Remarks
Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr.
Director
National Science Foundation
Biography
FY 2011 Budget Request Remarks
Arlington, VA
February 1, 2010
(As Prepared)
If you're interested in reproducing any of the slides, please contact the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs: (703) 292-8070.
Title slide: NSF FY 2011 Budget Request
Slide words: Celebrating 60 years of Discovery
Slide images: NSF logo
Insets (left to right): photo of the submersible Alvin; photo of the interior of the Gemini North telescope; illustration of blood; photo of Gerlache Strait in Antarctica; illustration of RNA; illustration of Internet connections in the United States; model of two carbon nanotubes
Background: photos of sky, a rocky hill with snow, a tree-covered hill, a meadow, sand dunes, and ocean
Image credits:
Insets (left to right): Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Gemini Observatory; Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation; Zee Evans, National Science Foundation; Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation; map by Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, adapted from maps by Chris Harrison, Human-Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University, www.chrisharrison.net; Tobias Hertel, Institute for Physical Chemistry, University of Würzburg
Background images: © 2010 JupiterImages Corporation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the National Science Foundation. I appreciate your interest in the agency and that you have taken the time from your busy schedules to attend our FY2011 Budget Request presentation.
Google the word "innovation" and you will be presented with the words of Jefferson, Edison, Einstein, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Woody Allen and Willard Pollard, the chairman of the board of the Fortune 500 Company ServiceMaster.
It is Pollard, interestingly enough, who may have made the most apt remark for today; "Learning and innovation go hand in hand," he said. "The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow."
If innovation is not uniquely an American virtue, it surely is inherently an American trait. The urge to innovate, to try something new, to experiment is at the heart of what defines the very idea of the United States.
The concept of our democratic Republic is often referred to as the "American experiment." And innovations in science and technology have always been part and parcel of that experiment.
We are here today to talk about successes, both past and future, that spring directly from NSFs inherent capacity to innovate.
In fact, the essence of NSF's 2011 Budget Request is the reaffirmation of the agency's roots as the nation's wellspring of scientific innovation.
Slide title: The Big Picture
Slide words:
NSF FY 2011 Budget
TOTAL: $7.4 billion
Increase: 8 percent
Slide image: Cover of the National Science Foundation FY2011 BUDGET REQUEST TO CONGRESS
Cover image: Photo of a bendable, foldable, twistable electronic device
Cover image credit: John Rogers, University of Illinois
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
NSF's 2011 request is $7.4 billion, which represents an increase of eight percent over 2010.
Slide title: President's Plan for Science and Innovation
Slide image: This bar graph shows total U.S. funding (in billions of dollars) from fiscal year (FY) 2009 through FY 2017. The years and amounts are: FY 2009 - $6.5, with $3.0 for ARRA, making a total of $9.5;
FY 2010 - $6.9
FY 2011 – $7.4
FY 2012 - $7.8
FY 2013 - $8.3
FY 2014 - $8.9
FY 2015 - $9.5
FY 2016 - $10.2
FY 2017 - $10.9
Graph credit: National Science Foundation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
This keeps us on the road to President Obama's plan to double NSF's budget. The plan is part of an overall strategy to increase the nation's total R&D investment to three percent of Gross Domestic Product.
In addition, the 2011 Budget Request includes an increase of 41 percent in our Major Research Equipment & Facilities Construction account which I will discuss in detail later.
Slide title: NSF's Sensational 60 Years
Slide words: The FY 2011 Budget Request keeps the agency at the forefront of science and engineering innovation, where it has been since its establishment in 1950.
Slide images (left to right): photo of the submersible Alvin; cranial reconstruction of Ardipithecus ramidus ("Ardi"); map of TeraGrid, which connects the computational resources of eleven supercomputer centers
Image credit (left to right): Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; © 2009 Tim White and Gen Suwa, rendered by Primary Pictures; courtesy of Indiana University, based on illustration by Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
To borrow a military metaphor, since its establishment 60 years ago, NSF has been "the tip of the spear" in the nation's scientific and engineering research and education enterprise.
The Budget Request that I will describe for you today is designed to keep this agency at the forefront--where it has been since 1950--and, in turn, to advance the well-being of not only the U.S., but humanity in general.
