Dr. Joseph Bordogna
Deputy Director
Chief Operating Officer
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
2001 American Association of Engineering Societies
Government Affairs Conference
May 7, 2001
See also slide presentation.
If you're interested in reproducing any of the slides,
please contact
The Office of Legislative and Public Affairs: (703)
292-8070.
[title slide]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
Good morning to all of you. I'm delighted to be here
today to talk about the National Science Foundation's
research and education priorities for the coming fiscal
year. I always find it a pleasure to talk with engineers
- and it's not just because I am an engineer,
though I'm sure that has something to do with it.
You know, I've heard it said that a good engineer is
like a good film director. She works behind the scenes.
She gets the best performance possible from the managers,
who always take center stage. Her creative contribution
is never adequately appreciated, and is seldom understood.
It's time to bring engineers into the limelight!
So let me begin by thanking you for getting "off the
bench and inside the beltway." Your support for fundamental
research and education has a huge impact. You speak
with a knowledgeable and credible voice about the
nation's research and education needs. I'm confident
that your ideas will resonate when you make the case
for these investments.
The National Science Foundation aims at nothing less
than U.S. world leadership in science, engineering,
and technology. That's what we're about, and our budget
priorities reflect that mission - in both research
and education, and their integration.
[NSF Vision Statement]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
I want to set my remarks within the context of the
NSF vision statement. It's direct and crisp:
"Enabling the nation's future through discovery, learning,
and innovation."
Not too long ago, the vision statement would have focused
only on discovery. Now we include learning and innovation
on an equal footing. The boundaries that once separated
discovery, learning, and innovation are known now
not to be as distinct as they once were thought to
be. There is more forthright coupling among them and
constant interaction.
[NSF Outcome Goals:
People, Ideas, Tools]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
We've developed a set of goals to complement the NSF
vision, a sharply focused set on which we can focus
our investments, and by which we can be held accountable.
We call these People, Ideas, and Tools.
You'll notice that People are at the top of the list.
That's intentional. NSF is as much about building
a world-class workforce as it is about discovery.
Although we continually break new ground with the
research we support, we need people to carry
forward the continual process of discovery and innovation.
I want to emphasize this point. At NSF, we're putting
a renewed focus on preparing the science, engineering
and technology workforce. Now that knowledge has become
the most sought after commodity in the world, knowledge
workers - scientists, mathematicians, engineers,
educators - will be increasingly in high demand.
We all know the trends. While degrees in engineering,
the physical sciences, and math and computer sciences
are either static or declining in the U.S., other
nations are boosting degrees in all these fields.
They're increasing their investments in research and
education and they're providing incentives to keep
their best students at home. A 24-year-old in Japan
is three times more likely to hold a bachelor's
degree in engineering than one in the U.S.
Of course, Ideas, the new knowledge that is powering
innovation and productivity in our economy today,
will always be central to everything NSF does. And,
finally, we need sophisticated Tools to advance the
frontiers in nearly every field.
[NSF Core Strategies]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
We've adopted three core strategies to accomplish these
goals. These are: develop intellectual capital, integrate
research and education, and promote partnerships.
This is where the rubber hits the road. It's where
we design the solutions to get the job done effectively.
I've made this jaunt through NSF planning territory
for a reason. As I give you the details of the NSF
FY 2002 budget request, I'd like you to keep NSF's
vision, goals and strategies in mind. We may not always
have the resources that we want. But we can
use the resource we have in a thoughtful and
strategic way to realize our objectives.
Now, on to the budget.
[Budget summary]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
Here's the big picture. NSF is requesting a total of
$4.47 billion - that's $56 million more, or a 1.3-percent
increase, above FY 2001. Funding levels for each of
NSF's appropriation accounts at the FY 2002 Request
and FY 2001 Current Plan levels are shown in this
chart.
I'll move right to the top priorities in NSF's budget
request for FY 2002.
[Science & Math Partnerships]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
At the center of NSF's budget request is an initial
$200 million dollar downpayment on a five year, $1
billion dollar investment in the nation's youngsters.
This will be used to strengthen and reform K-12 science
and math education.
We are pleased that the President has asked NSF to
lead the Math and Science Partnerships program as
part of the No Child Left Behind education
initiative. NSF will fund states and local school
districts to join with institutions of higher education.
We're asking scientists, mathematicians, and engineers
at universities and colleges to work with K-12 educators
to achieve some very ambitious goals. The Partnerships
program aims to strengthen math and science standards,
improve curricula and textbooks, and raise the quality
of teacher professional development.
But the program doesn't stop there. We hope to eliminate
the performance gap between majority and minority
students, and reach under-served schools and students
in creative ways.
In a similar vein, NSF's budget addresses another major
roadblock in developing a 21st century
workforce: the number of citizens attracted to careers
in science and engineering - particularly from underrepresented
minorities.
