NSF Research and Education Funding Mechanisms

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NSF Research and Education Funding Mechanisms
NSTC Research Business Models Subcommittee
December 9-10, 2003
Joseph Bordogna NSF Deputy Director
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Discourse between the U.S. President and the
Director, OSRD, 1944-1945

• How do we increase this scientific capital?
• First, we must have plenty of men and women
  trained in science Second, we must strengthen
  the centers of basic research, which are
  principally the colleges, universities, and
  research institutes.
• The most important ways in which the Government
  can promote industrial research are to increase
  the flow of new scientific knowledge through
  support of basic research, and to aid in the
  development of scientific talent.
• Therefore I recommend that a new agency It
  should recognize that freedom of inquiry must be
  preserved and should leave internal control of
  policy, personnel, and the method and scope of
  research to the institutions in which it is
  carried on.

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National Science Foundation

• Mission Promote the progress of SE for the
  national/public good.
• Vision Enable the Nations future through
  discovery, learning and innovation.
• Modus Operandi Support activities that create,
  integrate and transfer SE knowledge.

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NSF Strategic Goals

• People A diverse, competitive, and
  globally-engaged U.S. workforce of scientists,
  engineers, technologists and well-prepared
  citizens
• Ideas Discovery across the frontier of science
  and engineering, connected to learning,
  innovation and service to society
• Tools Broadly accessible, state-of-the-art SE
  facilities, tools and other infrastructure that
  enable discovery, learning and innovation
• Organizational Excellence An agile, innovative
  organization that fulfills its mission through
  leadership in state-of-the-art business practice

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Basic NSF Business Model

• NSF Core the full spectrum of SE fields that
  are essential to create, integrate and transfer
  SE knowledge
• Core Funding Mechanisms
• Individual Small Group Investigator Grants
• Centers (e.g., STCs, ERCs, SLCs)
• Priority Areas
• NSF is Eclectic It supports many different
  approaches to enrich the core.

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Core Enabling Issues

• NSF average grant size duration must be
  increased in order to be truly enabling.
• Graduate stipends must be attractive to US
  citizens.
• All excellent proposals should be funded to
  maximize serendipitous discovery.
• Potential of underrepresented groups and
  institutions must be tapped.
• Cutting-edge SE tools should be ubiquitously
  accessible.
• Innovation Fund should be re-started.

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NSF Integrative Strategies

• Invest in Intellectual Capital
• Integrate Research and Education
• Promote Partnerships

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STRATEGY Invest in Intellectual Capital

• Develop the SE workforce.
• Examples fellowships, assistantships,
  traineeships, REU, student/teacher programs,
  international activities, MSP, 21st Century
  Workforce priority area, etc.
• Capitalize on underrepresented groups/institutions
  .
• Examples LSAMPs, ADVANCE, CREST, REU, EPSCoR,
  SBIR, etc.
• Support activities that help define/develop new
  fields and novel approaches.
• Examples centers, SGERs, Innovation Fund,
  next-generation tools RD, community workshops,
  priority areas, etc.

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STRATEGY Integrate Research and Education

• Builds on the role of the university and the
  professoriate.
• Research grants should enable the professoriate
  to pursue this strategy.
• Two hallmark programs that invest in this
  strategy
• CAREER seeks to strengthen professors
  integrative teaching-research role by supporting
  early career-development activities for new
  faculty members.
• IGERT seeks to enable new paths in graduate
  education by providing boundary-crossing
  experiences to PhD candidates.

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STRATEGY Promote Partnerships

• Range of Partners Federal, State, and Local
  Government, Academe, Industry, Non-profit
  Institutions, Foreign Nations,
• Range of Mechanisms MOU, Bilateral/Multilateral
  Agreements, Cooperative Agreements, Program
  Announcements/Solicitations
• Range of Programs
• Centers ERCs, STCs, SLCs, etc.
• Special Grants GOALI, SBIR/STTR
• Comprehensive Partnerships Programs MSP, PFI
• Large Facility Projects ALMA, LHC
• Priority Areas BE, HSD, ITR, MS, NSE, WF21