Slide title: Innovation
Slide words: The FY 2011 Budget Request will keep NSF at the cutting edge of innovation and in line with the Administration's innovation goals.
Slide images (clockwise from top left):
Photo of a contact lens with circuits, labeled "Contact Lens with Virtual Display"
Photo of rice, labeled "Rice Genome Sequenced"
Photo of a humanoid robot, labeled "Humanoid Robot"
Photo of two researchers in "The Cave," a 3 Dimensional virtual reality visualization environment, labeled "Virtual Environment"
Photo of a bendable, foldable, twistable electronic device, labeled "Flexible Electronics"
Image credits (clockwise from top left):
Babak Parviz, University of Washington (contact lens)
Susan R. McCouch, Cornell University (photographer); International Rice Research Institute for maintaining the international collection of rice genetics resources (rice)
Lisa-Joy Zgorski, National Science Foundation (robot)
Wolfgang Bluhm ("The Cave")
John Rogers, University of Illinois (flexible electronics)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
In the words of President Obama, speaking at the National Academy of Sciences in April:
" ... Scientific innovation offers us a chance to achieve prosperity. It has offered us benefits that have improved our health and our lives--improvements we take too easily for granted."
And in the President's, "Strategy for American Innovation" he warns:
"The United States led the world's economies in the 20th century because we led the world in innovation. Today, the competition is keener; the challenge is tougher; and that is why innovation is more important than ever. It is the key to good, new jobs for the 21st century. That's how we will ensure a high quality of life for this generation and future generations."
Today, I will spend most of my time talking about how NSF's 2011 Budget Request is built around a strategy for innovation and broadening participation in science and engineering and about some specific portfolios of programs we have put together to achieve those goals.
Slide title: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Slide words: ARRA allowed NSF to make 4,599 competitive awards and will support the construction of the Alaska Region Research Vessel.
Slide image: Artist's rendition of the Alaska Region Research Vessel (ARRV)
Image Credit: The Glosten Associates, Inc.
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
But, for a moment, let me reflect on the successes and innovations we have already been able to fund this past year, thanks to an infusion of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Due to the hard and diligent work of a dedicated cadre of program officers and support personnel, NSF obligated $2.4 billion, or 80 percent, of its ARRA funding in FY 2009.
Slide title: FY 2009 ARRA Results
Slide words:- Number of competitive awards: 4,599
- Number of investigators supported: 6,762
- Number of new investigators supported: 2,352
- Number of Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and the Math and Science Partnership Program awards: 76
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
Overall, the ARRA Research and Related Activities account funded 4,599 awards, with NSF supporting 6,762 investigators distributed across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
These grants included a total of 2,352 investigators or co-investigators who had not previously received NSF funding.
This is crucial because supporting new investigators is critical to developing the nation's science and technology workforce, which is an important goal of NSF's ARRA program.
We also achieved ARRA funding targets by funding an additional 76 awards in the Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and the Math and Science Partnership Program.
Thanks to ARRA, NSF last year added to its solid bedrock of support for innovation that the 2011 Budget Request builds upon. Numerous NSF programs are specifically designed to promote innovation.
But there is much more to discuss.
Slide title: Administration Priority Programs Supported in the NSF FY 2011 Budget
Slide words:- Graduate Research Fellowship Program: $158 million
- Faculty Early Career Development: $209 million
- Climate Change Education Program: $10 million
- Advanced Technological Education: $64 million
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
Four NSF programs are integral to the National Innovation Strategy (NIS) goal of educating the next generation with 21st Century knowledge and skills:
- The Graduate Research Fellowship program and the Faculty Career Development program support students and early career investigators in order to foster the nation's next generation of scientists and engineers.
- Climate Change Education addresses learning at all levels and is designed to develop a cadre of researchers whose expertise is in climate science.
- The Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program supports new and enhanced two-year college programs that educate technicians for the high-technology workforce.
The 2011 Budget Request also includes programs that are well tailored to meeting the National Innovation Strategy (NIS) goals of supporting next-generation Information technology and secure cyberspace.
