FY 2000 Request: National Science Foundation
“We’re pleased with the support we’ve received from the Administration,” said NSF Director Rita Colwell, describing the 5.8% increase requested for the FY 2000 National Science Foundation budget. Spending “caps left very little room for expansion across the government,” she added.
NSF is requesting $3.954 billion for the fiscal year starting October 1. Of that, $3.004 billion is slated for its Research and Related Activities account, a 6.9% increase. This increase is on the high-end of all R&D budget requests.
Colwell started her afternoon briefing by describing the declining federal share of the nation’s R&D portfolio. While total U.S. investment - federal and non-federal - has never been higher, the proportion funded by the federal government has declined from about 60% three decades ago to around 30% today. Although federal investment has risen in some areas, such as life sciences - with the federal share up by around 50% from 1970 to 1997 - it has declined from 19% to 14% in the same time period for physical sciences. Even more dramatic, the over-all combined federal share of research in the physical sciences and engineering declined from 50% in 1990 to about 33% today. “Society can’t live by biomedical bread alone,” Colwell said, citing how advances in physics have led to new biomedical technologies.
NSF is requesting the following budget increases or decreases for FY 2000:
Total NSF FY 2000 Request: Up 5.8%
Research and Related Activities: Up 6.9%
Mathematical Sciences: Up 4.4%
Physics: Up 3.0%
Astronomical Sciences: Up 2.9%
Engineering: Up 2.7%
Geosciences: Up 2.6%
Chemistry: Up 2.2%
Materials Research: Up 2.1%
Education and Human Resources: Up 3.2%
Major Research Equipment: Down 5.6%
Viewed from another perspective, Research Project Support is up 8.0%.
Colwell called the “Information Technology for the 21st Century” (IT2) initiative a “national imperative,” that will “benefit every field and every discipline” across the educational spectrum. NSF will be the lead agency, with a $146 million request for FY 2000. Other priorities include a $50 million “Biocomplexity in the Environment” initiative and “Educating for the Future.” Under the category of “Other FY 2000 Highlights,” Colwell briefly described plant genome research, an $8 million new start for a “Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation,” the Large Hadron Collider, and South Pole Station Modernization.
Concluding her remarks, Colwell said the science community should “make the case with fierce intensity” about the importance of basic research to the welfare of future generations.
