The US National Science Foundation and the Economic Stimulus Package. (March 20, 2009)

Its official name is American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and some US$3.0 billion will come the way of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In a notice sent to "presidents of universities and colleges and heads of other National Science Foundation awardee organizations" the director, Arden Bement, writes: "In response to this landmark legislation, NSF has developed policies, procedures, and Frequently Asked Questions for use by the awardee community. These documents provide up-to-date information regarding NSF’s implementation of the Recovery Act."

He goes on to outline how the NSF intends to allocate the additional funds: "The Recovery Act supplements NSF fiscal year 2009 funding by $3.0 billion. NSF currently has many highly rated proposals that it has not been able to fund. For this reason, NSF is planning to use the majority of the $2 billion available in Research and Related Activities for proposals that are already in house and will be reviewed and/or awarded prior to September 30, 2009."

That leaves US$1.0 billion for disbursement as follows:

The Math and Science Partnership program (funded at $25 million),

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (funded at $60 million),

The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction Account (funded at $400 million),

The Academic Research Infrastructure (ARI) program (funded at $200 million),

The Science Masters program, (funded at $15 million),

And the Major Research Instrumentation Program (funded at $300 million).

Dr Bement also advises prospective recipients that all grants issued with Recovery Act funds will be standard grants with durations of up to 5 years. This approach will allow NSF to structure a sustainable portfolio.

He then emphasises that funding of new Principal Investigators and high-risk, high-return research will be top priorities.