National Science Foundation (NSF)
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Kranzberg, Melvin, Dr., 1917-1995
setName: label: See more items in
content: Melvin Kranzberg Papers
label: See more items in
content: Melvin Kranzberg Papers / Series 1: Consultation and Advisement, 1958-1987
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1958-1987
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0266, Subseries 1.6
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Advisory Plan of Division of Policy Research & Analysis (PRA), 1958-1985 is a division of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Material of this division is contained in five boxes and fifty-one folders in the sequence as received. Kranzberg's PRA records range from 1959 to 1981, and include correspondence related to specific topics, PRA plans, reports, and publications, along with "Country Papers for the NAS Symposium," 1976, mixed with material on technological innovation.

NSF's role in science policy is derived from legislative mandates which direct the NSF to provide analytic support to other agencies as well as to the President's Science Advisor and to assist and to coordinate with the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress.  Cost-effectiveness and fairness and equity are important considerations in the assessment of policy options.

Policy Research and Analysis (PRA) consists of four study groups and a Special Projects activity. The four study groups are Technology Assessment and Risk Analysis; Innovative Processes and Their Management; Socioeconomic Effects of Science and Technology; and Environment, Energy, and Resources.
6B; Innovation (The Flow of Scientific and Technical Information (STI) in the Innovation Process), 1961-1987 is contained in two boxes with twenty-two folders. This project was commissioned by the National Science Foundation R & D Assessment Program through the Georgia Institute of Technology ". . .to determine and critically assess the present knowledge and understanding of the innovation process." The material consists of correspondence, drafts, and reports by various academic institutions during the period 1973-1987.

Technology Assessment, 1978 is contained in five folders, and consists of verbatim records of everything spoken at two NSF Ad Hoc Advisory Task Force meetings on Technology Assessment. The Chairman was a political economist and the eight panel members had varied backgrounds such as physicist, history professor, industrial engineer, and economist.

The first meeting was held August 6, 1978, and the second was held on August 7, 1978. After the first meeting the concensus was that technology assessment could be considered a subfield of the broader field of policy analysis. The aspect of risk was discusses at length.

Ethical and Human Value Implications of Science and Technology (EHVIST), 1973-1975 consists of five folders, the first containing Important Notice #48 of the NFS dated Feb. 20, 1973, which is directed to presidents of universities and colleges and directors of nonprofit organizations. Proposals may be submitted to either the NEH or to the NSF. Such proposals will have as their primary object the illumination of areas of current concern about ethical or human values, or which have a strong collateral potential for making a scholarly contribution in such areas. Four folders have proposals and the sixth folder contains correspondence and reviewer guidelines for EVHIST proposals.