U.S. National Science Foundation: An Overview

Abstract

The National Science Foundation (NSF) was created by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended (P.L. 81-507). The NSF has the broad mission of supporting science and engineering in general and funding basic research across many disciplines. The agency provides support for investigator-initiated, merit-reviewed, competitively selected awards, state-of-the-art tools, and instrumentation and facilities. The majority of the research supported by the NSF is conducted at U.S. colleges and universities. Approximately 82.6% ($3,174.9 million) of NSF s FY2005 $3,844.2 million research and development (R&D) budget was awarded to U.S. colleges and universities.1 Preliminary data reveal that for FY2005 the NSF provided approximately 60.3% of all federally funded basic research conducted at the nation s colleges and universities, with the exclusion of biomedical research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. In addition, NSF provides more than 30% of the total federal support for science and mathematics education. This report will be updated periodically.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 24, 2007
Accession Number
ADA463794

Entities

People

  • Christine M. Matthews

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biological Phenomena
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Research
  • Economic Systems
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Human Resources
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Investments
  • Law
  • Mathematics
  • Personnel Management
  • Physical Sciences
  • Research Facilities
  • Students

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting
  • Research Science/Academic Research

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology