21st Century Science and Engineering

President Seeks More Than $4.5 Billion Budget in 2001
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on Feb. 7 the largest budget request in foundation history -- a record $4.57 billion for fiscal 2001. The total 2001 request is 17.3 percent higher than the current year’s budget, and the planned $675-million increase for 2001 is double the largest increase proposed in NSF history. The increase represents a broad-based effort to strengthen NSF’s core research and education programs and give impetus to major new and ongoing initiatives. “President Clinton’s request meets the challenge to invest in the innovative ideas, outstanding people and the cutting-edge tools that will extend the frontiers of science, technology and learning in many directions,” Rita Colwell, NSF director, said.    More...

NSF Director Rita R. Colwell on the President's Proposed Increase
This is a 21st Century budget for 21st Century science and engineering. I'm thrilled about President Clinton's announced plan that includes the largest monetary increase in history for the National Science Foundation in his 2001 budget. The record dollar increase for NSF will give us the capacity to make strong across-the-board investments in science and engineering research and education. Industry has made clear that NSF needs to strengthen its core investments that focus on the frontiers of science and technology. This budget meets that challenge.    More...

Twelve Pioneering Researchers Will Receive the 1999 National Medal of Science
On January 31, President Clinton named 12 of the nation's most respected researchers, three of them Nobel Prize winners, to receive the 1999 National Medal of Science. Honoring the discoveries and lifetime achievements of the nation's top scientists, the Medal of Science recipients named by the president represent a widely diverse group that: created wholly new scientific fields, such as conservation biology and speech sciences; led to discoveries that determined why the ozone "hole" exists; and legitimized theories about technological progress on economic growth, among others. "The contributions of these scientists are so profound, so connected to our everyday lives and so lasting that these medals go only a short way to express the gratitude the nation owes them," said Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).    More...

Algal Food Quality, Not Quantity, Critical Factor in Healthy Lake Ecosystems
Researchers funded by NSF say that an essential fatty acid in phytoplankton (tiny drifting plants) appears to be a major factor in growing robust communities of the small aquatic animals that keep fish populations thriving and water clear in lake ecosystems. The critical link in freshwater and marine food chains is often the one between tiny plants and animals (phytoplankton and zooplankton), according to Charles Goldman of the University of California at Davis and Michael Brett of the University of Washington in Seattle. Their research indicates that phytoplankton with high concentrations of the fatty acid omega-3 support much higher zooplankton growth rates, even if the overall amount of phytoplankton is relatively low.    More...