Slide title: Selected FY 2011 Interagency Activities
Slide words:- Networking and Information Technology R&D Program: $1.17 billion
- U.S. Global Change Research Program: $370 million
- National Nanotechnology Initiative: $401 million
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
NSF's portion of the interagency Networking and Information Technology R&D (NITRD) program--at a 2011 level of $1.17 billion--is an increase of seven percent over 2010.
NSF's NITRD activities will see increases in such areas as large-scale networking, high-end computing, software design and production; and research on social, economic, and workforce aspects of advanced computing and communications technology.
Slide title: Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI)
Slide words: CDI will support a wide variety of research, including the work needed to design and develop control systems for Autonomous Underwater Explorers (AUEs). FY 2011 Request: $106 million
Slide image: Illustration of autonomous underwater explorers (AUEs)
Image credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
Through Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI), NSF intends to harness innovations and advances in " computational thinking"--a newly coined term that encompasses computational concepts, methods, models, algorithms, and tools.
CDI will increase three percent in 2011 to $105 million.
CDI will revolutionize science and engineering research in fields as diverse as human cognition and the building of successful "virtual organizations."
We fully expect that these innovations will create new wealth in ways we cannot imagine today and, in doing so, enhance the national quality of life.
Slide title: Science and Engineering Beyond Moore's Law (SEBML)
Slide words: Overcoming obstacles to innovation inherent in silicon-chip technology FY 2011 Request: $70 million
Slide images: photo of a computer chip (left); photo of interacting light waves that can be used to control devices on a silicon chip
Image credit: Photodisc Red, Getty Images (left); Hong Tang, Yale University (right)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
In 1965, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel Corp. observed that computer-processing power based on semiconductor integrated circuits doubles about every 18 months.
The limitations of current silicon-chip technology mean that the progression cannot continue indefinitely; that the physical and conceptual limits of Moore's Law are likely to be reached in 10-20 years.
If we are ever to solve the computational challenges inherent in today's great scientific questions, we must find a way to overcome the constraints of the silicon chip. This will require entirely new scientific, engineering and conceptual frameworks for computing.
NSF's Science and Engineering Beyond Moore's Law (SEBML), is multidisciplinary research designed to enhance our nation's economic competitiveness.
Spending for the program is proposed to increase by 50 percent in 2011 to $70 million.
Meeting the challenge of surpassing Moore's law falls squarely in line with the goals of the National Innovation Strategy, as this initiative will help preserve the U.S. preeminence in communications and computation.
Slide title: Cyberlearning Transforming Education (CTE)
Slide words: FY 2011 Request: $41 million
Slide image: Photo of students working on Scratch, a computer programming language designed for kids
Image credit: L. Barry Hetherington
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
The Cyberlearning Transforming Education program is a new, $41 million multidisciplinary research portfolio--coordinated with the Department of Education--that will infuse the transformative potential of advanced learning technologies across the educational system.
By bringing advances in technology to learners at all educational levels, the program will advance the nations ability to study the learning process itself.
Other NSF programs are squarely in line with the NIS to encourage high growth and innovation-based entrepreneurship.
These include Partnerships for Innovation, Small Business Innovation Research, Small Business Technology Transfer, and Advanced Manufacturing.
Slide title: Partnerships for Innovation (PFI)
Slide words: FY 2011 Request: $19 million
Slide image: Illustration showing the process of converting corncob waste into a carbon "sponge" with nanoscale pores. The new material can store large quantities of natural gas and can be formed into a variety of shapes. This project was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Innovation program.
Image credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) program, brings together colleges, universities, state and local governments, private-sector firms, and non-profit organizations to support innovation by developing the people, tools, and infrastructure needed to connect new scientific discoveries to practical uses.
In 2011, PFI will increase by 109 percent to $19 million.
Slide title: Partnerships for Innovation (PFI)
Slide words: The FY 2011 Budget Request contains $12 million for a new PFI component: the "NSF Innovation Ecosystem."
Slide image: The New Mexico State University Office of International Programs and its College of Engineering and Business are partners on an NSF U.S./Mexico Partnerships for Innovation collaboration. The photo shows attendants to a Wind Energy Applications and Training Symposium (WEATS) on a field trip to the Ponnequin Wind Farm in Colorado.
