NSF FY04 Budget Request

NSF Seeks 2004 Budget of $5.48 Billion; Increase will address priorities of "immediate national importance"
The National Science Foundation has sent to Congress a fiscal 2004 budget request of $5.48 billion -- an investment representing what the agency believes will "sustain and build U.S. global leadership in science, engineering and technology, and help the United States address priorities of immediate national importance." The increase sought in 2004 over NSF's 2003 request would amount to about 9 percent. Although NSF's 2004 request calls for a 60 percent hike in major research equipment and facilities, the overall 8.5 percent increase sought for core research and related activities (people, ideas and tools) is at the heart of NSF's overall budget priorities for the coming year.
More... (posted February 3, 2003)

NSF Director Rita Colwell Calls on the Science Community to Engage in the Policy Debate over Scientific Freedom and National Security
The science community has a responsibility to participate in the debate over scientific freedom and national security, NSF Director Rita Colwell asserted in a speech at the annual meeting of the Universities Research Association on January 30. “We as scientists are passionate guardians of the free exchange of scientific knowledge for the sake of enduring scientific progress. We are also citizens who work as scientists for the progress and endurance of the nation. These are not mutually exclusive roles or responsibilities. If, however, we are perceived as well-intentioned and dedicated to our calling, but aloof from society and self important in our esoteric knowledge, we’re headed down an unproductive and destructive path. Our objections to an erosion of scientific openness will be interpreted as whining and self-serving. It will even engender antagonism.”
More... (posted February 3, 2003)

Photograph showing typical texture indicative of what was once magma within the central parts of a batholith (a large intrusion of magma into rock). Credit: Photo courtesy of Keith Klepeis, University of Vermont; NSF

Earth Scientists Forge New Understanding of Mountain-Building Dynamics
From volcanic eruptions to earthquakes to catastrophic mudslides, the geologic processes active in mountain belts affect human societies every day. Yet, even though mountains are on all continents and in all ocean basins, scientists still understand relatively little about the forces that interact to form and destroy mountains, how mountains change over time, and the relationship between mountains and Earth's climate. To better understand these dynamics, earth scientists are now integrating studies across traditional disciplinary boundaries. In research funded by NSF and published in the January 2003 GSA Today, scientists have demonstrated a new way to integrate results from observations collected in the field with laboratory and experimental techniques. The team studied a mountain belt located in Fiordland, South Island, New Zealand.
More... (posted February 3, 2003)

Revelations in the Ice: Shackleton’s Legacy, Antarctica Today
NSF and the Maryland Science Center will celebrate the legacy of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in a day-long event on February 26 featuring NSF's U.S. Antarctic Program researchers from Maryland and elsewhere. Antarctica is the only continent where science serves as the principal expression of national and international interest. A highlight of the event will be a lecture on “Dinosaurs On Ice -- Jurassic Dinosaurs from Antarctica” by NSF-funded researcher William R. Hammer. The lecture will be webcast live. During the 1990-91 Antarctic field season, Hammer discovered the remains of Cryolophosaurus ellioti, or "frozen crested reptile." Among the Antarctic dinosaur's telltale features were its large skull crest. Hammer's paper describing the extinct creature was published in the journal Science in 1994.
More... (posted February 3, 2003)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff at the geographic South Pole and over NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in memory of the seven NASA astronauts who died aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Image credit: Jerry Marty/NSF

NSF Joins the NASA Family in Sorrow
NSF Joins the NASA Family in Sorrow NSF joins the NASA family in sorrow for the loss of seven brave explorers and their ship. Over the centuries, the quest for knowledge has so often involved high risk. But the passion to explore has driven humankind to search the depths of the sea, the breadth of continents, and in the last half century, the far reaches of space. These missions to know and understand are the very definition of our humanness. Along with all Americans, we take time this week to contemplate the gift of courage of the seven astronauts and to appreciate the fragile thread we call life. - NSF Director Rita Colwell
(posted February 3, 2003)