NSF & Congress
Testimony
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Dr. Rita Colwell
Director
National Science Foundation
Testimony
National Science Foundation
Before the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations
Subcommittee
U.S. House of Representatives
April 11, 2002 |
Chairman Walsh, Mr. Mollohan, and Members of the Committee,
thank you for providing this opportunity to discuss
the President's budget request for the National Science
Foundation.
Every year, the Foundation's optimal use of limited
public funds has relied on two conditions: Ensuring
that our research and education investments are aimed
- and continuously re-aimed - at the frontiers of
understanding; and certifying that every dollar goes
to competitive, merit-reviewed, and time-limited awards
with clear criteria for success.
When these two conditions are met, our nation gets
the most intellectual and economic leverage from its
research and education investments.
The National Science Foundation is requesting $5.036
billion for FY2003, $240 million or five percent more
than the previous fiscal year. For the United States
to stay on the leading edge of discovery and innovation,
we cannot do less.
Before providing a few highlights of the budget, let
me stress that the priority setting process at NSF
results from continual consultation with the research
community. New programs are added or enhanced only
after seeking the combined expertise and experience
of the science and engineering community, the Director
and Deputy, and the National Science Board. Programs
are initiated or enlarged based on considerations
of their intellectual merit, broader impacts of the
research, the importance to science and engineering,
balance across fields and disciplines, and synergy
with research in other agencies and nations. NSF coordinates
its research with our sister research agencies both
informally -- through the active monitoring by program
officers of other agencies' programs - and formally,
through more than150 MOUs and Interagency Agreements
that spell out the various agency roles in research
activities.
One of the highlights of the budget is a second installment
of $200 million for the national five-year, $1 billion
Math and Science Partnership Program. The program
links local schools with colleges and universities
to improve pre-K -12 math and science education, train
teachers, and create innovative ways to raise the
performance of all students and schools.
An investment of approximately $37 million will increase
annual stipends for graduate fellows to $25,000 to
attract more of the nation's most promising students
to science and engineering.
The budget will also includes funding for six priority
areas, including $221 million for nanotechnology research,
$286 million for information technology research,
and $60 million as part of a new priority area in
mathematical and statistical sciences research that
will ultimately advance interdisciplinary science
and engineering. $185 million is directed toward NSF's
Learning for the 21st Century Workforce priority area
- including $20 million to fund three to four new
multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional Science of
Learning Centers to enhance our understanding of how
we learn, how the brain stores information, and how
we can best use new information technology to promote
learning.
We are also requesting $10 million to seed a new priority
area in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences
to explore the complex interactions between new technology
and society so that we can better anticipate and prepare
for their consequences.
Finally, the budget requests $79 million for research
on biocomplexity in the environment. This builds upon
past investments to study the remarkable and dynamic
web of interrelationships that arise when living things
at all levels interact with their environment. Research
in two new areas this year -- microbial genome sequencing
and ecology of infectious diseases -- will help develop
strategies to assess and manage the risks of infectious
diseases, invasive species, modified organisms, and
biological weapons.
I should add that as part of the Administration's new
multi-agency Climate Change Research Initiative, we
will implement a $15 million research program to advance
understanding in highly focused areas of climate science,
to reduce uncertainty and facilitate policy decisions.
Our budget also includes $76 million for programs
slated to be transferred to NSF from NOAA, EPA, and
the USGS. I want to assure the Committee that NSF
has been working closely with these agencies to develop
plans for implementing these transfers should they
be approved by Congress.
In large facilities, we will continue support for the
next phase of construction of the Atacama Large Millimeter
Array (ALMA). New construction projects in the FY2003
budget include two prototype sites of the National
Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) at a cost of
$12 million to analyze data to detect abrupt changes
or long-term trends in the environment. The budget
also requests $35 million for EarthScope to detect
and investigate earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and
landslides on the North American continent.
Mr. Chairman, if there are no objections, I would like
to include a copy of the NSF budget summary as part
of my testimony, and I would be pleased to respond
to any questions that the committee may have.
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