FY 2010 Request for the National Science Foundation

“With this budget, the President makes it absolutely clear that science and engineering research and education are vital to the nation’s future. . . . In FY 2010, NSF is requesting $7.045 billion, an increase of 8.5 percent over FY 2009. That puts NSF on track to double our budget over the next decade and to realize the President’s Plan for Science and Technology.”So said National Science Foundation Director Arden Bement last week when outlining the Foundation’s FY 2010 request, the details of which were made available on Friday evening.

The FY 2009 NSF appropriation was $6,490.4 million. The foundation received an additional $3,002.0 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year; this funding is not included in the following calculations. The FY 2010 request is $7,045.0 million, an increase of $554.6 million or 8.5 percent.

The full NSF request can be viewed here . This document provides narrative and detailed figures on the request, a summary of which is below:

Research and Related Activities:

The current budget is $5,183.1 million. The FY 2010 request is $5,733.2 million, an increase of $550.0 million or 10.6 percent.

There are eleven components in this account.

The budget for the Directorate for Engineering would increase by $71.2 million or 10.3 percent from $693.3 million to $764.5 million.

The budget for the Directorate for Geosciences would increase by $101.9 million or 12.6 percent from $807.1 million to $909.0 million.

The budget for the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences would increase by $124.0 million or 9.9 percent from $1,256.0 million to $1,380.0 million.
Within this Directorate:
Astronomical Sciences funding would increase 9.7 percent.
Materials Research funding would increase by 9.5 percent.
Physics funding would increase by 7.9 percent.

The budget for the Office of Polar Programs would increase by $45.3 million or 9.6 percent from $470.7 million to $516.0 million.

Education and Human Resources:

The current budget is $845.3 million. The FY 2010 request is $857.8 million, an increase of $12.5 million or 1.5 percent.

There are four components in this account.

The budget for the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings would increase by $3.0 million or 1.3 percent from $226.5 million to $229.5 million.

The budget for the Division of Undergraduate Education would increase by $6.7 million or 2.4 percent from $283.2 million to $289.9 million.

The budget for the Division on Graduate Education would stay approximately equal, from $181.5 million to $181.4 million.

The budget for the Division on Human Resource Development would increase by $2.9 million or 1.9 percent from $154.0 million to $156.9 million.

Major Research Equipment and Facilities:

The current budget is $1,093.9 million. The FY 2010 request is $1,085.6 million, a decline of $8.3 million or -0.8 percent.

The NSF budget document states: “In FY 2010, NSF requests continued funding for five ongoing projects: Advanced LIGO (AdvLIGO), the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), the final year of funding for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube), and the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI).”