NSF PR 99-5 - February 1, 1999
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President Asks Almost $4 Billion for NSF's Fiscal
Year 2000 Budget
Major Increases Proposed for Information
Technology and Biocomplexity Initiatives
The National Science Foundation (NSF) today outlined
a record budget request for fiscal year 2000 amounting
to nearly $4 billion. The request includes a major
focus on funding for bold, cutting-edge research efforts,
both as the lead agency in the Administration's Information
Technology for the Twenty-first Century (IT2)
initiative, and for exploring the role of biocomplexity
in the environment (BE).
President Clinton is calling for a 6.9-percent hike
in NSF's research and related activities, and a 5.8-percent
overall increase for the agency in the proposed new
budget being sent to Congress today.
"The President's budget for NSF represents a solid
investment in the nation's research and education
enterprise. It will assist the nation in efforts to
compete effectively in today's global marketplace
while also adding to our understanding of the complex
world in which we exist," Rita Colwell, NSF director,
said.
Leading the multi-agency effort in the Administration's
IT2 Initiative, NSF will increase investments
by $146 million in new research and in much improved
high-end computing capabilities. About $110 million
is planned for fundamental IT research including:
design and development of accessible, reliable, fault-tolerant
software systems; human-computer interactions; information
management; high-end computing, including advances
in modeling and simulation; and other long-term research
including socioeconomic and workforce impacts of IT.
Another $36 million is planned to enhance the supercomputing
infrastructure for the academic research and education
communities.
Reasons for this major investment aren't difficult
to find. Analysts estimate that the information technology
industry already constitutes $700 billion of the total
U.S. economy, and they say the industry has generated
about a third of all U.S. economic growth over the
past decade. Yet, prospects for sustained growth are
open to question when it's realized that corporate
R&D expenditures as a fraction of sales have dropped
almost in half over a seven-year period (1989-96).
In addition, there has been a detectable shift toward
short-term, product-oriented developments in the IT
industry as a whole. A recent report by the President's
Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC)
called for a strong and sustained investment in fundamental
IT research. In doing so, the report emphasized the
sharp and growing contrast between reduced support
provided for long-term research and the increased
importance of IT to the overall U.S. economy.
In the new budget, NSF will also invest $50 million
for research in biocomplexity as part of a broader
emphasis on biocomplexity in the environment, an agency-wide
coordinated activity in environmental science, engineering
and education.
At the heart of BE is understanding the complex interdependencies
among living organisms and the environments that affect,
sustain, and are modified by them. Research will cover
three overlapping and highly interactive areas within
NSF -- Global and Environmental Change, Biodiversity
and Ecosystems Dynamics, and Environment and the Human
Dimension. Core research efforts will focus on the
idea that research on individual components of environmental
systems provides only limited information about their
behavior as whole systems.
NSF continues to emphasize educating for the future.
Among NSF's educational priorities is an investment
in a National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and
Technology Education digital library and related activities.
This is a national resource facility to link K-16
schools, academic institutions, students, teachers
and faculty to standards-based educational materials
and learning tools. NSF will also move forward in
its cooperative Education Research Initiative with
the Department of Education. NSF will also continue
innovative efforts to place undergraduate and graduate
students in K-12 classrooms to assist teachers with
content, while exposing and preparing the college
students to the needs of K-12 education.
NSF will continue support for Arctic research programs,
invest in upgrades to polar aircraft, continue substantial
support to plant genome research and maintain its
strong commitment to EPSCoR (Experimental Program
to Stimulate Competitive Research). Also, NSF will
invest $25 million for a new group of science and
technology centers to explore interdisciplinary research
problems and to support innovative efforts to integrate
research and education.
See also:
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