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The Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics endorsed the following statement by the Coalition for National Science Funding in early 2001:The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), a group of eighty scientific, engineering, and professional societies, universities, and corporations, commends Congress and the Administration for providing the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the largest dollar increase in the agency's history. The Coalition appreciates the efforts of Senators Christopher "Kit" Bond and Barbara Mikulski to double the NSF's budget, and the support of Representatives James Walsh and Alan Mollohan for the NSF. We applaud the goal of doubling the NSF budget and the FY 2001 appropriation clearly sets us on the right path. To maintain this momentum, CNSF strongly urges the Administration and Congress to provide no less than $5.1 billion, a 15% increase, for the NSF in FY 2002. We believe this increase to be a necessary step toward doubling the NSF's budget by 2006. Our national knowledge base in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering is increasingly important to broad economic and social interests. Doubling the NSF budget by 2006 will fund the crucial investments that the agency makes in key components of this vital knowledge base. These funds will permit investments in the basic research needed to rejuvenate and stimulate core disciplines of science, mathematics, and engineering, which are the underpinnings of technological innovation. The primary source of federal support for non-medical basic research in colleges and universities, the NSF is the only federal agency whose mission consists of comprehensive support for the sciences and engineering. Equally important are investments in people who will apply new knowledge and expand the frontiers of science and engineering. Through its support of research and education programs, the agency plays a vital role in training the next generation of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Currently, the NSF must decline almost as many highly-rated grant proposals as it can fund. Increased funding for the NSF will not only enable the funding of more outstanding proposals that will help broaden the nation's knowledge base, it will also enable the agency to increase the size and duration of its grants. Over the past half century the NSF has had monumental impact on our society. The NSF investment has paid dividends in building the infrastructure of the individual scientific disciplines, as well as laid the groundwork for innovative interdisciplinary research to meet modern day scientific and technical challenges. Many new methods and products arise from the NSF investment in research, such as geographic information systems, World Wide Web search engines, automatic heart defibrillators, product bar codes, computer aided modeling (CAD/CAM), retinal implants, optical fibers, magnetic resonance imaging technology, and composite materials used in aircraft. NSF-sponsored research has triggered huge advances in understanding our planet's natural processes, which lead to providing a sound scientific framework for better decision-making about earth's natural environment. These methods, products, and advances in understanding accrue from basic research performed over many years, not always pre- determined research efforts aimed toward a specific result. Furthermore, the NSF traditionally receives high marks for efficiency less than four percent of the agency's budget is spent on administration and management. For these reasons, CNSF highly recommends that Congress and the Administration
continue to invest in NSF by providing, at a minimum, $5.1 billion for FY
2002, and work to double the NSF's budget by 2006. |
