# Presentation: 278821

## NSF Research and Education Funding Mechanisms

**Joseph Bordogna**
**NSF Deputy Director **

**NSF Research and Education ****Funding Mechanisms**

**NSTC Research Business Models Subcommittee**** **
**December 9-10, 2003**

## 	How do we increase this scientific capital?

	First, we must have plenty of men and women trained in science... Second, we must strengthen the centers of basic research, which are principally the colleges, universities, and research institutes.

	The most important ways in which the Government can promote industrial research are to increase the flow of new scientific knowledge through support of basic research, and to aid in the development of scientific talent.

	Therefore I recommend that a new agency ...  It should recognize that freedom of inquiry must be preserved and should leave internal control of policy, personnel, and the method and scope of research to the institutions in which it is carried on.

***	******First, we must have plenty of men and women trained in science... Second, we must strengthen the centers of basic research, which are principally the colleges, universities, and research institutes.***
***	******The most important ways in which the Government can promote industrial research are to increase the flow of new scientific knowledge through support of basic research, and to aid in the development of scientific talent.***
***	******Therefore I recommend that a new agency ...  It should recognize that freedom of inquiry must be preserved and should leave internal control of policy, personnel, and the method and scope of research to the institutions in which it is carried on.***

**Discourse between the U.S. President and the Director, OSRD, 1944-1945**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 1:

## 
Mission:  Promote the progress of S&E for the national/public good.

Vision:  Enable the Nation’s future through discovery, learning and innovation.

Modus Operandi:  Support activities that create, integrate and transfer S&E knowledge.

- _Mission:_  Promote the progress of S&E for the national/public good.
- _Vision:_  Enable the Nation’s future through discovery, learning and innovation.
- _Modus Operandi:_  Support activities that create, integrate and transfer S&E knowledge.

**National Science Foundation**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 2:
 Context: NSF recently updated its strategic plan/FY 2003-2008.
 NSF Act of 1950 gave NSF a uniquely broad mission. NSF must address holistic issues, such as the vitality and robustness of S&E fields.
 NSF vision has been learned over time: discovery, learning & innovation are connected to each other and to our future well being.
 NSF & academe are close partners because NSF’s modus operandi is (or should be) academe’s mission.
 Both research and education are consonant activities that create, integrate and transfer S&E knowledge.

## 
People – A diverse, competitive, and globally-engaged U.S. workforce of scientists, engineers, technologists and well-prepared citizens

Ideas – Discovery across the frontier of science and engineering, connected to learning, innovation and service to society

Tools – Broadly accessible, state-of-the-art S&E facilities, tools and other infrastructure that enable discovery, learning and innovation

Organizational Excellence – An agile, innovative organization that fulfills its mission through leadership in state-of-the-art business practice

**People** – A diverse, competitive, and globally-engaged U.S. workforce of scientists, engineers, technologists and well-prepared citizens
**Ideas** – Discovery across the frontier of science and engineering, connected to learning, innovation and service to society
**Tools** – Broadly accessible, state-of-the-art S&E facilities, tools and other infrastructure that enable discovery, learning and innovation
**Organizational Excellence** – An agile, innovative organization that fulfills its mission through leadership in state-of-the-art business practice

**NSF Strategic Goals**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 3:
 NSF goals are the mission elements that support the creation, integration and transfer of knowledge by academe.
 NSF’s policy strength lies in how it integrates (creates synergy among) the PIT goals.
 Organizational Excellence (i.e., staff, business, models, technology, etc.) is what enables NSF to realize its PIT goals well.

## 
NSF Core: the full spectrum of S&E fields that are essential to create, integrate and transfer S&E knowledge

Core Funding Mechanisms
Individual & Small Group Investigator Grants
Centers (e.g., STCs, ERCs, SLCs)
Priority Areas

NSF is Eclectic:  It supports many different approaches to enrich the core.

_**NSF Core:**_** **the full spectrum of S&E fields that are essential to create, integrate and transfer S&E knowledge
**Core Funding Mechanisms**
- Individual & Small Group Investigator Grants
- Centers (e.g., STCs, ERCs, SLCs)
- Priority Areas
**NSF is Eclectic:  **It supports many different approaches to enrich the core.