Image credit: Robert Foster, Institute for Energy and the Environment, New Mexico State University
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
The 2011 request contains $12 million for a new PFI component: the "NSF Innovation Ecosystem," which aims to engage faculty and students in all disciplines in entrepreneurship and innovation; and to increase the effects of the most promising innovations that arise within university communities by strengthening industry alliances and helping innovators to commercialize new ideas and start businesses around them.
Slide title: Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI)
Slide words: GOALI is designed to increase partnerships between academia and industry and to accelerate innovation. FY 2011 Request: $19 million
Slide images (clockwise from top left): photo of a building under construction; photo of a man inspecting a computer motherboard; photo showing industrial manufacturing
Image credit: © 2010 JupiterImages Corporation (all)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
The Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI), a $19 million program, is designed to increase partnerships between academia and industry and to accelerate innovation by facilitating a faster transition of ideas from discovery to societal benefit.
Slide title: NSF's Centers Foster Innovation
Slide words: NSF supports more than 100 centers in seven interdisciplinary program areas that facilitate innovation. FY 2011 Request: $314 million
Slide images: photo taken in a lab at the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (left); photo taken at the Center for Biophotonics (right)
Image credit: Atlanta Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (left); Marco Molinaro (right)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
NSF supports more than 100 centers in seven interdisciplinary program areas that facilitate innovation.
This year, the Budget Request for centers will increase by nine percent to $314 million.
NSF must continue to innovate in tackling the large-scale scientific and engineering challenges of our age. Among those surely must be understanding the nature and scope of changes in the Earths climate and the methods to cope with and mitigate those changes.
Slide title: U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)
Slide words: NSF contributions will increase in the FY 2011 budget by 16 percent to $370 million.
Slide image: Satellite image of Arctic Sea ice on September 9, 2008
Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
NSF contributes multiple resources to support the U.S. Global Change Research Program and other interagency initiatives that are helping us understand and confront the global challenge of a changing climate.
NSF's contribution to the USGCRP is proposed to increase by 16 percent in the 2011 budget to $370 million.
Slide title: U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)
Slide images (left to right): Photo of scientist Rebecca Anderson of the Desert Research Institute examining a section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core recovered from a depth of 500 meters; photo of a Panamanian golden frog, one of more than 100 species of disappearing harlequin frogs; visualization of the 1997-98 El Niño
Image credits: Kendrick Taylor (left); © Forrest Brem, courtesy of NatureServe (center); NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center; The SeaWiFS Project; ORBIMAGE Science Visualization Studio (right)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
The program incorporates studies of climate variability and change across time and space, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and human contributions and responses to climate change. This includes processes to identify and evaluate policies for mitigation, adaptation and responses to environmental conditions.
Slide title: Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES)
Slide words: SEES is a portfolio of programs that will integrate NSF's existing efforts in climate science and engineering research with new education and cyber-based activities. FY 2011 Request: $766 million
Slide image: Cover of the 2009 National Science Board report, Building a Sustainable Energy Future: U.S. Actions for an Effective Energy Economy Transformation [August 3, 2009]
Image credit: National Science Board
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
In 2011, NSF will spend $766-million on a portfolio of programs called Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES)--that will seek integrated approaches to increase U.S. energy independence, enhance environmental stewardship and reduce energy use and carbon intensity, while generating continued economic growth.
SEES responds to recommendations in a 2009 National Science Board report, "Building a Sustainable Energy Future."
Slide title: STEM Education
Slide words: NSF will invest in innovative methods of education and training to ensure U.S. preeminence in STEM fields.
Slide images: Photo of Elizabeth Thomas, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in geology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, who has traveled to Baffin Island in the northeast Canadian Arctic for research related to climate change (left); photo of Indiana University graduate student Kayla King dissecting snails under the microscope (right)
Image credit: Doug Levere, University at Buffalo (left); courtesy of Kayla King, Indiana University (right)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
As a nation, we must also continue to invest in innovative methods for improving STEM education and training. We need to constantly push to improve our educational system, to secure U.S. preeminence in the STEM fields of the future.
The Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) program--a priority for the Administration--provides support to the next generation of scientists and engineers.
In 2011, we will continue on a trajectory begun in 2009 to triple the number of new awards made each year to 3,000 by 2013.
