Tag: NSF
Friday, August 3rd, 2012
From a NSF press release.
A recent report released by the National Science Foundation (NSF) found state agency expenditures for research and development totaled $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2009, a 7 percent increase over the fiscal 2007 total of $1.1 billion.
The InfoBrief details nationwide and state-by-state totals of R&D activities performed and funded by state government agencies. This is the first time survey data are available by individual state agencies. Previously only state totals were published.
This survey also marked the first time NSF asked state agencies to classify their R&D according to the following five categories:
- Agriculture: animal health; aquaculture; crop management; food and commodities; forestry
- Environment and Natural Resources: air and water quality; fish, game, and wildlife; marine and aquatic environments; geological survey; parks and preserves; soil and water conservation
- Health: biomedical research; mental health and addiction; public health
- Transportation: highways, roads, and bridges; ports and waterways; public transportation; rail and freight; aviation
- Other: R&D in other areas, such as corrections, education, energy, labor, public safety, and social services
In addition to the $1.2 billion on R&D, state agencies also expended $103 million on R&D facilities, for a total of $1.3 billion in fiscal 2009.
The level of R&D expenditures reported by state agencies ranged from $0.5 million in the District of Columbia to $147 million in California.
The fiscal 2009 survey is the most recent NSF survey of R&D activities performed and funded by state government agencies in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
For more information on this report, please contact Michael Yamaner.
Please visit the NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) for more reports and other products.
Tags: NCSES, NSF, state research
Posted in NSF, Research and Development | No Comments »
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012
The National Science Foundation offers postdoctoral research fellowships to provide opportunities for recent doctoral graduates to obtain additional training, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden their scientific horizons beyond their undergraduate and graduate training. Postdoctoral fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including at foreign locations. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from under-represented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal.
The goal of the SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (SPRF) program is to enhance the participation of under-represented groups in science and engineering; promote interdisciplinary research; and encourage doctoral-level scientists (who are not yet in full-time positions) to take advantage of the two-year fellowships to prepare for scientific careers in academia, industry, and government.
More information on this funding opportunity is available here.
Tags: NSF, Postdoctoral Research Fellowships. SBE
Posted in Awards, NSF, Research and Development, STEM Education | No Comments »
Thursday, July 19th, 2012
Yesterday NSF announced its first set of new awards that will be given out under INSPIRE, which, when all are distributed under this fiscal year, will total about $30.4 million. Eleven awards were released yesterday, and the total number of awards is expected to reach 40 over the next few weeks. The maximum size for an INSPIRE award this year is $1 million. Additional information is available here.
Tags: awards, INSPIRE, NSF
Posted in Awards, NSF, Research and Development | No Comments »
Thursday, May 31st, 2012
It looks like the CJS Appropriations Bill, which funds many federal programs and agencies including the Census Bureau and NSF, is being delayed in the Senate. Apparently, Senator Snowe (R-ME) is holding the bill until Congress can look into the budget problems with NOAA and the National Weather Service. Reports indicate that the National Weather Service had shifted funds illegally among some of its accounts. It is likely that the CJS bill will be considered later in June.
Tags: Census Bureau, CJS, NSF, Senator Snowe
Posted in Census, NSF, Research and Development | No Comments »
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
The U.S. Senate plans to consider its version of the Census and NSF FY 2013 funding bill as early as next Tuesday. Senator Mikulski (D-MD) will be leading the bill through the Senate. She has, in the past, supported both the NSF and Census but she can not do it alone. She needs other Senators, including Republicans, to show their support for NSF and Census in order for the Senate to not approve amendments–like the House did–that would eliminate the American Community Survey and cut NSF social science programs.
In a recent email to COSSSA staff, Senator Mikulski staff is asking that the social science community contact their Senators and urge them to support Senator Mikulski and here efforts on the bill.
Tags: American Community Survey, Census Bureau, COSSA, NSF, Senator Mikulski
Posted in Census, NSF, Public Engagement | No Comments »
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
The House of Representatives continued work on the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill yesterday.
Late last night the House voted 218-208 (5 Dems voted yes; 26 Repubs voted no) to prohibit NSF from spending appropriated funds on the political science program. The debate was lackluster. Representative Flake (R-AZ) made fun of some grants, claimed Harvard and Yale political science departments didn’t need federal funds since they had huge endowments, and talked about the need to reduce the debt. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-SC), who spent most of the day trying to refute most of the Republican amendments, responded with some of the material that COSSA and NSF sent up.
Other amendments voted by the House last night included
- H AMDT .1058 from Rep. Flake (R-AZ) – To reduce funding by $1.2 billion to the Research and Related Activities account of NSF. The amendment failed 121 – 291. 121 Republicans voted for the amendment. 179 Democrats voted against along with 112 Republicans.
- H AMDT .1088 from Rep. Cravaack (R-MN) – To prohibit funds to be used to carry out the activities of the Climate Change Education Program at NSF. The amendment passed 238 – 188. 230 Republicans voted for the amendment along with 8 Democrats. 178 Democrats voted against along with 10 Republicans.
Tags: House of Representatives, NSF
Posted in COSSA, NSF, Research and Development, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Rep. Flake is planning to introduce an amendment to prohibit funds from being used for the National Science Foundation Political Science Program. Sources say the amendment does not cut any funding for the NSF and says it would likely result in more funding going to natural science research at the NSF.
The Political Science program has $11 million. This is a pretty small amount to split with among the other sciences. It has conducted important research on democratization, radicalization and terrorism, the notion of the commons (which won Elinor Ostrom a Nobel Prize), disaster response, and voting behavior. There has been a political science program at NSF for over 30 years. The NSF-supported political science research uses the same scientific, data-driven approaches of all the other sciences.
Tags: NSF
Posted in NSF, Research and Development | No Comments »
Monday, May 7th, 2012
The Commerce, Justice, Science FY 2013 Appropriations bill will be on the House floor starting tomorrow. This bill funds Census and NSF and other important programs.
Late this afternoon, the Rules Committee is supposed to provide the rules for debate on the bill. It is likely to be an “open rule” allowing for any and all amendments.
The expectation is that there will be amendments to transfer funding from NSF, since it received a significant increase from the bill as it emerged from the appropriations committee, to other agencies and programs in the bill. So far, we don’t have any idea about any specifics.
Tags: appropriations, Census, NSF
Posted in Census, NSF, Research and Development | No Comments »
Thursday, April 19th, 2012
House Appropriations Committee CJS Subcommittee is marking up its funding bill this morning. Earlier this week the Subcommittee released its preliminary version of the bill.
In the preliminary version NSF loses about $40.6M from the President’s request, all from the R&RA account. The total for NSF is $7.333 billion, up about $300 million from last year.
In the preliminary bill funding news for the Census Bureau is not great. The Bureau would get a total of $878.7M: $625.4M for Periodic Censuses and Programs, compared to the President request of $711M (-$85.6M), and $253.3M for Salaries and Expenses, compared to the request of $259M (-$5.7M). These cuts are of serious concern and will have significant on programs like the Periodic Censuses account, on 2020 Census planning (and timely completion of 2010 Census evaluations to inform the 2020 planning process). FY2013 is the peak year for the FY2012 Economic Census (data collection and tabulation!), so the Bureau cannot cut much from that line item.
Remember that the President’s request for FY2013 for the Census Bureau was a modest three (3) percent increase over FY2012. The total FY13 House mark for the Bureau is $91.3M below the request.
ASA will continue to monitor these agencies’ budgets throughout the summer.
Tags: Census, NSF, President's Budget Request
Posted in Census, NSF, Research and Development | No Comments »