**Basic NSF Business Model**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 4:
 NSF attends to the entire frontier – the full spectrum of S&E fields.
 These fields – what we call the “core” – must continuously prosper and evolve to meet contemporary and future needs.
 Core Funding Mechanisms: Investigator grants are imperative to move the frontier – dig deeply, capitalize on human ingenuity. Centers and Priority Areas are chief models for boundary-crossing, capitalizing on the robustness of research at the interfaces of disciplines.
 Because the S&E frontier is chaotic, continuously evolving and advancing, NSF programs and strategies require constant monitoring and adjustment. NSF invests in eclectic experiments with many approaches, learns from them, & uses that learning to lift and enrich the core fields and disciplines. In instances where great activity is evident, NSF develops well funded priority areas, with large grant size and duration to move the process boldly over a finite time.
 NSF is constantly listening, analyzing and responding to thoughts from the research and education community.

## 
NSF average grant size & duration must be increased in order to be truly enabling.

Graduate stipends must be attractive to US citizens.

All excellent proposals should be funded to maximize serendipitous discovery.

Potential of underrepresented groups and institutions must be tapped.

Cutting-edge S&E tools should be ubiquitously accessible.

Innovation Fund should be re-started.

**NSF average grant size & duration must be increased in order to be truly enabling.**
**Graduate stipends must be attractive to US citizens.**
**All excellent proposals should be funded to maximize serendipitous discovery.**
**Potential of underrepresented groups and institutions must be tapped.**
**Cutting-edge S&E tools should be ubiquitously accessible.**
**Innovation Fund should be re-started.**

**Core Enabling Issues**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 5:
 Only have time to discuss the first issue. Others can be addressed in the Q&A period.
 Both NSF Management and the NSF Board believe that it is imperative to increase the average size and duration of the NSF research grant. NSF grants must be enabling (rather than contributory): i.e., NSF money should enable grantees to conduct a robust fundamental business/intellectual enterprise.
 Larger and longer awards will increase the productivity of researchers, who will spend less time preparing proposals and more time pursuing innovative ideas. This is a very cost-effective approach that will result in superior performance by the research community.
 Recent survey of NSF-funded principal investigators and institutions revealed a general consensus that average award size and duration should be significantly increased.
 Over half of the respondents indicated that increasing award size and duration would allow them to pursue the innovative and high risk ideas that they have been stymied from following due to constantly preparing for the next round of short term funding.
 The survey also provided strong evidence that an increase in award size will allow researchers to employ more students in the research process, better preparing them for the S&E workforce. According to the survey, 81% of respondents indicated that they likely would use the increased funding to support graduate students.

## 
Invest in Intellectual Capital

Integrate Research and Education

Promote Partnerships

**Invest in Intellectual Capital**
**Integrate Research and Education**
**Promote Partnerships**

**NSF Integrative Strategies**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 6:
 Critical NSF issue is the investment strategies we use: to start, sustain and end funding activities.
 Three integrative strategies work in a synergistic way to: create, integrate and transfer knowledge.
 NSF merit review criteria of (1) intellectual merit and quality and (2) broader impacts ensure that every NSF grant employs these strategies to some extent. Some NSF programs and grant mechanisms are designed to more fully exploit particular strategies.

## 
Develop the S&E workforce.
	Examples:  fellowships, assistantships, traineeships, REU, student/teacher programs, international activities, MSP, 21st Century Workforce priority area, etc.

Capitalize on underrepresented groups/institutions.
	Examples:  LSAMPs, ADVANCE, CREST, REU, EPSCoR, SBIR, etc.

Support activities that help define/develop new fields and novel approaches.
	Examples:  centers, SGER’s, Innovation Fund, next-generation tools R&D, community workshops, priority areas, etc.

**Develop the S&E workforce.**
**	**Examples:  fellowships, assistantships, traineeships, REU, student/teacher programs, international activities, MSP, 21st Century Workforce priority area, etc.
**Capitalize on underrepresented groups/institutions.**
**	**Examples:  LSAMPs, ADVANCE, CREST, REU, EPSCoR, SBIR, etc.
**Support activities that help define/develop new fields and novel approaches.**
**	**Examples:  centers, SGER’s, Innovation Fund, next-generation tools R&D, community workshops, priority areas, etc.

