CHE is...

The Division of Chemistry is the unit of the National Science Foundation whose mission is to promote the health of academic chemistry and to enable research and education in chemistry at the highest possible, professional, technical, and creative levels. Modes of support range from awards for individual investigators to awards for groups, centers, shared departmental instrumentation, and instrumentation development. The Division comprises subdisciplinary programs and activities, including Analytical and Surface Chemistry, Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry, Organic Chemical Dynamics, Organic Synthesis, Experimental Physical Chemistry, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Chemistry of Materials, Office of Special Projects (including education and outreach), and Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities.

With an annual budget in fiscal year 2001 of approximately $150M, CHE provides about 20% of the Federal research funds for academic chemistry. The research and trained workforce supported by the Division provides the foundation on which the $690B chemical and pharmaceutical industry is based. The chemical and allied products industry sector alone employs 94,000 scientist and engineers most of whom are chemists. Chemists are also employed in the semiconductor, transportation, agriculture, food and other industry segments. The academic chemistry sector consists of 4500 full-time faculty members and 18,000 graduate students. CHE is the only significant source of funds to build the knowledge base and educate the future workforce on which this large, diverse, economically and intellectually important enterprise depends.

Although the core of CHE remains the individual investigator, recent program solicitations have focused on centers, collaborative, and group proposals and chemical education. These include Environmental Molecular Science Institutes (EMSI), Collaborative Research Activities in Environmental Molecular Science (CRAEMS), Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC), and Research Sites for Educators in Chemistry (RSEC). The Division is also an active participant in NSF-wide programs such as Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE), Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE), Information Technology Research (ITR), and ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers.