Title:  Charge; NSB Task Force on International Issues in Science and
           Engineering
Date:    February 18, 1999



NSB-99-32
February 18, 1999


Charge
NSB Task Force on
International Issues in Science and Engineering

The significance of science and technology in the global context has
grown dramatically and both private sector and government cooperation in
international science and engineering have assumed a more prominent
role.  The complex and systemic biological, economic, and ecological
problems of the 21st Century will demand more information, more
participation by the scientific communities of all nations, and more
cooperation between these communities and political decision-makers.

Within its Strategic Plan (NSB-98-215) the National Science Board has
identified the global context of science and engineering as a topic of
major importance. The Plan expressed the need for a fresh assessment of
the roles and needs of science and engineering in the international
arena and for a coherent strategy that supports a productive
relationship between scientific and foreign policy objectives.

The NSB Task Force on International Issues will undertake two tasks.
1.  With respect to science and technology in the international context,
the task force will:

* Review the role and contributions of science and engineering research
and education in both highly developed and developing countries and
examine the Federal institutional framework of policies and agency
relations that support fundamental research and education in the
international setting;

* Assess the experience of other nations with respect to key issues in
science and engineering, research and education; and

* Develop recommendations for enhancing the Federal institutional
framework of policies, agency relations, and international cooperation.

2.  With respect to the NSF role in international science and
engineering research and education, the task force will:

* Review the NSF role in fostering international cooperation in
fundamental science and engineering research and education and in their
coordination with foreign policy;  and

* Develop recommendations for an effective leadership role for NSF in
international science and engineering in the 21st century.

In conducting its work, the task force will consult widely with other
agencies and organizations and with science and technology officials of
other countries.




Eamon M. Kelly
Chairman