Setting Priorities for Large Research Facility Projects Supported by the National Science Foundation

Setting Priorities for Large Research Facility Projects Supported by the National Science Foundation
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2004-07-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0309090849

In 1995, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created a special account to fund large (several tens of millions of dollars) research facilities. Over the years, these facilities have come to represent an increasingly prominent part of the nation's R&D portfolio. Recently concern has intensified about the way NSF is selecting projects for this account. In 2003, six U.S. Senators including the chair and ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations expressed these concerns in a letter to the NRC asking it to "review the current prioritization process and report to us on how it can be improved." This report presents a series of recommendations on how NSF can improve its priority setting process for large research facilities. While noting that NSF has improved this process, the report states that further strengthening is needed if NSF is to meet future demands for such projects.

Setting Priorities For Large Research Facility Projects Supported By the National Science Foundation

Setting Priorities For Large Research Facility Projects Supported By the National Science Foundation
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2005
Genre:
ISBN:

The National Academies' Report regarding NSF's process for identifying, approving, constructing, and managing large-research-facility projects states: "A number of concerns have been expressed by policy-makers and researchers about the process used to rank large-research-facility projects for funding. First, the ability of new projects to be considered for approval at the National Science Board (NSB) level has stalled in the face of a backlog of approved but unfunded projects. Second, the rationale and criteria used to select projects and set priorities among projects for MREFC funding have not been clearly and publicly articulated. Third, there is a lack of funding for disciplines to conduct idea-generating and project-ranking activities and, once ideas have some level of approval, a lack of funding for conceptual development, planning, engineering, and design information needed when judging whether a project is ready for funding in light of its ranking and for preparing a project for funding if it is selected. Those concerns have eroded confidence among policy-makers and the research community that large-research-facility projects are being ranked on the basis of their potential returns to science, technology, and society." The report includes a number of recommendations by the Study Committee for actions by NSF to address these concerns. The National Science Foundation (NSF) embraces the spirit of the Report's recommendations. In this response we address the principles of the primary recommendations, leaving the detailed mechanisms to be addressed in consultation with our communities, the Office of Management and Budget (0MB), and Congress.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2015-07-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0309316855

The past half-century has witnessed a dramatic increase in the scale and complexity of scientific research. The growing scale of science has been accompanied by a shift toward collaborative research, referred to as "team science." Scientific research is increasingly conducted by small teams and larger groups rather than individual investigators, but the challenges of collaboration can slow these teams' progress in achieving their scientific goals. How does a team-based approach work, and how can universities and research institutions support teams? Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science synthesizes and integrates the available research to provide guidance on assembling the science team; leadership, education and professional development for science teams and groups. It also examines institutional and organizational structures and policies to support science teams and identifies areas where further research is needed to help science teams and groups achieve their scientific and translational goals. This report offers major public policy recommendations for science research agencies and policymakers, as well as recommendations for individual scientists, disciplinary associations, and research universities. Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science will be of interest to university research administrators, team science leaders, science faculty, and graduate and postdoctoral students.

Federal Research Resources

Federal Research Resources
Author: National Science Board (U.S.). Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Science and Engineering Policy Issues
Publisher:
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2001
Genre: Budget
ISBN:

Physics in a New Era

Physics in a New Era
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2001-07-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309073421

Physics at the beginning of the twenty-first century has reached new levels of accomplishment and impact in a society and nation that are changing rapidly. Accomplishments have led us into the information age and fueled broad technological and economic development. The pace of discovery is quickening and stronger links with other fields such as the biological sciences are being developed. The intellectual reach has never been greater, and the questions being asked are more ambitious than ever before. Physics in a New Era is the final report of the NRC's six-volume decadal physics survey. The book reviews the frontiers of physics research, examines the role of physics in our society, and makes recommendations designed to strengthen physics and its ability to serve important needs such as national security, the economy, information technology, and education.