NSF PR 98-28 - May 12, 1998
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Panel Reports on State of U.S. Mathematics
Dominant Position Threatened,
Report Says
A panel commissioned by the National Science Foundation's
Division of Mathematical Sciences reports that several
adverse trends threaten to undermine the United States'
dominant position in world mathematics. The panel
also notes that NSF policies significantly affect
the strength of U.S. mathematics and hence the health
of other sciences.
The "Report of the Senior Assessment Panel for the
International Assessment of the U.S. Mathematical
Sciences" is NSF's first such international "benchmarking"
or evaluation of any scientific field. Chaired by
retired Lieutenant General William E. Odom, former
head of the National Security Agency, the assessment
committee consisted of mathematicians from Europe,
Asia and Canada as well as from U.S. national laboratories,
industry and elsewhere. NSF grantees were specifically
excluded from the panel. The just-published report
is part of NSF's response to the Government Performance
and Results Act, and contains recommendations for
how NSF should support mathematics.
The panel recommends that the U.S. work to retain
world leadership in "critical subfields" of mathematics.
Federal support for mathematics -- except for that
provided by NSF -- is falling rapidly, according to
the panel, so NSF bears a special responsibility for
the future of mathematics in the United States.
The panel suggests that NSF work to broaden education
in undergraduate and graduate mathematics, increase
support for graduate and postdoctoral study in mathematics,
strengthen interaction between creators and users
of mathematics, and generally work to sustain current
U.S. world leadership. Other recent studies have addressed
the importance of mathematics in K-12 education; the
assessment panel chose not to address this issue.
"If we wake up to discover that we have allowed the
dominant position of U.S. mathematics to erode, we
will pay a heavy price in foregone progress in technology,
science and economic productivity," Odom said in the
report's preface. It is urgent to give more support
to mathematics and to utilize that support more effectively,
he added.
The panel emphasizes how other sciences have grown
increasingly dependent upon mathematics. One reason
is that computational and mathematical simulations
provide a new tool to refine scientific theory as
well as observation and experiment. Mathematics is
also crucial to managing and "mining" the massive
amounts of data now typically collected in many scientific
experiments.
"The report argues that the economic health and, indeed,
the security of the nation has come to depend heavily
upon mathematics," said Donald Lewis, director of
mathematical sciences at NSF.
The panel calls current U.S. leadership in mathematics
"fragile" and heavily dependent on importing foreign
talent. Much of that brain-power has come in recent
years from the former Soviet Union, a source that
has now dried up. On the other hand, "Young Americans
do not see careers in the mathematical sciences as
attractive," the report says.
Editors: For a copy of the report,
NSF 98-95, call (703) 306-1134 or see: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf9895
(after May 15, 1998).
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