
OSTP to establish and convene a RaDiUS Oversight Committee, to advise on the
operations and continued improvement of RaDiUS, including such matters as data
improvements, system enhancements, resource requirements, and guidelines for
user access.
Other Integrative Activities
In
FY 1999, two additional items were supported through Integrative
Activities. A focused competition in Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence provided
$44.0 million in support for research in three foci:
Knowledge Networking (KN); Learning and Intelligent Systems (LIS); and New
Computational Challenges (NCC).
Research funded through this competition will enhance opportunities for
providing rapid and efficient access to enormous amounts of knowledge and
information; studying vastly more complex systems than was hitherto possible;
and increasing in fundamental ways our understanding of learning and
intelligence in living and engineered systems.
In
addition, in FY 1998 $39.20 million in the Intellectual
Infrastructure Fund was made available by
the Congress to the National Science Foundation to support networking
activities, including Next Generation Internet at colleges and universities
across the country. These funds –
currently the subject of litigation – were carried forward into FY 1999 and
will be used for grants and awards in response to proposals for connection to
high speed computing networks, research and technology development with respect
to high speed networking and related applications, and testbed development.
Other Foundation-wide Activities:
In addition to the programs supported through IA,
NSF supports a number of other Foundation-wide research and education
programs. These programs are funded
through the disciplinary programs, often with contributions from the Education
and Human Resources Appropriation, and include:
·
CAREER: Almost $100 million in support across the
Foundation is targeted for young investigators through the Faculty Early Career
Development (CAREER) program. CAREER
supports junior faculty within the context of their overall career development
and combines, in a single program, the integrated support of quality research
and education.
·
REU: Support for the Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (REU) program, which involves undergraduate students in research
activities, increases by 4.2 percent to about
$37 million.
·
IGERT: Approximately $29 million is provided for
the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program which
provides support for universities to engage graduate students in
interdisciplinary science and engineering research.
·
RUI: Approximately $23 million in FY 2000 will
support the Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) program, which
provides research support for faculty
at predominantly undergraduate institutions.
Funding Profile for Integrative Activities
The programs and activities supported through Integrative Activities range widely, and differ from year to year. Further, many of these efforts are emerging programs or one-year pilot efforts.
For example, in FY 1998, projects funded through the Opportunity Fund within IA included such efforts as Awards for the Integration of Research & Education in Baccalaureate Institutions (10 awards of $500,000 each); Vertically Integrated Grants for Research & Education in the Mathematical Sciences (six awards of $250,000 each); and awards for workshops on emerging fields (two awards of less than $100,000 each). Other activities funded through IA included an award to the Science and Technology Policy Institute (one award of $2.73 million), and activities supported through the Intellectual Infrastructure Fund (28 awards; ranging in size from $67,832 to $7.85 million, with an average size of $1.05 million).
It is thus difficult to present a meaningful aggregate funding profile for this budget activity. However, FY 1998 data for the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program are shown below. Since this is an established program, more comprehensive data exists. Note that since the MRI program is managed through the disciplinary programs, these efforts are also inherent in the Activity profiles.
Funding Profile for Major Research Instrumentation Program
CHANGES IN BUDGET STRUCTURE
In
FY 1999, NSF has restructured the Research and Related Activities (R&RA)
account by creating a new budget activity, Integrative Activities (IA). This new Integrative Activities line
includes support for FY 1999 efforts such as a centralized Knowledge and
Distributed Intelligence (KDI) competition, Major Research Instrumentation
(MRI), and the Opportunity Fund. The
Integrative Activities line also includes the $39.2 million from the
Intellectual Infrastructure Fund, and $4.23 million for the Science and
Technology Policy Institute (formerly the Critical Technologies Institute).
This restructuring facilitates improved management and coordination of these activities across the Foundation, and explicitly recognizes the importance of these types of integrative efforts to the future of science and engineering. This restructuring also responds to Congressional concerns about the management and funding of the Major Research Instrumentation program and the Opportunity Fund.
A crosscut showing FY 1999 funding for this new budget activity is shown below.
FY 1999 Current Plan
Research and Related Activities
(Millions of Dollars)
Key: