NOBEL STATEMENT

NSF Director Neal Lane on Award of Nobel Prizes
I congratulate the 1997 Nobel Laureates in science. This honor is fitting tribute to their remarkable achievements and, in the case of four of them, to the foresight of the American public which supported their work.

Economist Robert C. Merton of Harvard University, who helped to change the field of finance, received a graduate fellowship and three research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and has served often as an expert reviewer for NSF proposals. Physicists Steve Chu of Stanford and William D. Phillips of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) also were recipients of NSF fellowships early in their careers. Chu's research has been supported by NSF over the last 20 years, and Phillips' has been supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce through NIST. Support for the work of chemist Paul D. Boyer of the University of California-Los Angeles by American taxpayers includes five NSF awards over 15 years.    More...

NSF Awards 28 Grants for
Learning and Intelligent Systems
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a series of 28 new grants worth over $22.5 million for research in Learning and Intelligent Systems (LIS) -- a broad range of studies that could lead to rapid and radical advances in how humans learn and create. Interdisciplinary teams of researchers from around the country will undertake the projects. Their combined efforts will help develop a deeper understanding of how learning occurs in humans, animals, and artificial systems. Researchers will also explore how to develop new learning methods that integrate linguistic, behavioral, biological, cognitive, and educational approaches with new interactive, collaborative, and multisensory technologies.    More...

NSF Funds Earthquake Research
Centers in California, Illinois, and New York
NSF has named three centers to conduct and coordinate earthquake engineering research for the nation. They will be located at the Universities of California and Illinois and the State University of New York in Buffalo. "These new centers are needed to extend our understanding of the impacts of seismic events on buildings, roads, bridges, energy sources, and other components of our built environment and societal institutions," says William A. Anderson, director of NSF's earthquake mitigation program.    More...

NSF, Lucent Technologies
Award Grants to Foster Industrial Ecology
NSF and the Lucent Technologies Foundation have awarded 18 grants to researchers across the United States to advance the emerging field of industrial ecology and to encourage businesses to integrate pollution prevention practices into their day-to-day operations. The NSF/Lucent Technologies Industrial Ecology Research Fellowships will support an individual or group of researchers focusing on research or teaching to help industry design processes that prevent pollution and create environmentally friendly products.    More...