Spending on the GRF program is proposed to increase by 16 percent in 2011 to $158 million.
Slide title: RE-gaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge (RE-ENERGYSE)
Slide words: RE-ENERGYSE is a joint program with the Department of Energy to educate young people for careers in clean-energy research. FY 2011: $19 million
Slide images: Photo of two men installing solar panels. The men are with the Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC), which promotes and supports environmental and energy technology education (left). Photo of wind turbines on a wind farm and an old-fashioned wind pump (right).
Image credit: Photo from ATE Centers Impact 2008-2010, http://www.atecenters.org (left); © University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (right)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
RE-ENERGYSE (RE-gaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge) is a $19 million investment to attract and educate future scientists in clean energy fields.
NSF will jointly fund RE-ENERGYSE with the Department of Energy.
RE-ENERGYSE will prepare as many as 8,500 highly trained young scientists and engineers for clean energy careers by 2015. Additionally, RE-ENERGYSE will provide training for thousands of skilled technicians for "clean energy" industries.
NSF contributions to RE-ENERGYSE will focus on individual fellowships to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers for "clean energy" fields.
Slide title: Broadening Participation
Slide words: A $103 million program, Comprehensive Broadening Participation of Undergraduates in STEM, will expand effective approaches in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation institutions.
Slide image: A student does research in the lab as part of Rutgers' Research in Science and Engineering Program (RISE), which offers research opportunities at state-of-the-art facilities to underrepresented, economically disadvantaged and first-generation undergraduates.
Image credit: Nick Romanenko
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
NSF is firmly committed to improving education and workforce development by broadening the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups. These goals were described in the agency's Strategic Plan for 2006-2011, "Investing in America's Future."
A new integrated activity, Comprehensive Broadening Participation of Undergraduates in STEM, is a $103 million program, designed to expand effective approaches used by Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation institutions to improve the nations capacity to increase the number of STEM graduates from traditionally underrepresented groups.
We believe that consolidating our support mechanisms for these various programs will help transform infrastructure, operations, and resources.
It will also increase opportunities for undergraduates to be involved in cutting-edge scientific research and have access to advanced research instrumentation. In addition, it will stimulate innovation and creativity from the nation's education and research enterprise through support of effective institutional collaborations.
Slide title: Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)
Slide words: EPSCoR is a joint program of NSF and 29 U.S. states and territories that promote the development of science and technology resources. FY 2011 Request: $154 million
Slide image: Photo of researchers at the Center for BioModular Multi-Scale Systems' (CBM2) DNA Sequencing Laboratory at Louisiana State University (LSU)
Image credit: Center for BioModular Multi-Scale Systems, Louisiana State University
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
NSF also will continue to encourage participation from diverse institutions across all geographical areas in science and engineering research and education activities, through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ESPCoR) program.
EPSCoR is a joint program of NSF and 29 U.S. states and territories that promote the development science and technology resources.
EPSCoR's budget in 2011 is proposed to increase by 5 percent, to $154 million.
We also must not forget that NSF exercises stewardship of the intellectual infrastructure of the nation's fundamental research enterprise.
Slide title: Number of NSF Competitive Proposals and Awards and Funding Rates
Slide text: A steady growth in numbers of proposals submitted is stretching NSF's capacity to cope.
Slide image: This bar graph shows the trends of competitive proposals, awards and the funding rates for fiscal year (FY) 2005 through FY 2009. The years and numbers are:
FY 2005
Awards: 9,757
Competitive proposals: 41,598
Funding Rate: 23%
FY 2006
Awards: 10,318
Competitive proposals: 42,050
Funding Rate: 25%
FY 2007
Awards: 11,354
Competitive proposals: 44,106
Funding Rate: 26%
FY 2008
Awards: 11,024
Competitive proposals: 43,907
Funding Rate: 25%
FY 2009
Awards: 14,641
Competitive proposals: 45,228
Funding Rate: 32%
Graph credit: National Science Foundation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
As I previously mentioned, we were able to effectively deploy NSF's share of ARRA funding to support innovative research we otherwise could not afford. But at the most basic level, this very successful effort stressed our human capital, namely, program officers, support staff and othersto their limits.
