Accompanying the recently drafted Senate FY 2004 VA, HUD, and Independent
Agencies Appropriations Bill is a report spelling out the details of
the committee's recommendations regarding the National Science Foundation.
Selections from Senate Report 108-143 are below; the full report may
be accessed at http://thomas.loc.gov/
See FYI #114
for a summary of funding differences between the Senate and House versions
of this legislation.
FUNDING CONSTRAINTS:
"The Committee continues to be supportive of the efforts achieved
in
the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (Public Law
107-368) and the pursuit of a doubling path for NSF funding. However,
due to funding constraints, the Committee is not able to provide such
funding at this time, but will continue to pursue these efforts in
the future."
RESEARCH AND RELATED ACTIVITIES:
"The Committee supports fully the Foundation's efforts to push
the
boundaries of science and technology issues, especially in the areas
of information technology, biotechnology, and the administration's
focus on nanotechnology. The Committee also applauds the Foundation's
efforts to address the problem of science and mathematics education
among K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students. However, in order
for the Foundation to reach successfully its research and education
goals, it must reach out to individuals and schools that have not
participated fully in NSF's programs. Accordingly, the Committee
remains concerned about programs designed to assist minorities,
women, and schools that have not received significant Federal
support."
"The Committee recommends $275,000,000 for the multi-agency
nanotechnology initiative. The Committee believes that the
recommended level of funding will allow the Foundation to continue to
be the largest Federal agency for this initiative in a field that is
still in its beginning stages. This represents an increase of
$25,000,000 above the requested level. Of these additional funds for
nanotechnology, the following increases should be added to NSF
activities already in the request made by the administration:
$5,000,000 within CISE [Computer and Information Science and
Engineering]; $10,000,000 within Engineering; and $10,000,000 within
Math and Physical Sciences.
"There are continued concerns about the Foundation taking on another
major interagency initiative when its administrative resources have
remained relatively flat. With these concerns in mind, NSF is
encouraged to provide the proper resources within NSF to facilitate
this Federal leadership role in nanotechnology. The Committee also
expects the Foundation to continue working with the Office of Science
and Technology Policy in carefully crafting a detailed, rational
long-term strategy with performance outcome measurements for the
nanotechnology initiative.
"The Committee recognizes the significant infrastructure needs
of our
Nation's research institutions, especially for smaller research and
minority institutions that have not traditionally benefitted from
Federal programs. The Committee is especially concerned about the
larger schools receiving a disproportionate share of scarce Federal
resources from indirect cost reimbursements to fund infrastructure
needs. As a result, the Committee recommends $115,000,000 for the
Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation [MRI] account to address
the infrastructure needs of research institutions. NSF is encouraged
to continue targeting these funds in assisting those research
institutions which tend to be underrepresented. To ensure that
minority serving institutions are also a focus of MRI funding, within
the amount provided for MRI, $30,000,000 should be used to provide
instruction in digital and wireless network technologies, and enhance
the Nation's digital and wireless infrastructure at these
institutions."
"The Committee is concerned that NSF has not proposed to maintain
adequately its existing astronomy facilities. Support for enhanced
operations, maintenance, and development of new instrumentation at
the Very Large Array and the Very Long Baseline Array in New Mexico
and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia continues to be a
priority for the Committee. These astronomy facilities need to be
supported in their operations, and new instrumentation and upgrades
must be provided to keep them as world class facilities. The
Committee provides the National Radio Astronomy Observatories [NRAO]
$55,310,000 for annual operations. Also within the increase provided
for NRAO, the Committee approves $9,400,000 specifically to continue
the Expanded Very Large Array program, and $10,300,000 for the Green
Bank Observatory. The Committee is also aware that the rail upon
which the Green Bank telescope turns is showing premature wear and
will require either retrofitting or replacement. For the purpose of
engineering studies and cost for repair or replacement, in addition
the Committee is providing $4,600,000 in funding out of the funds
provided in the Math and Physical Sciences activity."
