Fact Sheet
National Science Foundation

February 26, 2008

Congress established the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; to secure the national defense; and for other purposes." With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion (fiscal year 2008), NSF funds discovery, learning, research infrastructure and stewardship to boost U.S. leadership in all aspects of science, mathematics and engineering research and education. In contrast, other federal agencies support research focused on specific missions, such as health, energy or defense.

Results. NSF funding invests in the future, and results include such developments as: Doppler radar, the Internet, Web browsers, American Sign Language, bar codes, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ink jet printers, computer-aided design (CAD) systems, artificial retinas, tissue engineering, buckyballs, camcorders and motion picture special effects.

Research Infrastructure. NSF support is present throughout the U.S. and international research communities, through cooperative projects between U.S. scientists and engineers and their foreign colleagues, and through NSF's support for scientific research infrastructure. This infrastructure includes:

• the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the Gemini 8-meter telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, the world's largest collection of optical and infrared solar telescopes, and other astronomy facilities around the globe,
• the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), at the forefront of the relatively new field of gravitational-wave astronomy, is capable of detecting faint ripples in space-time that may extend knowledge about such things in the universe as colliding black holes and other violent events,
• the Teragrid, the world's most powerful and comprehensive distributed cyberinfrastructure for academic science and engineering research, comprising shared high-performance computing and storage resources from eleven resource providers: the National Center for Supercomputing  Applications, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, the San Diego Supercomputing Center, the Texas Advanced Computer Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Indiana University, the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Oakridge National Laboratory, and Purdue University, plus a recently awarded high performance computing system acquisition project, led by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville,
• 26 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites on unique ecosystems located primarily in the United States,
• observation and computation facilities at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.,
• operation support for the Academic Research Fleet--23 vessels in the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System including research ships at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,
• the Protein Data Bank, a rapidly growing, international repository of 3-dimensional structures of large biological molecules including proteins and nucleic acids to which life scientists from around the world contribute,
• 15 advanced, geographically distributed shared-use experimental facilities including shake tables, geotechnical centrifuges, tsunami wave basins and other instruments linked by information technology as part of the George E. Brown, Jr., Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES),
• EarthScope, a developing network of continental-scale facilities to investigate the geological structure and evolution of the North American continent and the processes that control earthquakes and volcanic eruptions,
• the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), an integrated national network of 13 user facilities that provides unparalleled opportunities to explore and share research in nanoscience and engineering, and their societal implications,
• operation of McMurdo Station, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and Palmer Station in Antarctica, management of the United States Antarctic Program, and coordination of all U.S. scientific research done in Antarctica.

Organization. As an independent federal agency, NSF does not fall under any cabinet department. NSF's activities are guided by the 24-member National Science Board, which also serves as a policy advisory body to the President and Congress.

NSF program activities are organized by directorates and offices: Biological Sciences; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Education and Human Resources; Engineering; Geosciences; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; Polar Programs and Cyberinfrastructure. Some offices or divisions focus on specific areas, such as integrative and cross-disciplinary activities, international research collaboration, or survey data collection and reporting. NSF increasingly emphasizes cross-directorate and multi-disciplinary programs and projects.

In addition to its "core" research and education activities, NSF supports agency-wide investment areas of: NSF Centers Programs and Funding, Climate Change Science Program, Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation, Cyberinfrastructure, Human and Social Dynamics, International Polar Year, National Nanotechnology Initiative, Networking and Information Technology R&D and Selected Crosscutting Programs.

Internal operations--including salaries and expenses for about 1,500 staff members--account for only about 5-6 percent of NSF's overall budget.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Dana Topousis, NSF (703) 292-7750 dtopousi@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News: http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media: http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/