INTEGRATIVE ACTIVITIES $80,610,000

The FY 2002 Budget Request for Integrative Activities (IA) is $80.61 million, a decrease of $17.14 million from the FY 2001 Current Plan of $97.75 million.

(Millions of Dollars)

Integrative Activities (IA) supports emerging cross-disciplinary research and education efforts, recognizing the importance of these types of integrative efforts to the future of science and engineering. In FY 2002, IA provides funding for Science and Technology Centers and major research instrumentation. In addition, IA provides support for the Science and Technology Policy Institute.

In FY 2002, Integrative Activities supports the following programs:

(Millions of Dollars)

Totals may not add due to rounding.

Major Research Instrumentation

The Major Research Instrumentation program (MRI) is designed to improve the capabilities of scientific and engineering equipment for research and research training in our Nation's academic institutions. This program seeks to foster the integration of research and education by providing instrumentation for research-intensive learning environments. In FY 2002, NSF will provide $50.0 million for this ongoing program to support the acquisition and development of research instrumentation in academic institutions.

Science and Technology Centers

NSF created the Science and Technology Centers (STC) program in 1989. STCs are university-based research efforts that foster a new collaborative culture among researchers and educators at all levels in academia, industry, government laboratories, and other public and private organizations. The centers provide opportunities to explore challenging and complex research problems that often require interdisciplinary expertise and high-risk approaches, access to state-of-the-art instrumentation and facilities, and a commitment of high levels of support for sustained periods of time.

STCs have an impressive record of research accomplishments, research training, contributions to K-12 education, and timely transfer of knowledge and technology from the laboratory to industry and other sectors. Traditional barriers among disciplines and among university, governmental and industrial laboratories have been reduced, creating a new mode of leadership and management in research and education. STCs have engaged the Nation's intellectual talent, drawing from its full human diversity in the conduct of research and education activities; enabled the training of undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows; involved scores of industrial researchers in basic research; and spawned new companies, products and jobs.

STCs also create partnerships and programs that transfer knowledge in service to society, especially with respect to new research areas, promising new instrumentation, and potential new technologies. For example, development of new laser sources by collaboration between physicists, engineers, physicians and surgeons has led to a new tool for refractive eye surgery that is now used in clinical procedures.

FY 2001 funding of $18.92 million provides continued support for STCs awarded in FY 2000. Funding for this ongoing class of centers will be provided through the cognizant Activity within the Research and Related Activities account in FY 2002. These centers include: (1) STC on Nanobiotechnology, located at Cornell University, supported by the Directorate for Engineering; (2) STC for Adaptive Optics, located at the University of California at Santa Cruz, supported by the Directorate for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences; (2) STC for Behavioral Neuroscience, located at Emory University, supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and co-managed by the Directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; (3) STC for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes, located at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, supported by the Directorate for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences; and (4) STC on the Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas, located at the University of Arizona, supported by the Directorate for Geosciences

In FY 2002, $26.61 million is requested to fund a new cohort of STCs, in topics across the range of disciplines supported by NSF. An estimated six to eight centers will be funded. 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 by Congress in 1992 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 1999.

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 to identify options for achieving those objectives. The analytical work of STPI is focused on informing policy decisions within three overlapping themes: conduct of fundamental science and the development and use of technology; contributions of science and technology to achieving major societal goals; and choice of 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 2002 Request includes $4.0 million for STPI for analytic activities. The Institute also operates the RaDiUS data system that tracks federal R&D activities and spending.