"The Committee noted in the fiscal year 2002 bill that it was
troubled by the recent findings by the National Academy of Public
Administration [NAPA] on the Foundation's peer review system. In its
February 2001 report, 'A Study of the National Science Foundation's
Criteria for Project Selection,' NAPA found that NSF is unable to
assess the criteria to encourage a broader range of institutions or
greater participation of under-represented minority researchers. In
other words, while NSF claims to be making efforts to assist smaller
research institutions and minorities, in practice, this does not
occur. NAPA recommended that NSF should institute broader-based
review panels by bringing in participants from a wider range of
institutions, disciplines, and under-represented minorities. The
Committee does not believe NSF has made adequate progress in this
matter and directs NSF to institute immediately changes to its peer
review process that reflect these recommendations."
MAJOR RESEARCH EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION:
"The Committee has provided $51,040,000 for the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array [ALMA], $43,730,000 for EarthScope, and $35,460,000
for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The Committee has also provided
$10,060,000 for Terascale Computing, $8,090,000 to continue the
construction of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation
[NEES], and $1,300,000 for funding of the current South Pole Station
modernization efforts. Due to budgetary constraints, no funding is
provided for new starts within this account for fiscal year 2004.
"Further, the Committee is awaiting the results of the National
Academy of Sciences work on developing a set of criteria that can be
used to rank and prioritize the Foundation's large research
facilities. The Committee anticipates that the Academy's work will
lead to a priority-setting process that is fair and rational. While
the Foundation has made some strides in addressing the Committee's
concerns that the current process appears subjective and ad hoc, the
Committee believes that questions about the process still remain.
"The Committee also recognizes the continuing weaknesses in the
Foundation's management and oversight of its large research
facilities. The Committee is encouraged by the recent hiring of a
permanent senior management level official in charge of overseeing
NSF's large research facilities and looks forward to working with the
new deputy director, the National Science Board, and the NSF Office
of Inspector General in addressing the Foundation's management
issues.
"In addition to funding large research facilities under the major
research equipment and facilities construction [MREFC] account, the
Foundation supports smaller projects through its research and related
activities [R&RA] account. The Committee directs the Foundation,
in
consultation with the National Science Board, to develop clear and
definitive criteria that define projects under both the MREFC and
R&RA accounts. Further, the Committee directs the Foundation to
identify all equipment, infrastructure-related, and facilities with
an estimated cost of over $5,000,000 in its fiscal year 2005 budget
submission to the Congress. Lastly, the Committee directs the Deputy
Director of Large Facility Projects to develop immediately internal
guidelines and a central tracking system of all research projects,
regardless of cost, to ensure adequate oversight."
EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES:
'The Committee is deeply disappointed by the administration's lack
of
support in its budget request for assisting smaller research
institutions and minorities. The Committee is particularly troubled
by the continued lack of support provided to the Experimental Program
to Stimulate Competitive Research [EPSCoR]. The Committee has
provided $100,000,000 to EPSCoR, an increase of $10,590,000 over last
year's enacted level and $25,000,000 over the budget request. The
Committee believes that high-speed network connections and advanced
technology resources provided by the Research Infrastructure
Improvement program, are crucial to the success of underrepresented
(most notably, rural areas) areas and institutions and encourages NSF
to ensure that EPSCoR states are able to fully participate in
research partnerships. The Committee directs NSF to submit a report
by May 1, 2004 on the status of all the States participating in
EPSCoR. There is an expectation that States will graduate from EPSCoR
and instead States have apparently begun to view the program as an
'entitlement.' NSF is expected to assess what changes should be made
to the program to ensure States begin to graduate."
"The Committee recognizes and is supportive of the request by
the
administration for the Foundation's graduate research education
programs. The request will allow the Foundation to raise the annual
stipend amount from its current level of $27,500 to $30,000 per
award. The Committee believes that the increased stipend will improve
the Foundation's ability to attract the best and brightest students
into the science, mathematics, engineering, and technology fields. It
is also expected that through the additional funds provided to the
Research and Related Activities account, NSF will also be able to
provide the same level of stipends for the existing Graduate Teaching
Fellowships in K-12 Education program, the Graduate Research
Fellowships program, and the Integrative Graduate Education and
Research Traineeship program. The Committee also urges NSF to work
towards increasing the number of women, minorities, and other
underrepresented groups within these programs to the greatest extent
possible."
Note that there was extensive report language in this section
regarding individual programs such as Tech Talent, HBCU-IP, Informal
Science, and Math-Science Partnerships; please consult the Senate
committee report on the web site noted above.
