US National Science Board Develops Draft for Public Comment on 2020 Vision for the National Science Foundation. (November 13, 2005)

     During the US Senate budget hearings in February 2005, the National Science Board (NSB), in its role as policy making and oversight body for the National Science Foundation (NSF), was asked to prepare a report on the future of the NSF.

Given the constrained funding environment, it is even more critical that the National Science Board develop a long term vision for NSF. In other words, we need a strategy that outlines how we can get the biggest bang for our buck through programs and activities supported by NSF ... This means articulating a vision for the future of science and technology, including the next bold cutting-edge areas of research. (Chairman Kit Bond, Senate VA, HUD Appropriations Hearing, February 17, 2005)

On November 3 the NSB published a concise ten page draft, National Science Board 2020 Vision for the National Science Foundation, for public comment. It points out that in 2002 Congress recognized the important role that science and engineering play in society by overwhelmingly approving the National Science Foundation Act of 2002. It authorized a doubling of the NSF budget over 5 years, to a total of almost US$10 billion by FY 2007.

In response the NSB developed Fulfilling the Promise: A Report to Congress on the Budgetary and Programmatic Expansion of the National Science Foundation with specific recommendation for:

• Improving the productivity of researchers and expanding opportunities for students.

• Opening new frontiers in research and education.

• Building a diverse, competitive and globally engaged U.S. S&E workforce.

• Increasing the number and diversity of institutions that participate in NSF-funded activities.

• Providing scientists and engineers with advanced tools, facilities, and cyber-infrastructure.

• Maintaining NSF’s excellence in management.

What in fact has been the case is shown in the chart below.

The NSB in its draft paper reminds its readers that a 1997 NSF-supported study reported that 70 percent of the scientific papers cited in U.S. industry patents came from science supported by public funds and performed at universities, government labs, and other public agencies.

However, the draft document then turns to current realities, "Unfortunately, due to subsequent events constraining the Federal budget, these congressionally authorized increases have not occurred. Moreover, a constrained budgetary environment is likely to persist into the foreseeable future given the budgetary requirements of competing and urgent national priorities."

The NSB then sets out the broad areas in which the NSF should concentrate the resources that will become available to it:

• Investment Principle 1 - Focus on research at the frontiers of innovation, creativity, and transformation.

• Investment Principle 2 - Achieve an increase in the number and diversity of individual researchers and students supported by NSF, recognizing the need for balance with average award size and duration.

• Investment Principle 3 - Achieve an appropriate balance in the NSF research portfolio between the support of centers and individual principal investigator (PI) grants, with a focus on increasing the number and diversity of individual researchers and students supported by NSF.

• Investment Principle 4 - Achieve an appropriate level of annual investment in NSF management excellence, including support for personnel and operational systems.

And follows them with discussion of "near-term goals for attaining the 2020 vision for the NSF" and suggested "enabling strategies". Their outlines are set out below, for amplification see the NSB's ten page draft.

Near Term Goals:

• Near-Term Goal 1 - NSF Leadership will develop a strategic plan consistent with the Strategic Priorities, Investment Principles, and Enabling Strategies set by the Board that emphasize appropriately the areas of greatest scientific opportunity and potential benefit to the Nation.

• Near-Term Goal 2 - NSF will strengthen opportunities for supporting transformative research.

• Near-Term Goal 3 - NSF will increase the impact of its contribution to strengthening science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

• Near-Term Goal 4 - NSF will ensure that new and more diverse generations of faculty are given significant opportunities for research funding.

Enabling Strategies:

• Enabling Strategy 1 - NSF must improve its impact in developing a scientifically literate citizenry and strengthening STEM education.

• Enabling Strategy 2 - NSF must provide the advanced tools, facilities, and cyber infrastructure in order for researchers to do transformational research.

• Enabling Strategy 3 - NSF must strengthen the communication within, and modes for supporting, international and interagency partnerships, and must explore the potential value-added of new and innovative partnerships models.

• Enabling Strategy 4 - The Foundation must maintain the excellence of NSF staff and management.

The NSB's draft say, "This 2020 Vision for NSF provides the overarching framework for a new strategic planning process that will be led by NSF management and brought to the Board for final approval... Other nations are emulating NSF’s [current] model and are investing heavily in their scientific enterprises. Through the process of globalization, technical expertise and S&E workforce capabilities are being cultivated and employed outside American borders. America’s long-standing competitive advantage is slipping.

    "Compounding these trends, increasing demands and tightening constraints on Federal discretionary budget dollars have substantially reduced the required growth of NSF investments in fundamental research that can ensure the development of the next generation of scientists, engineers, and STEM educators. The tragic consequence of the confluence of these factors will result in significant lost opportunities, a slower pace of our Nation’s science and technology advancement, and diminished position in the global marketplace for innovation."

What will transpire from this effort of the NSB will become apparent over the next 18 months to two years, but in any case the NSB's discussion points are particularly relevant for Australia with it's continued inadequate investment in the development of its research infrastructure, human and material, and "the development of the next generation of scientists, engineers, and STEM educators."