**STRATEGY: ****Invest in Intellectual Capital**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 7:
 Graduate stipends (and working conditions) must be attractive to US citizens. (Discuss stipend issue?)
 Second bullet is an essential strategy for building workforce. NSF targeted programs should aim to mainstream underutilized groups/institutions.
 Third bullet example: NSF’s Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) mechanism has enabled program officers throughout the Foundation to make small-scaled grants to support preliminary work on untested and novel ideas, application of new approaches, and ventures into emerging research areas.

## 
Builds on the role of the university and the professoriate.

Research grants should enable the professoriate to pursue this strategy.

Two hallmark programs that invest in this strategy:

CAREER seeks to strengthen professor’s integrative teaching-research role by supporting early career-development activities for new faculty members.

IGERT seeks to enable new paths in graduate education by providing boundary-crossing experiences to PhD candidates.

**Builds on the role of the university and the professoriate.**
**Research grants should enable the professoriate to pursue this strategy.**
**Two hallmark programs that invest in this strategy:**
**CAREER** seeks to strengthen professor’s integrative teaching-research role by supporting early career-development activities for new faculty members.
**IGERT** seeks to enable new paths in graduate education by providing boundary-crossing experiences to PhD candidates.

**STRATEGY: ****Integrate Research and Education**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 8:
 NSF established the CAREER program in 1995 (as an evolution from the 1985 PYI investment) to help junior faculty early in their careers to develop their integrated contributions and commitment to research and to education in consonance. The CAREER program recognizes and supports the early career-development activities of those professors who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century. CAREER awardees are selected on the basis of creative, career-development plans that effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their institution.

 The IGERT program is designed to meet the challenges of educating Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. IGERT projects afford an in-depth education through coursework and research experience in emerging areas of science and engineering, areas that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and involve a diverse group of faculty members. Graduates will need these to meet the career demands of relentless change in trends, tools, technology, and tasks.

 The fact that universities frequently prompt changes in NSF investments and are naturally changing with us, or often lead us, as we strive to strengthen the bonds that integrate research and education...for the development of our S&E workforce...and the investment in human capital. 

## 
	Range of Partners:  Federal, State, and Local Government, Academe, Industry, Non-profit Institutions, Foreign Nations, ...

	Range of Mechanisms:  MOU, Bilateral/Multilateral Agreements, Cooperative Agreements, Program Announcements/Solicitations

	Range of Programs:
Centers:  ERCs, STCs, SLCs, etc.
Special Grants:  GOALI, SBIR/STTR
Comprehensive Partnerships Programs: MSP, PFI
Large Facility Projects:  ALMA, LHC
Priority Areas:  BE, HSD, ITR, MS, NSE, WF21

**	****Range of Partners:**  Federal, State, and Local Government, Academe, Industry, Non-profit Institutions, Foreign Nations, ...
- 	**Range of Mechanisms:**  MOU, Bilateral/Multilateral Agreements, Cooperative Agreements, Program Announcements/Solicitations
- 	**Range of Programs:**
- Centers:  ERCs, STCs, SLCs, etc.
- Special Grants:  GOALI, SBIR/STTR
- Comprehensive Partnerships Programs: MSP, PFI
- Large Facility Projects:  ALMA, LHC
- Priority Areas:  BE, HSD, ITR, MS, NSE, WF21

**STRATEGY:**** ****Promote Partnerships**

**Notes:**
Talking points for Chart 9:
 NSF is the hub of an extended S&E network – it brings different segments of S&E community together through program/project collaborations; proposal review, workshops, advisory committees, and many other interactions. These collaborations provide benchmarks, leadership, and new frontiers for research and education.
 NSF also fosters strategic collaborations with key national and international counterparts that address national and global science and engineering priorities.
 NSF has been designated to lead interagency initiatives in such areas as information technology research and nanotechnology.
 Chief Lesson Learned: Involve partners at the onset of the activity.