The U.S. Congress passed legislation Nov. 14 that seeks to double funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) over five years. U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who currently serves as chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, was instrumental in the development of this legislation and ensuring its passage before the 107th Congress recessed last month.
NSF funds basic research and education in major fields of mathematics, science and engineering, including social and behavioral sciences. In fiscal year 2002, its budget totaled $4.789 billion. The bill provides a 15 percent increase for NSF in each of the next five years, taking its budget to $9.8 billion in fiscal year 2007. Cornell, annually, is a top recipient of NSF dollars through research grants and contracts presented to faculty, researchers and students. These awards include funding for such major operations as the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, the Center for Computer Graphics and Scientific Visualization, the Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, the Cornell Center for Materials Research and the Nanobiotechnology Center.
"NSF investments in science and technology are vital to the success of New York's high-tech economy," Boehlert told Gannett News Service.
After Congress passed the legislation, Robert Richardson, Cornell vice provost for research, said: "We are very grateful to Mr. Boehlert and the House Science Committee for the leadership and vision they have shown with the doubling bill. The nation urgently needs the contributions made by its research universities. The consequences of the major increase in support for all fields of science will be seen for many years in the future."
While NSF research dollars represent only 4 percent of the nation's annual federal spending on research and development, NSF grants and contracts are the second largest source of federal research dollars for Cornell, after funding from National Institutes of Health (NIH). Kraig Adler, Cornell vice provost for life sciences, said, "Although the amount of funding available from NIH is far greater, NSF is the key federal agency for many of our life science faculty. The doubling of NSF funds would have a profound effect at Cornell because our faculty will be very competitive for the new funds."
Richardson added that, after President Bush signs the legislation and if Congress funds the foundation at the authorized levels, "the new funding will mean a great deal to Cornell. The average individual investigator grant will be doubled in size, the duration of the grants will be extended to five years and funds will be available for much-needed new research equipment."
Members of Congress are expected, in the current fiscal year, to provide funding for the NIH, which would represent the last step in a five year effort to double its budget. Passage of this legislation represents continued bipartisan interest in support of science and the federal research enterprise on Capitol Hill.
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