From: WTU@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: "What's New" 08-28-1992
Date: 4 Sep 92 14:46:16 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

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From: apollo@physics.att.com
Date: Fri, 28 Aug  18:31:45 1992
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> From att!Forsythe.Stanford.EDU!VP.APS Fri Aug 28 18:07:18 1992
> Received: by physics.UUCP; Fri, 28 Aug 92 18:07:18 EDT
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> Date:      Fri, 28 Aug 92 14:30:38 PDT
> To: apollo@physics.att.com
> From: "Janice Smith" <VP.APS@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
> Subject: What's New for 08-28-92
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>
> WHAT'S NEW, Friday, 28 August 1992                 Washington, DC
>
> 1. NSF IS POISED TO TAKE A DRASTIC TURN TOWARD INDUSTRY SUPPORT!
> It had every appearance of a coup.  Within the month of August,
> qthe Senate Appropriations Committee, the Director of the National
> Science Foundation and the National Science Board, in strikingly
> similar language, have called for a redefinition of NSF's mission
> to compensate for industry's failure to invest in research.  NIH
> also disclosed plans to focus on competitiveness in grant awards.
> But NSF officials and staff from the Senate committee insist that
> there was no coordination; it's all just a coincidence.  Never-
> theless, some of the "new directions for NSF," called for by
> Walter Massey, were taken verbatim from the Senate Report.  The
> most immediate concern is the Senate VA/HUD/IA appropriation (WN
> 7 Aug 92), which will be taken up by the full Senate as soon as
> it reconvenes after Labor Day.  There is very little prospect of
> changing the Senate report language, but since the House version
> contains no equivalent language, it may be possible to persuade
> the House/Senate Conference Committee that such a profound change
> in the mission of NSF should not be imposed without extensive
> discussion.  The Conference Committee has not yet been named.
>
> 2. SPECIAL COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE OF THE NSF IS ON A FAST TRACK
> (WN 21 Aug 92).  The Commission is given just 75 days from its
> first meeting to produce a final report.  The plan is to have the
> CEO of a major technology company and the president of a research
> university serve as co-chairs of the 15-member panel.  Clearly,
> the intent is to have some sort of recommendation in place when
> the transition to the next administration begins.  A "discussion
> paper" by Walter Massey left no doubt about what recommendation
> the NSF director would like to see:  "NSF would adopt an expanded
> portfolio of programs that would be integrated with ongoing
> activities and closely aligned with industry and other government
> activities."  An "expanded portfolio" is seen by some as the only
> way to avoid slow starvation, but NSF has expanded its portfolio
> before, and the only effect was to spread the butter more thinly.
> In 1985, NSF was explicitly authorized to support "fundamental
> engineering research" and the Organic Act establishing NSF was
> changed to read "science and engineering" everywhere it then said
> "science," except in the title--but the budget remained frozen.
>
> 3. "A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME," THE MOVIE, OPENS TODAY IN CHICAGO
> and the San Francisco Bay area.  It is already showing around LA.
> To encourage educators to bring their classes, group ticket sales
> are being offered (call Joy Scott, (818) 782-1323).  But you may
> want to see the movie first.  Like the book, the movie will be
> understood best by new-agers.  At the film's West Coast premiere,
> Shirley MacLaine, who was Isaac Newton in an earlier life, hosted
> a reception for Stephen Hawking. "He says he's not a mystic," the
> actress babbled, "but he needs more than astrophysics to believe
> in."  The best strategy may be to wait for the video to come out,
> then buy it and put it on the coffee table next to the book.
>
>
>
> To:  WHATSNEW(Personal Dist. List)
>
Newsgroups: sci.physics