A recent study found that 57 percent of bachelor's
degree recipients did not apply to science and engineering
graduate programs for financial reasons. The average
stipend for graduate students in these fields is less
than half the average wage for those who start
working as soon as they receive their undergraduate
degrees.
[Graduate Fellowships]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
We need to remedy this situation. NSF is requesting
$8 million dollars to increase graduate stipends for
Fellows in a number of NSF programs. The stipends
would increase from $18,000 to $20,500. That's a good
beginning, but we want to see this figure increase
even more in the near years ahead, say on the order
of $25 to $30 thousand dollars.
[Interdisciplinary
Mathematics]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
Now, let me move on to NSF's $20 million dollar Interdisciplinary
Mathematics program. It's the centerpiece of our core
investments in FY 2002. The program aims to strengthen
fundamental research in mathematics, and at the same
time, to enhance its contributions to other fields.
By focusing these investments at the frontiers of
the biological, physical, engineering, and social
sciences, we can do both.
This investment will bring cutting-edge mathematics
to bear on problems in the physical, biological, engineering,
and social sciences. It will help us develop models
of complex non-linear systems, and predict their behavior.
[Priority Areas]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
We're also continuing to support key emerging capabilities.
These are priority areas that hold exceptional promise
to advance knowledge. The FY 2002 focuses on four
of these.
[Biocomplexity in
the Environment]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
Let me begin with a priority area we call Biocomplexity
in the Environment. The term "biocomplexity" refers
to the dynamic web of relationships that arise when
living things at all levels - from cells to ecosystems
- interact with their environment, both natural and
human-made.
Recent advances have allowed us to investigate these
connections in a way that was never possible before.
We now have a better toolkit: real time sensors, powerful
computers, and genomics. These are opening up the
possibility of forecasting the outcomes of those interactions.
That's vital if we're going to understand the impact
of humans on the environment and vice versa. Advances
in this field can pave the way for the design of cleaner
and more efficient industrial processes, and new technologies
for waste avoidance.
[Information Technology
Research]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
Another NSF priority area is Information Technology
Research. NSF funding will deepen fundamental research
on software, networking, scalability and communications
that will take us to the next generation of applications.
We'll also expand research in multidisciplinary areas,
where the power of IT can be put to use to make rapid
progress in advancing the frontiers of discovery.
The impact of IT on molecular biology and medicine
is a striking example of how this can work. Without
fundamental research in IT, the delineation of the
human genome, with all the promise that holds for
human health, would still be in our future instead
of our past.
[Nanoscale Science
& Engineering]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
That's a good lead-in to NSF's third priority area
- Nanoscale Science and Engineering. If IT can give
us the capability to do things three orders of magnitude
faster, nanotechnology will let us work on a scale
three orders of magnitude smaller.
Research in this priority area explores phenomena at
molecular and atomic scales. That's in a range where
nano-designed machines meet individual living cells,
and we can begin to envision targeted drug delivery
systems and electronic biosensors to detect cancer
in its earliest stages.
At the nanoscale, systems of atoms and molecules exhibit
novel properties - ones we can begin to exploit in
the design of new materials - for quantum computing,
for example, or in the development of materials for
tissues and organ implants, or entirely new paradigms
for manufacturing with wealth creation heretofore
unimaginable.
Let me emphasize that last point. At the nanoscale,
we have to make things. That promises an entirely
new manufacturing enterprise.
It's no wonder that this field of research is one of
the most competitive in the world. Although the U.S.
has substantially increased its overall investment
in nanotechnology, Asian and European investments
have kept pace. Current estimates put the U.S. share
of nanotechnology investment between 25 and 30 percent
of the world total. NSF's investment will strengthen
U.S. leadership and boost efforts to build a nanotech-ready
workforce.
[Learning for the
21st Century]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
The final priority area I'll mention is a group of
related activities we call Learning for the 21st
Century. Today, science, engineering and technology
workers need skills that better suit the realities
of an economy and society based on knowledge and innovation.
Fortunately, there's been tremendous progress in research
in a range of fields collectively referred to as cognition:
cognitive neuroscience, computational linguistics,
human and computer interactions, and learning environments.
The time is ripe to bring these fields together to
develop a better understanding of how humans and other
species learn.
[Where Discoveries
Begin]
(Use "back" to return to the text.)
Let me conclude my remarks by highlighting a few key
points. An economy rooted in science, engineering,
and technology can't sustain itself without a vibrant
basic research enterprise and a world class cadre
of scientists and engineers. Expanding the pool of
science and engineering talent requires giving youngsters
every chance to succeed and encouraging them to choose
careers in these fields.
It also means lifting the capabilities of our core
disciplines through our priority investments while
striking out in new directions at the frontiers of
research and education. And it means creating and
nurturing our partnerships among industry, academe,
and government.
I'll stop there, because that's where you come in.
Let me thank you again for your leadership.
|
