Congress is in recess for the month of August. When members reconvene after Labor Day, they will face crucial decisions on appropriations bills, reconciling differing House and Senate versions of omnibus energy legislation, and other measures affecting the materials community. The recess provides an excellent opportunity for scientists and engineers to visit Congressmen and Senators in their local offices to offer expertise and express opinion on pending legislation. Further information is available from the Federation of Materials Societies at betsyhou@ix.com

The House passed the VA-HUD appropriations bill, which includes funding for the National Science Foundation, on July 25, an action that House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) hailed as "another feather in the cap for the scientific community." The bill provides NSF with a budget of $5.689 billion, which represents a 6.2 percent increase over the current fiscal year. While significantly below the increase necessary to achieve the goal of doubling the NSF budget over five years, Rep. Boehlert and others hailed the amount as representing a major step in the right direction in the face of the existing constraints on discretionary spending in the federal budget. In its report on the bill, the House Appropriations Committee took note of the constraints and directed that "the Foundation should give the highest priority to increasing research opportunities for investigator initiated research in the core scientific disciplines."

The Senate Appropriations Committee finished its version of the Homeland Security Department funding bill before leaving for the August recess. The full House passed its version of the legislation in June. Both bills provide more funding for science and technology research than requested by the Administration. The House version includes $900.4 million for the department’s Science and Technology Research, Development, Acquisition and Operations account, an increase of $63.1 percent over the Administration’s request. The Senate Appropriations bill calls for $866.0 million, an increase of 59.9 percent.

In one of the stranger twists just before the recess, the Senate broke off stalemated debate on its comprehensive authorization bill and substituted the language of the legislation it passed last year. The newly resurrected bill passed by a vote of 84-14, with the understanding that it will be rewritten in conference with the House. Last year’s authorization called for significant funding increases for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

On the appropriations front, the Senate will consider a bill in September that would give the Office of Science $3.1 billion for research and development, a boost of just 1.2 percent over the current fiscal year although a slight improvement over the cut requested by the Administration. The House bill, on the other hand, would give the Office of Science an increase of 4.3 percent with funds added to high-performance computing research, domestic fusion research, and for increased extramural user time at DOE’s large-scale scientific facilities.

Also just before the recess, a Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee held a hearing to examine the role of the DOE Office of Science. The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), called the Office of Science "the brightest star in the Department of Energy," noting that it is the nation’s largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences, sponsoring research at universities and national laboratories, which he called "our nation’s secret weapons." Sen. Alexander called for greater support within the Administration for the mission of the Office of Science.

NSF is soliciting proposals by October 22 under its program on collaborative research and education in nanoscale science and engineering. The program supports fundamental research and catalyzes synergistic science and engineering research and education in the emerging areas of nanoscale science and technology, including: biosystems at the nanoscale; nanoscale structures, novel phenomena, and quantum control; nanoscale devices and system architecture; nanoscale processes in the environment; multi-scale, multi-phenomena theory, modeling and simulation at the nanoscale; manufacturing processes at the nanoscale; and studies on the societal and educational implications of scientific and technological advances on the nanoscale. This solicitation will provide support for Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT), Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER), and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers (NSEC). The solicitation is available at www.nsf.gov/pubs/2003/nsf03043/nsf03043.htm

NSF’s Division of Science Resources Statistics publishes Science and Engineering State Profiles annually. The latest report, for 200-2001, has just been published on the web at www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf03324/start.htm

For each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, the survey quantifies doctoral scientists, doctoral engineers, S&E doctorates awarded, S&E graduate students in doctorate-granting institutions, population, civilian labor force, personal income per capita, total Federal expenditures, Federal R&D obligations, Total R&D performance, industry R&D, academic R&D, public higher education current-fund expenditures, number of SBIR awards, utility patents issued to state residents, and gross state product. Each state is ranked in each of the categories (for example, California rates #1 in all categories, while Pennsylvania ranges from #4 in academic research to #16 in personal income per capita).