National Science Foundation

THE NATIONAL SCIENCE Foundation (NSF) is a U.S. government agency that supports research and education in science and engineering. The agency was created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense.” With an annual budget of about $5.91 billion, the NSF funds approximately 20 percent of all federally-supported research conducted by U S. colleges and universities. In some fields, such as mathematics, computer science, economics, and other social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal funding. NSF has funded several important studies in the area of global warming.

The President of the United States appoints the NSFs director, its deputy director, and the 24 members of the National Science Board (NSB), who are then confirmed by the Senate. The director and deputy director are responsible for administration, planning, budgeting and day-to-day operations of the foundation, while the NSB holds six meetings per year to establish its overall policies. The NSF is unlike other U.S. government agencies, in that it does not operate its own laboratories, but seeks to fulfill its mission mainly through competitive, limited-term grants, in response to specific proposals from the research community. NSF receives about 40,000 proposals each year, and funds about 10,000 of them. The projects that receive funding are selected in a merit review process carried out by panels of independent scientists, engineers, and educators who are experts in the relevant fields of study. These are selected by NSF with particular attention to avoid conflicts of interest; [Page 696]for example, no-one of the reviewers can work for the institutions whose project is under examination.

NSF grants typically go to individuals or small groups of investigators who carry out research at their academic institutions. Other grants provide funding for mid-scale research centers, as well as instruments and facilities that are useful to researchers from different bodies. Finally, there are grants that fund national-scale facilities shared by the research community as a whole. Examples of national facilities include NSF's national observatories, with their giant optical and radio telescopes; its Antarctic research sites; its computer facilities and ultra-high-speed network connections; the ships and submersibles used for ocean research; and its gravitational wave observatories. In addition to research and research facilities, the NSF supports sciences through education grants from pre-Kindergarten through to post-graduate work.

NSF's workforce is made up of about 1,700 employees, nearly all working at its Arlington, Virginia, headquarters. That includes about 1,200 career employees, 150 scientists from research institutions on temporary duty, 200 contract workers, and the staff of the National Science Board office and the Office of the Inspector General, which examines the foundation's work and reports to the NSB and Congress. NSF is divided into seven directorates that fund science and engineering research and education: Biological Sciences; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Engineering; Geosciences; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; and Education and Human Resources. An assistant director heads each section which is further divided into smaller units such as materials research, ocean sciences and behavioral and cognitive sciences. Some of the divisions within the NSF's Office of the Director are also involved in supporting research and researchers. These include the Office of Polar Programs, the Office of Integrative Activities (covering a wide-range of activities), the Office of International Science and Engineering, and the Office of Cyber-infrastructure. The NSF also has offices charged with financial management, award processing and monitoring, legal affairs, outreach and other functions.

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