NSF Assistant Director Speaks at Colloquium
On February 10, NSF’s Assistant Director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Robert Eisenstein, was the invited speaker at a University of Maryland Physics Department colloquium. Speaking a week after the release of President Clinton’s budget request, which contained an historic 10 percent increase for NSF, Eisenstein reported that it was “the best budget” in his five years at the agency. He expressed optimism over recent science policy developments in the nation’s capitol, including the Gramm-Lieberman bill (S. 1305) calling for doubling of nondefense R&D over ten years, the enthusiasm for science shown by the White House in its FY 1999 request, and the collaborative activities of professional societies on behalf of R&D. He thought the unprecedented joining together of over 100 different science and engineering societies, putting their differences aside and working in unison, had made “a tremendous impact in Washington.”
As part of NSF’s proposed increase, the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate would see 11 percent growth. Eisenstein pointed out that as a share of the NSF budget, MPS has been steadily declining in recent years, and faced competition from “lots of other people doing good stuff” in engineering, biology, education, and the social, behavioral and economic sciences. Nevertheless, he said, one of the reasons science has been highly favored by policymakers is because scientists realize they must speak for the entire science community. This was one of three points Eisenstein emphasized for his audience: scientists must make the case for all of science; scientists must understand they have important societal responsibilities; and prioritization will always be necessary because scientific opportunity will always exceed available resources.
Eisenstein was asked how NSF sets priorities, and whether the peer review system discourages new ideas and creativity. He argued that the Foundation had a very good record of encouraging independent thought, especially in cross-disciplinary areas. He said while some priorities came through the White House, NSF relies heavily on the science community for ideas and proposals.
Asked what prompted Congress and the Administration to be so supportive of science, Eisenstein thought it was genuine recognition that science and technology drive economic growth. He added that science issues and science priorities, such as global warming, computing, and big projects like participation in the Large Hadron Collider play a large role in policy and budget decisions.
Eisenstein commented that for a long time, scientists were naive about their role in the political process and coasted on their successes from World War II. But in the past few years, he reiterated, activities by scientific societies working together on behalf on the community “are paying dramatic dividends” in Washington. “People are showing up and making the case for science,” he said. He raised a caution against drawing distinctions between basic and applied research, saying science was “a seamless web” and scientists “have to work together or nothing works.”
