Tuesday, November 30, 2004

NSF = No Science Funding?


Congress Trims Money for Science Agency (By Robert Pear, The New York Times)

    Congress has cut the budget for the National Science Foundation, an engine for research in science and technology, just two years after endorsing a plan to double the amount given to the agency.

    Supporters of scientific research, in government and at universities, noted that the cut came as lawmakers earmarked more money for local projects like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Punxsutawney Weather Museum in Pennsylvania.

    David M. Stonner, director of Congressional affairs at the science foundation, said on Monday that the reduction might be just the beginning of a period of austerity. Congress, Mr. Stonner said, told the agency to expect "a series of flat or slightly declining budgets for the next several years."

    In renewing the legal authority for science programs in late 2002, Congress voted to double the budget of the science foundation by 2007. The agency finances the work and training of many mathematicians, physicists, chemists, engineers, computer scientists, biologists and environmental experts.

    ... The science foundation helped finance research that led to Web browsers, like Internet Explorer and Netscape, and to search engines like Google. Its research has produced advances in fields from astronomy to zoology, including weather forecasting, nanotechnology, highway safety and climate change.

    At the University of Southern California, the foundation is supporting research on an artificial retina, to restore sight to blind people, and on silicon chips that could be implanted in the brain to replace neurons damaged by disease or injury. More here

Related News
New Jersey Institute Of Technology Pioneers New Way To Teach Engineers (Science Daily, Nov. 26)
A $2m Grant Brings Technology and Biology Together at UC Riverside (Medical News Today, Nov. 17)
Ohio State Universtity Awarded $12.9m by NSF to Develop Nanotechnology (azonano.com, Nov. 15)

NanoBot Backgrounder
Cut NSF, but grow nano
Berkeley to play with tiny tinkertoys
I got Study Hall, PhysEd, Shop, then ... Nanoscience? Whaaaa!?

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