National Science Foundation, Director

Department/Agency: National Science Foundation

Position:

Director

Executive Schedule: Executive Level II - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation

Major Responsibilities:

Fund research and education in all fields of science and engineering
Develop international partnerships to build research and experimental facilities around the world
Support 200,000 scientists, engineers, educators and students nationwide
Build and sustain American competitive edge in science and engineering

Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:

Ph.D. in science and research background
Leadership of large scientific enterprise
Top-level management experience in government or academe

Insight:

The director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), along with the 24-member National Science Board, seeks to bolster and sustain the U.S. competitive edge in science and engineering through its $6.8 budget. Much of that money is awarded through competitive grants to colleges, universities, schools, businesses and other research organizations. NSF funds 11,000 of the 40,000 grant proposals it receives each year. It is the primary source of federal support for research and education in mathematics, computer science, economics and social sciences. Its counterpart in the biomedical and behavioral sciences is the National Institutes of Health.

The struggling global economy has underscored the importance of securing American competitiveness in science and engineering fields. As part of an American Competitiveness Initiative that President George W. Bush launched in 2006, NSF Director Arden L. Bement Jr. advocated giving bigger and longer-term grants, developing a cyber infrastructure for networking, data processing and simulation, and stepping up collaborations with international partners. The initiative sought to commit $50 billion over 10 years to increased funding for research (including a doubling of the NSF budget) and an even bigger boost in R&D tax incentives.

While NSF accounts for only a small portion of the entire federal R&D enterprise ($137 billion in 2007), it is a flagship for science, and the top universities and scientists in the world compete avidly not only for the dollars but the recognition that NSF funding brings. NSF also plays an important role in encouraging and improving the teaching of science in America's elementary and secondary schools.

President Bush requested $6.8 billion for NSF for fiscal 2009. While that was nearly 14 percent above the level that Congress appropriated for 2008, it would only restore the independent agency's budget to where it stood before its funds were cut in a December 2007 budget deal between the White House and Congress. Bush in June 2008 signed a supplemental restoring $338 million in science funding for NSF and the Office of Science in the U.S. Department of Energy.

President-elect Barack Obama, as a candidate, pledged to double federal funding for basic research over 10 years. While some Democrats in Congress and outside groups contended that the Bush administration politicized science - especially on the question of global warming - they seldom questioned its stewardship of the National Science Foundation. Both Obama and his Republican rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, provided extensive answers to a series of 14 questions about science policy posed by an effort mounted by scientists called ScienceDebate2008. Obama, in his written responses, outlined plans to encourage more students to go into science and engineering, and to become science and math teachers in high need schools. He also promised to increase NSF graduate fellowships. Now, as president-elect, he will have an opportunity to make good on those promises, and his choice for NSF director will be charged with finding ways to expand opportunities at a time of severe fiscal constraints.

At the National Medal of Science Symposium held at Northwestern University in May 2008, Director Bement spoke about the challenges ahead for NSF. He said lawmakers frequently ask where public dollars can best be invested to produce scientific breakthroughs. "The most exciting and lucrative upcoming innovations are the ones that we can't predict," he said. "Our nation's investment dollars are best spent on ensuring a steady supply of basic research discoveries, and students ready to become the workforce of the future. These two components form the backbone of a healthy high-tech economy."

He went on: "While I can't say exactly what the future will bring for science and technology, I can say ... (that) in the next 20 to 40 years, the scope and productivity of research will change, and that change will be nothing short of revolutionary. For several decades, we have witnessed the convergence of fields of science and engineering." Already, NSF is funding proposals in areas "such as bio-geo-chemistry, nano-eco-toxicology, and computational neuro-genetic modeling - just to name a few of the tongue-twisting new fields."

Despite the promises of increased funding for basic research - the America COMPETES Act also promised to double NSF's budget - politicians have not matched that rhetoric with money, Bement said. "Over the last two decades, U.S. federal support for research in the physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering has been stagnant when adjusted for inflation. As a percentage of GDP, the U.S. federal government has halved its investment in physical science and engineering research since 1970. And, the four-year period from 2004 to 2007 represents the first continuous decline in U.S. federal investment in basic R&D at colleges and universities in 25 years," the NSF director said. Speaking before the passage of a supplemental spending bill that restored some funds to NSF, he warned, "A thousand promising research grants will go unfunded. Hundreds of deserving graduate students will not receive Graduate Research Fellowships. Three Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers will be deferred. Emerging fields will lose momentum, and important new projects will be pushed to the back burner for a year."

He exhorted the scientists and industrialists in the audience to communicate to the American public the urgency of not skimping on science. "We cannot maintain America's position on the frontier, and we cannot produce the talent and facilities to advance that frontier, without consistent, reliable resources .... We need a renewed commitment to cutting-edge research and education, to raise U.S. innovation to the highest standard. Without a robust and growing economy, the nation will be seriously strained to meet pressing social needs," the NSF director said.

Even with strong support from the White House, the next NSF director will have to keep making that case to Congress and to the American public and keep funds from being diverted from scientific research to plug budget shortfalls. He or she must also continue to streamline the grant process and encourage more scientists, educators and students to bend their shoulders to the hard work of making discoveries that can benefit all American businesses and consumers.

Key Relationships – Within the Government:

Chair, National Science Board
Director, National Institutes for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Director, National Institute for Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce
Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education
Deputy Director for Science Programs, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy
Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Key Relationships – Outside the Government:

Presidents, The National Academy of Science and National Academy of Engineering
Executive Officer and CEO, National Research Council
Chair, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
AAAS CEO and Executive Publisher, Science
President, Association of American Universities

Nomination Referred to:

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

Current Position Profile:
1. Subra Suresh (Nominated: June 8, 2010). Former Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dean of School of Engineering, head of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, professor.

Recent Position Profiles:

2. Arden L. Bement Jr., Ph.D. (2004-2010). Metallurgist and engineer. Former professor of nuclear engineering and nuclear materials. Vice president of TRW Inc., researcher at Batelle Northwest Laboratories and for General Electric Co. Deputy under secretary of defense for research and engineering in the Carter administration. Retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

3. Rita Colwell, Ph.D. (1998-2004). Oceanographer and microbiologist. President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. Now senior advisor and honorary board chair of Canon U.S. Life Sciences. Adjunct professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.

4. Neal F. Lane, Ph.D. (1993-1998). Molecular physicist. Directed White House Office of Science and Technology Policy after leading NSF. Physics professor and former provost of Rice University. Former chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.