Slide title: Enhancing NSF's Human Capital and Information Infrastructure
Slide words: The FY 2011 Request includes $469 million, an increase of $39 million, to increase our staff by 40 full-time positions, modernize NSF's financial system and improve the reliability and security of IT systems.
Slide image: Photo of the National Science Foundation building
Image credit: National Science Foundation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
The 2011 request includes $469 million, an increase of $39 million to increase our staff by 40 fulltime positions and improve the reliability and security of NSF's IT systems.
The 2011 Request also includes additional monies to improve our stewardship of research infrastructure through investments in the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account.
Slide title: Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC)
Slide words:
Advanced Technology Solar Telescope
Atacama Large Millimeter Array
Ocean Observatories Initiative
AdvLIGO
Slide images (clockwise from top left):
Artist's cutaway rendering of the proposed Advanced Technology Solar Telescope
Photo showing a telescope being moved at the Atacama Large Millimeter Array
Illustration showing the geographic locations of the Ocean Observatories Initiative components around North and South America
Photo showing installation of Advanced LIGO internal seismic isolation system components into a vacuum chamber at the Livingston, La., LIGO detector
Image credits: (clockwise from top left):
LeEllen Phelps/National Solar Observatory/AURA/NSF; © ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); Center for Environmental Visualization, University of Washington; Advanced LIGO
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
By providing major research facilities, platforms, and networks, NSF advances the frontiers of science and engineering; enables the training of a world-class science, engineering, and technology workforce; and provides equipment and services to industry partners.
In the past decade, the MREFC account has funded the construction of Earthscope, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the refitting of the Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel, and much more.
Slide title: Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC)
Slide words:- Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (AdvLIGO)
- Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST)
- Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)
- Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)
- New start: National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
Through the MREFC account, NSF will support construction of four ongoing projects: Advanced LIGO, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, and the Ocean Observatories Initiative--a network that will provide never-before-seen views of the ocean's depths.
Slide title: National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
Slide words: NSF has added plans to begin building NEON, a multi-faceted project expected to inform and enhance all of the environmental and ecological sciences. FY 2011 Request: $20 million to begin construction
Slide image: Artist's rendering of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
Image credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
In 2011, NSF has added plans to build the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), a multi-faceted project with a total projected budget of $434 million, spread out over the next six fiscal years.
NSF will spend $20 million to begin construction of NEON in 2011.
NEON will collect data on the effects of climate change, changes in land use, and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. NEON will be the first observatory network designed to detect and enable forecasting of ecological change at the continental scale over multiple decades.
Government agencies will cooperate to integrate information from sensors situated across North America with remote, satellite-based observations, using the latest information technology. A number of academic institutions and their industry partners will participate in research and design activities.
NEON data will contribute to multi-scale models of global change that will support local, regional, national, and global analyses of potential scenarios for adapting to and mitigating climate change.
NEON is expected to benefit all of the environmental and ecological sciences.
Slide words: Celebrating 60 years of Discovery
Slide images: NSF logo
Insets (left to right): photo of the submersible Alvin; photo of the interior of the Gemini North telescope; illustration of blood; photo of Gerlache Strait in Antarctica; illustration of RNA; illustration of Internet connections in the United States; model of two carbon nanotubes
Background: photos of sky, a rocky hill with snow, a tree-covered hill, a meadow, sand dunes, and ocean
Image credits:
Insets (left to right): Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Gemini Observatory; Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation; Zee Evans, National Science Foundation; Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation; map by Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, adapted from maps by Chris Harrison, Human-Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University, www.chrisharrison.net; Tobias Hertel, Institute for Physical Chemistry, University of Würzburg
Background images: © 2010 JupiterImages Corporation
Design by Adrian Apodaca, National Science Foundation
As you can see, NSF's research and education agenda is both multi-faceted and well-rounded. It is designed very deliberately to keep the agencys place at the forefront of science and engineering but also to support the Administration's plan for making innovation a centerpiece of economic strength and future well-being.
NSF's historical role and the future as the crucible of scientific innovation in the United States as I have described is material proof of Steve Jobs' assertion that "innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
NSF chooses to lead, not to follow.
I am happy to take your questions.